A MAN in Gwynedd has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of his services to the additive manufacturing (3D printing) sector.

Phillip Dickens, 66, was among those included in King Charles III’s Birthday Honours list.

In 2015, he co-founded “Added Scientific”, a research company with offices and laboratory space in Nottingham.

He received a letter informing him of his MBE in mid-May, though he initially had to retrieve it from a neighbour.

Phillip, who lives near Nefyn, said: “The letter actually went to a neighbour, so it was sitting in the neighbour’s house for a week or so.

“We didn’t realise what it was at first; I was stunned when I first opened it!

“I had to read it several times before I appreciated what it was, because it just didn’t sink in for a while.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to go to London to receive my award; I don’t know when that will be yet, though.

“My wife and I have had a very little celebration, but we’ll probably do something bigger later on.

"The MBE was very much a surprise and a great honour.

"The work I have done in additive manufacturing (AKA 3D printing) during the last 32 years would not have been possible without all the brilliant people I have worked with."

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Phillip is credited by his peers as providing the foundations for the adoption of 3D printing technology.

Indeed, the UK now has a strong footprint in this area and could win up to £5bn of this rapidly growing global market, forecast to reach £69bn by 2025.

This will help protect existing jobs (63,000 by 2022), while also generating new employment.

He was the first academic worldwide to investigate multi-pass welding to make 3D metal shapes, and the first to show the technical feasibility of injection moulding into stereolithography tool cavities.

Phillip was also the first to show how rapid prototyping could be used as a process for manufacturing end-use parts, demonstrating the economic viability of the approach.