ESA and NASA leaders open Additive Industries’ new Process and Application Development Centre
April 21, 2022
Additive Industries, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, reports that its new Process and Application Development Centre located in Filton, Bristol, UK, has officially been opened by Dr Raymond Clinton (Corky) Clinton Jr, Associate Director of the Science and Technology Office, NASA, and Dr Thomas Rohr, Head of Materials and Processes Section at the European Space Agency (ESA).
The new Additive Industries Application Centre is focused on enabling customers and partners to realise the full potential of metal Additive Manufacturing solutions, providing professional services, and guiding the customer through the full application development process, including design for AM, process development, materials development, post-processing and more. The Competence Centre is part of Additive Industries’ global network of Competence Centres, located in Eindhoven, Los Angeles, and Singapore.
Dr Clinton Jr and Dr Rohr were joined by Dr Mark Beard, Additive Industries’ Global Director of Process & Application Development and General Manager of the Centre. Part of the opening ceremony was the presentation of Additive Industries’ flagship product MetalFABG2, which is said to offer twice the productivity of previous models. It features optimised gas flow, optimised heat management, updated process parameters and automated beam quality measurements.
The opening also included a seminar on ‘Excellence in Space’, a panel discussion with representatives from the aerospace industry and a workshop on Additive Manufacturing in space development.
The new Additive Industries centre is located at the historic Filton Aerospace Park, in the middle of a growing Additive Manufacturing hub. Filton has been an important manufacturing site since 1910, with the adjacent Filton Airfield in operation throughout the last century, in addition to the development and production of Concorde in the 1960s and 70s. The area is already the established home for a number of global aerospace, advanced engineering and manufacturing businesses including Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and GKN.
“Filton has a long and successful history in advanced engineering, aerospace and defence, driven by knowledge, innovation, enterprise, and excellence,” commented Dr Beard. “Therefore, it is the perfect location for our new centre. We are strongly convinced that Additive Manufacturing is increasingly important for the aerospace and defence industry. Working here in the heart of this industry, we can collaborate first-hand with all parties and by doing so advance our technology on a daily basis.”
