APWorks and Additive Industries launch next phase of industrial AM in Bristol
August 13, 2019
APWorks GmbH, a subsidiary of Premium Aerotec, located at Airbus’ headquarters in Taufkirchen, Germany, and Additive Industries, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, are reported to be moving to the next phase of industrial Additive Manufacturing certification and series production.
APWorks was Additive Industries’ first customer, and has run extensive tests on its MetalFAB1 Beta system since its installation in March 2016, with its primary focus being on the development and production of complex and advanced applications for metal Additive Manufacturing in non-regulated industries such as automotive, robotics or tooling, as well as new material and software development.
The companies will now begin the series Additive Manufacturing of certified parts for the aerospace industry at the new Additive Industries Process & Application Development Centre in Filton, near Bristol, UK. Daan Kersten, CEO of Additive Industries, stated, “We are proud to continue our journey from prototyping to series production with APWorks, our first customer and one of the front-runners in our industry.”
“We believe metal Additive Manufacturing will continue to evolve into a mature fabrication technology and prove to be able to compete with conventional processes like casting, machining and Powder Metallurgy,” commented Joachim Zettler, CEO of APWorks. “In the next years we expect this market to continuously and rapidly grow, especially in the aerospace industry, new airplanes and aero-engines will contain a substantial number of parts that are additively manufactured.”
Andreas Nick, CTO of APWorks, explained, “In the UK, our colleagues headed by our Chief Product Officer Jonathan Meyer will work closely with the Additive Industries Process & Application Development team lead by Dr Mark Beard, their Global Director for Process & Application Development, on further qualification and certification of aerospace parts in nickel based alloys like Inconel 718.”
