Interview – Additive Industries and GKN: A perfect match for metal Additive Manufacturing
April 7, 2017
Höges: Which new approach can you as a young company bring into a rapidly developing environment?
Kersten: “While we are a relatively new player in the metal AM industry, the market is developing so fast that we have already firmly established ourselves on the market.
We thoroughly understand the experience of existing users of this technology. When we started developing equipment and software, we interviewed them, compiled their clear list of requirements and then fed this into our work as we developed the system.
What we learned was that the industry’s rapid growth had allowed existing machine builders to neglect suggestions for improvement. The market was such that players were able to sell what they built, meaning the incentive to change was relatively low. This was reinforced by resistance to changed machine specifications by regulated markets like medical and aerospace where change often means expensive recertification.
As a newcomer, we had no legacy, we could think freely and develop a completely different concept. So we defined a new category in metal Additive Manufacturing with our series production system. And because we are so customer-centric, we are capable of quickly and adeptly going from identifying a need to developing and offering an appropriate solution.
…because we are so customer-centric, we are capable of quickly and adeptly going from identifying a need to developing and offering an appropriate solution”
The latest example of this is our new entry-level MetalFAB1 model: companies can use it for process & application development and prototyping before scaling to series production. It would also allow existing users like GKN to develop the build strategies and process settings for new materials and applications before transferring these to their larger industrial MetalFAB1 systems for series production without any disturbance to their production planning and regular operations.”
Additive Industries’ new entry-level MetalFAB1 model (Courtesy Additive Industries)
Höges: Which major markets do you see for the future of AM?
Kersten: “The current markets for additive manufacturing – for instance aerospace, automotive, medical and high-tech components – are high-end markets.
We see that the MetalFAB1 system is extremely competitive in terms of total costs per part and so the technology also lends itself to other markets such as oil & gas and general machine building.
Together with GKN, we will continue working on lowering costs per part to a level where we can compete with casting, and thus open up a large new market.”
Höges: What is your vision for Additive Industries in the Metal AM area?
Kersten: “Currently we’re focusing on optimising the systems for true series production together with our customers to make sure they have a best business case. We aim to be industrial leader in metal AM for prototyping, small series production and large series fabrication.
After having established our position in Europe from the start, we are now ready to expand into new geographic areas, for instance with a Process and Application Development Centre in the USA, and then enter the Asian market next year. Our geographic growth is largely driven by the tremendous interest those markets have expressed in our products.
After launching our system in 2015 we sold four Beta systems – GKN has one – and in the meantime also the first production series machines are installed, for example at BMW. This confirms the market appetite for series production equipment, and we expect to continue growing as we have large demand in our sales pipeline and we are committed to capturing the opportunities out there.
…we expect to continue growing as we have large demand in our sales pipeline and we are committed to capturing the opportunities out there”
Our collaboration with GKN, with our joint expertise in equipment, software, materials and end-user applications, is crucial to further develop and improve this technology and its implementation. We are very grateful to GKN for this collaboration and are eager to expand it, also into other geographical areas.”
www.gkngroup.com/additive-manufacturing
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