Shahbaz - High Speed Sintering

Much more surprising was the choice of location for his Master’s degree: Aachen in Germany. In the course of his Bachelor’s degree, he became particularly enthusiastic about the subject of materials science, and since Germany is particularly renowned internationally for this field, he decided to take this step at one of the most prestigious universities. So in 2012, a flight started for him that would change his life from the ground up.

Every beginning is difficult, especially when you move to a country whose language you don’t yet speak. So it took a little while for Shahbaz to make friends with his fellow students, but he quickly learned the language and built up a social network. Today, the only culture shock he has to face every year is winter.

During his studies, he also came into contact with 3D printing for the first time. From then on, the technology never let him go. “Making practical and everyday products, layer by layer, sounded very organic and natural to me and I was eager to learn more about it.” He followed this thirst for knowledge to the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research, where his fascination was further consolidated and matured into a career aspiration. “I wanted to learn about every aspect, from the 3D printer itself, to the process technology. So the whole package and the best way to do that was directly with a manufacturer.”

And so Shahbaz joined voxeljet in 2017. First as a service technician to develop a deeper understanding of the machines and the process. While his early days were still characterised by nervousness, this quickly turned into respect and an even deeper fascination for 3D printing technology. The start as a service technician was just right for this, as the profile required a lot of “learning by doing”. This is how he got to know the physical aspects in their entirety. Instead of just working on a cold machine, Shahbaz learned that printers function like an organism with a personality. A personality with a print head as its heart and various sub-processes acting as its brain.

In 2020, he joined our High-Speed Sintering (HSS) team in Research & Development and is now responsible for testing, stabilising and optimising the HSS process for various existing and new polymer materials. “With these developments, I can already make my contribution to shaping the future of industrial 3D printing,” says Shahbaz happily.

For his job, Shahbaz has to be as flexible as the HSS 3D printing process. Every day he encounters new tricky tasks and problems that have to be solved in a creative and goal-oriented way. That’s where his colleagues are also happy to come to his aid. “Discussing problems and challenges with the team, brainstorming and finding solutions together is what makes my life at voxeljet AG special. After living in Germany for almost 10 years now, I can say with certainty that I have grown many times over as a person and am still growing.” For this reason, leaving Germany again is not an option for him, even though his family and roots are still in India. Thanks to digitalisation, which has brought our world as a whole closer together, contact with his family in India never breaks off in the form of chats and video calls. So Shahbaz can continue his journey in Germany and we are proud and happy to be part of it.