The Additive Manufacturing Customers Group (AMUG) has introduced considered one of its keynote audio system for the 2026 AMUG Convention. Ronen Hadar, Senior Director and Head of Additive Design and Manufacturing at LEGO, will give a keynote presentation on March 19, 2026. The total convention runs March 15–19 in Reno, Nevada.
Hadar has spent greater than 15 years serving to information how LEGO develops and makes use of additive manufacturing (AM). His work spans expertise growth, innovation administration, and long-term manufacturing technique. He holds a PhD in design and product growth, with a give attention to future manufacturing strategies, from the College of Southern Denmark. At LEGO, he guides how the corporate adopts and scales AM, shifting the expertise past prototyping towards actual manufacturing purposes. Hadar’s work additionally contains constructing and creating the group accountable for additive design and advancing new methods of integrating 3D printing into LEGO’s processes.
LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Prepare set. Picture courtesy of LEGO.
The information follows LEGO’s current transfer into mass-produced 3D printed components, particularly the printed factor included within the new Christmas prepare set that’s now being offered by the model. Earlier than that, LEGO solely used printed components in small, limited-edition units. The corporate is now clearly shifting right into a extra severe manufacturing part.
Actually, three months in the past, once we first discovered that this LEGO prepare set was popping out in time for Christmas 2025, Hadar posted on his social media, “I’m very excited to share the following step in our Additive Manufacturing (AM) journey. As part of the LEGO® Icons set – Vacation Categorical Prepare – we’re that includes our first large-scale AM produced factor. The factor is a useful prepare combining a number of LEGO® connectors and an inside performance, solely potential with AM.
“The weather have been produced utilizing a High quality Element Decision platform, giving excessive accuracy and high quality to the factor, on par with our commonplace high quality and security necessities. That is solely potential because of our unbelievable engineering groups. What an incredible job.”
LEGO’s Vacation Categorical Prepare set is at the moment out there, however in excessive demand, as a part of this yr’s Winter Village lineup.
This 3D printed prepare piece is a part of the LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Prepare set. Picture courtesy of LEGO.
A Look Inside LEGO’s AM Technique
Hadar’s keynote at AMUG, titled “Additive Manufacturing at Scale in Client Items: The Case of The LEGO Group,” will clarify how a model constructed on high-volume, low-cost plastic components is working 3D printing into its manufacturing mannequin within the toy enterprise.
In accordance with AMUG, LEGO has been working a multi-year effort to co-develop new additive applied sciences, collect shopper suggestions, and push AM towards actual manufacturing, not simply prototyping. This work has helped LEGO take 3D printing from early experiments to precise merchandise on retailer cabinets.
Alex Roschli, AMUG’s Director of Schooling and Convention, mentioned the LEGO instance exhibits how AM can help each creativity and studying.
“Additive manufacturing is reshaping the manufacturing panorama, and The LEGO Group is a superb instance of how these improvements can encourage each play and studying. Its integration of additive manufacturing provides the flexibility to quickly create new designs, prototype them, and transfer into manufacturing. The AMUG viewers is aware of LEGO bricks stimulate creativity whereas partaking in play, which is nice for educating engineering. With Ronen Hadar’s keynote, our convention attendees will obtain inventive stimulus to push the expertise additional,” Roschli famous.
Brickset posted one of many first photographs of the LEGO 3D printed duck. Picture courtesy of Brickset.
LEGO is likely one of the world’s most acknowledged shopper manufacturers, and its transfer into 3D printed components is one robust sign for the business. If an organization this large can undertake AM at this scale, it suggests the expertise is maturing for mainstream use.
For AMUG attendees, Hadar’s session is anticipated to cowl how LEGO has developed and built-in AM into its processes, the investments the corporate has made in gear and digital instruments, and the challenges of bringing new manufacturing strategies right into a high-volume shopper model. He can even focus on how LEGO gathered suggestions by pilot merchandise and the way the corporate works to keep up its high quality requirements because it strikes additional into superior manufacturing. These matters match properly with the AMUG viewers, whether or not they’re new to AM or skilled engineers.
Hadar is considered one of a number of headline audio system deliberate for the 2026 convention. AMUG can even host a panel with its Diamond Sponsors on March 16, a second keynote on March 17, and the Innovators Showcase on March 18. In complete, the occasion will embrace almost 150 displays, panels, workshops, and hands-on periods.
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