Canada Makes is pleased to welcome Memorial University to the Canada Makes ecosystem.

Led by Ahmed Youssri Elruby, Memorial is advancing a major Smart Additive Manufacturing Technologies initiative focused on expanding Canada’s additive manufacturing research and infrastructure capabilities for offshore and industrial applications.

Supported through Energy Research Innovation, the project is building a new additive manufacturing lab featuring three complementary technologies: laser powder bed fusion for high-precision components, laser direct energy deposition (DED) with a five-axis CNC table, and an eight-axis wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) robotic system for large-scale production.

The facility will enable researchers and industry partners to explore additive manufacturing across multiple scales and applications. One of the lab’s most advanced systems will allow researchers to combine multiple metal powders layer-by-layer, opening the door to new functionally graded materials and novel manufacturing approaches.

According to Elruby, the long-term vision behind the project is helping industry move toward digital inventory models, where critical spare parts can be manufactured on demand rather than stored physically or sourced through long supply chains.

Beyond offshore applications, Memorial is already preparing collaborative research projects involving full-scale 3D printed marine propellers and acoustic black hole structures designed to absorb and reduce underwater noise.

Joining Canada Makes will help Memorial strengthen industry collaboration, knowledge sharing, and workforce development initiatives in additive manufacturing.

“We want this capability to be utilized broadly across campus, by researchers, students, industry, and collaborators from other universities,” said Elruby. “That would be a great success for the lab.”

Canada Makes looks forward to supporting Memorial University as it continues to expand additive manufacturing research, training, and innovation in Canada.