New Zealand’s RAM3D opens new metal Additive Manufacturing facility
February 20, 2017
New Zealand’s Rapid Advanced Manufacturing (RAM3D) has announced the opening of a new facility in Tauranga’s Tauriko Business Park, with the aim of making metal Additive Manufacturing more accessible to the Australian and New Zealand markets. The company has been collaborating with Renishaw and has already installed several AM250 metal Additive Manufacturing systems at the new site, with plans to install 20 systems by the end of 2020.
RAM3D was spun out of the research organisation Titanium Industry Development Association (TiDA) and is Australasia’s largest centre for metal Additive Manufacturing. RAM3D’s new facility allows companies from a range of sectors, including aerospace, defence, consumer and industrial, to explore the benefits of the metal AM process.
“The Additive Manufacturing market is on the rise in New Zealand and Australia,” stated Warwick Downing, Managing Director of Rapid Advanced Manufacturing. “This growth is fuelled by realism, not hype; the enquiries we are getting show a clear understanding of the potential of design for additive manufacturing. This is an encouraging trend. We believe this trend is being driven by industry collaborations that facilitate a better understanding of the technology, such as the one between RAM3D and Renishaw.”
Beppie Holm, Warwick Downing and Minister Steven Joyce unveiling the RAM3D statue (image: RAM3D)
The company works with its clients to improve the design of production parts and prototypes. It also uses Additive Manufacturing to make these parts in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. RAM3D stated it is collaborating with businesses as far away as Singapore, with the products manufactured at the Tauranga centre used around the world.
“RAM3D strongly believes that Additive Manufacturing is a competitive production technology with an unprecedented potential for industry,” stated Mike Brown, Managing Director of Renishaw Oceania. “The company’s unique combination of skills, facilities and experience make it an industry leader in this part of the world. It is a privilege for Renishaw to collaborate with such a key player in the market to grow the region’s adoption of Additive Manufacturing.”
