Review on lane 2022

After Movie

LANE 2022 Review – Why we love our in-person LANE

Let’s get it started… The Casual Reception

It’s Sunday evening. A part of our team is finishing the last details at the conference venue in the city hall of Fuerth, the others can’t wait, prepared with 320 name tags, to welcome our first guests at the legendary „Kofferfabrik“. Finally, after 4 years, our in-person LANE starts with the Casual Reception. A flying buffet with Franconian Tapas, VR Games, an XXL Kicker in the very relaxed atmosphere made our evening one to remember. Chatting with old friends and getting to know new ones from 20 different countries was exciting after the tough Corona times. This smooth conference start made us confident for the next days….

 

Back for good… The Conference

„Welcome back 😊“ – the first message you read, when you enter the plenary room, waiting for the inspiring keynote talks of Prof. Yongfeng Lu, Prof. Philip Russell, Prof. Joost Duflou and Troy Allen (winner of the LANE 2020 Best Presentation Award) and not at least for the winner of this year’s WLT Award: Dr. Anna Rosa Ziefuß. Afterwards, you go for a break in the foyer and you recognize immediately what we missed in the last years, this lively international vibe. Scientist, developers, technical sales persons, and entrepreneurs from all over the world are discussing the latest research results in the field of laser material processing. The booths of international well-known companies are the framework of this setting and strengthen our ambition to get a link between research work and industrial application. Also, for the first time, we had our #people@lane lounge. With this we succeeded in making the people behind the talks from the different nations visible and also to draw attention to the topic of diversity in science.

 

Glamorous… The Conference Dinner

Who will be the next Knight of Laser Technology? This was the question of the day, participants received as push message in their LANE app. At the traditional Conference Dinner in the Ofenwerk Nuremberg they got the answer. After an extraordinary candle light dinner surrounded by classic cars, the highlight of the evening came up. The last knight, Prof. Craig Arnold, came on stage to give the laudation for our new knight: Prof. Reinhart Poprawe – congratulations!

 

This is how we do it… The Technical Sessions

In four conference days all relevant topics of laser material processing have been presented and discussed in technical depth in 200 talks (185 scientific, 15 industrial). The range of topics went from Additive Manufacturing, Laser Beam Welding, Ultra Short Pulse Processing and Surface Treatment over Simulation, Sensing and Control to Beam Shaping, Laser Safety and the state of current developments in the field of E-Mobility, AI and Industry 4.0. Thanks to the great support of our Review Committee and their double-blind review in advance, all accepted scientific papers are published online as a special issue of Elsevier's open access journal 'Procedia CIRP': https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/procedia-cirp/vol/111/suppl/C. Industrial papers are available via the conference website: https://www.lane-conference.org/industrial-paper-2022.

 

In order to honor the best talk, all participants had the chance to vote for the “Best Presentation Award LANE 2022” which is sponsored by the “International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing (IJEM)” and endowed with a price money of 1,000 € and a talk at the plenary session of LANE 2024. Congratulations to the winner Mirko Sinico (KU Leuven, Belgium) for his talk on “High speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion of M789 tool steel with an optimized 120 µm layer thickness approach”. The second and third place (endowed with 500 € each) go to Sophie Grabmann and Avelino Zapata (Technical University Munich, Germany).

 

Come as you are… Our Lab Tour & Cocktail Session

For us, this is a special highlight. We welcome our guests “at home” in our labs. Laser demos on the state of scientific knowledge, easy street food, Franconian beer and delicious cocktails, served by our wonderful colleagues, make this social event so personal and unique. When around midnight the last shuttle bus with our happy participants is leaving back for their hotels, the last evening of the conference comes to an end and the best colleagues in the world help to fold up countless beer tables, you know: It was worth all the efforts! LANE brings people together, not only as scientists but also as persons.

 

Time to say goodbye… The Closing

When the last talk of this year’s closing plenary session “Additive Manufacturing in Sweden” is finished and you hang farewell-gingerbread-LANE-hearts around the participants necks and say goodbye, you are happy to lay on your couch tonight, a little bit sad that it is over, but with anticipation for LANE 2024. 

 

Thank you very much to all participants, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, reviewers, chairs, colleagues and supporters that made this LANE so special – we loved it! 😊

 

Your LANE Team