Switzerland’s SIPBB installs new IMPACT 4530 metal Additive Manufacturing machine from IRPD
February 10, 2025
United Grinding Group member IRPD, based in St Gallen, Switzerland, has debuted its IMPACT 4530 metal Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing machine at a celebratory hand-over event at the Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne (SIPBB).
The Innovation Park is a private non-profit organisation that primarily supports and conducts applied, industry-related research and development. As part of the Switzerland Innovation foundation network, the SIPBB aims to attract international research investment, promote Swiss innovation, support start-ups and accelerate the translation of research into marketable products.
The handover was attended by representatives from IRPD, SIPBB and the United Grinding Group, who acknowledged the importance of the acquisition.
“After six years of development, today is an important day for IRPD and the history of Additive Manufacturing in Switzerland – this fills me with pride,” stated Andreas Burn, Managing Director of SIPBB and Head of the Swiss Advanced Manufacturing Centre. “By maintaining a strong emphasis on quality and productivity, utilising a fully digitalised process chain, and implementing a high level of automation, manufacturing in Switzerland is set to remain profitable in the future.”
Christoph Plüss, member of the Board of Directors at IRPD and CTO of the United Grinding Group, added, “Market analyses had shown that we could fill a gap with the development and construction of the first Swiss additive machine tool. This was a clear opportunity and motivation enough for the Group.”
The IMPACT 4530 has a build volume of 450 x 300 x 400 mm and is available with either two or four 1,000 W synchronised fibre lasers. It is equipped with C.O.R.E., the hardware and software architecture for machine tools from the United Grinding Group. This allows it to communicate with third-party systems and access other United Grinding Group products.
IRPD explained that the IMPACT 4530 has a high level of system autonomy and can be scaled as a stand-alone machine or a fully automated manufacturing network.
