Materialise expands German locations with new Metal Competence Center for AM
April 22, 2021
With its increasing focus on metal Additive Manufacturing, Materialise, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has opened a new 3,500 m² Metal Competence Center for AM in Bremen, Germany, with the capacity for over thirty industrial metal AM machines and 120 employees.
Materialise previously operated two facilities focused on metal AM in Bremen: software development & distribution and industrial manufacturing centres. The Metal Competence Center will unite and expand Materialise’s Bremen metal AM sites under one roof, supporting integrated production and development.
The centre, which Materialise has invested approximately €7.5 million to construct, will also enable increased collaboration between software development and manufacturing teams to better serve its global industrial customers. The company hopes to also leverage its practical manufacturing experience to enhance its software development, whilst simultaneously applying its knowledge of AM software to develop high-quality, cost-effective manufacturing solutions for metal AM.
In line with Materialise’s corporate goals, the company’s work at the new facility will also focus on research to enable more sustainable metal AM solutions.
“Metal 3D printing has established itself as a powerful manufacturing solution, empowering people through local, decentralised production and providing a more sustainable way to manufacture products when compared to conventional manufacturing technologies. But as an industry we need to step up our efforts to make the 3D printing process itself more sustainable,” stated Jurgen Laudus, vice president of Materialise Manufacturing. “Our work in Bremen will explore opportunities to optimise printing processes, improve energy efficiency and more consistently recover and reuse metal powder to create more sustainable technologies.”
An opening ceremony for the Metal Competence Center is scheduled for September 2021.
