Topic: 3-D Printing for Today's Manufacturing Projects

with separate Lunch at Hideaway Pizza, 1150 N. 9th St, Broken Arrow

NOTE:  We will NOT be meeting at OSU Tulsa in June!

PMI Members are being offered a unique opportunity to tour the Rapid Application Group facility and learn about the amazing 3-D printing services and projects that RAG provides to manufacturers around the country.  We will also learn about the patriotic mission that they serve.  Enjoy Oklahoma's Best Pizza and salad at Hideaway Pizza in Broken Arrow before/after the tour (depending upon your time slot).

Participants will be divided into groups of 20 to tour the Rapid Application Group facility while others are served lunch at Hideaway Pizza in Broken Arrow.  Groups will be staggered, subject to the total number of registrants.

Registrants will be assigned a Tour Group number through email before the event. Late Registrants will be assigned to Group #3.  Please email programs@pmitulsa if you have a specific time slot request.

Group #1 - Tour 11:15 - 12:00pm, Lunch 12:00 - 12:30pm

Group #2 - Tour 12:00 - 12:45pm, Lunch 11:30 - 12:00

Group #3 - Tour 12:45 - 1:30pm, Lunch 12:00 - 12:45 

RAPID APPLICATION GROUP - The Pride of Oklahoma Manufacturing  

Under the leadership of Terry Hill, Rapid Application Group has blossomed from a small business started in a humble home office to one of the fastest growing companies in the state. Rapid Application Group provides engineering and advanced manufacturing centered around additive manufacturing (AM) technology, or 3D printing as it’s commonly referred. The firm supports mission-critical parts through rapid prototyping, low and high-volume additive manufacturing, tool-less investment castings, reverse engineering and other rapid tooling processes. That work takes place throughout a variety of industries, including aerospace, defense, oil and gas, motor sports and healthcare.

While Hill's business is quickly becoming the most advanced  3-D printing business in Oklahoma, he’s also dedicated to helping out fellow military veterans. Hill is no stranger to challenges. He spent 13 years in the U.S. Army as an Engineer and UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation aviator, commanding officer, maintenance test pilot, and research pilot. He served through multiple deployments, surviving combat missions and a helicopter hard landing that would change his life forever. (He’s now paired with his service dog and VP of Business Development, Jonsey.) Hill has already developed a hands-on training program in AM to serve veteran's needs. “When I transitioned back to civilian life, I had a two-week course on how to be a civilian,” said Hill. “I thought this transition process would be really easy, and it’s not.” That drove his decision to offer AM training to help ease that transition for other veterans. The “Veterans to Additive” program is their in-house certified professional development course, resulting in a certificate in AM. Through this training, Hill is hoping to be able to hire four or five more military veterans this year, to support a long-term target of 51% military veterans on staff.

He’s also begun providing a two-hour course to local high school and middle school students, teaching them the fundamentals 3-D manufacturing. “At the end of it, we give them a certificate that we produce and I sign,” he said. “This program provides the foundation of advanced manufacturing and allows us to plant the 3-D printing seed.”

Hill employs his technologies to aid disabled veterans directly as well. The company has worked on AM production of prosthetics, and has focused particularly on prototyping prosthetics for injured service animals.

His company continues to grow at an astounding rate due to his team, which is made up of an exclusive group of seasoned military and AM specialists. Discipline, loyalty, integrity, and meticulous quality are their guiding principles. One of their biggest opportunities is full-scale manufacturing using 3-D printing.