Andrew Hnat started his journey with additive manufacturing while in engineering school at UC Irvine. At UC Irvine he was introduced to additive through his senior design project which focused on manufacturing recycled filament for FFF 3D printers. After completing his Master's Degree at San Diego State University, Andrew began his career with NAVAIR as an engineer at a Navy / Marine Corps aircraft repair depot focused on process improvement utilizing additive manufacturing. He also focused on using additive manufacturing to replace obsolete OEM aircraft parts, particularly using laser powder bed fusion metal additive to supplement difficult-to-source aluminum castings. After concluding his time at NAVAIR, Andrew began working at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) further building on his experience with additive in the aerospace industry. At GA-ASI Andrew works primarily as an FDM additive manufacturing engineer. In this position he works to uphold the GA-ASI additive team's production shops to support producing parts for the aircraft production line and also supports next-generation development projects that push the boundaries of additive materials and applications!