Today began with a visit to the bridge that MX3D built and installed in central Amsterdam. It was neat to stand on the bridge knowing it was the first 3D printed bridge in the world. It feels like a special place considering that 3D printing is something that has exploded in popularity recently and likely is the technology of the future. 

We then visited MX3D’s office in a more industrialized part of the city. While still within city limits and serviced by public transportation, this area felt less city-like than Amsterdam. There were farm animals on large plots of land and then right down the block were big industrial buildings. In the ‘town’ center there were some shops and the road seemed to have many more cars on it than the roads in central Amsterdam. While there was more green space than in the city center, the greenery was different from what I was used to. The land was swampy and muddy, not sandy like in the other areas we have visited in The Netherlands. There was familiar grass and some tree cover but the land was so flat that it felt different from anywhere I had been before. Despite being able to take a relatively short bus ride from this area back to the hostile, it felt like I had traveled outside of the city to a completely different place altogether.

The visit to MX3D was an amazing experience that again made me wonder if maybe I would want to work in this country. If they weren’t such a small company, I would be very hopeful of the possibility of interning at MX3D next summer. The work they were doing to acquire data from sensors on the 3D printer, display them in real time, and adjust the print mid-build sounds incredibly interesting and reminds me of the work I was doing for my club, Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) this year. The way they combined a robot arm and welder to create a much simpler but more cost and time-efficient metal printer than what is currently on the market also amazes me. It is a reminder that some of the best engineering innovations are not entirely new products or ideas but simply modifications or repurposing of old technologies. By using a welder to deposit material, MX3D avoids having to source metal powder, which is hard to find and more expensive, and instead can use welding wire which is widely available in a competitive market. This is an interesting choice in product design that has important beneficial consequences in their supply chain, reducing cost, which is what allows them to succeed as a company. Without this design choice their prices would not be competitive with machine shops and they would not have been able to create a successful company. 

A side note is that I loved dinner. Many people weren’t a fan but personally, I think it is the best new food I have had in The Netherlands. The featured picture displays a delicious peanut soup that reminds me of a Thai peanut noodle dish I love. The rice, with shredded chicken, an egg, and peanuts depicted below was also incredible.

Finally, the word of the day is ingang because as I was people watching in the city, I noticed this written on a building and wondered what it meant. It means entrance but I think it sounds more fun than the word ‘entrance.’