Nikon believes metal Additive Manufacturing can become its next billion-dollar business. Backed by significant cumulative investment, the company is concentrating on defence, qualification strategy and production economics rather than general rapid expansion. Hamid Zarringhalam, in conversation with Martin McMahon and Nick Williams, explores how semiconductor-style process control and long equipment lifecycles underpin Nikon’s approach – and why execution, not enthusiasm, will determine how AM delivers durable industrial scale.
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Following our interview with Hamid Zarringhalam in the preceding article, Metal AM travelled to Nikon Advanced Manufacturing’s Long Beach, California facility to examine how the company’s defence-led strategy is being executed in practice. Reporting for Metal AM magazine, Martin McMahon toured the production floors, qualification laboratories and large-format NXG installations supporting U.S. defence programmes, assessing how Nikon is translating capital investment and policy alignment into repeatable process control, production throughput and industrial-scale capability.
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For Colnago, one of cycling’s most prestigious brands, the Steelnovo represents a showcase project – a modern interpretation of what the ‘perfect’ road bike might look like. Instead of the titanium more commonly used for additively manufactured frame lugs, the company worked with Additiva Srl and ATLIX to develop complex 316L steel nodes combined with Columbus steel tubing. Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine’s Nick Williams explores how the project demonstrates the potential of AM to modernise traditional materials while preserving the distinctive ride quality associated with steel frames.
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In high-temperature propulsion applications, it is materials that set the boundaries of what is possible. Additive Manufacturing may have changed how we build components, but it hasn’t necessarily changed what extremes these components can endure in service. NASA’s GRX-810 oxide-dispersion-strengthened superalloy tackles that constraint head-on: a high-temperature alloy designed, unlike legacy alloys, specifically for AM. Here, NASA’s Tim Smith and Paul Gradl explain how GRX-810 was developed, what has been demonstrated to date, and the pathway to commercial success.
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Ahead of its Formnext launch, Metal AM was invited to EOS’s facilities near Munich, Germany, for an exclusive preview of the new EOS M4 ONYX and in-depth discussions with the developers, product managers, and senior leadership behind it. What emerges is a development story shaped by customer priorities: not a departure into record-breaking extremes, but a focused evolution designed to deliver what production users value most. Dr Martin McMahon, Nick Williams, and Emma Lawn examine the technical priorities behind this response – process stability and repeatability, scan-field strategy, powder and waste handling, and the software controls supporting qualified series production.
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As manufacturers push towards higher Additive Manufacturing throughput, the limitations of traditional support removal methods become increasingly visible. Manual practices cannot reliably meet the safety, repeatability, and cost targets required for industrial Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB). toolcraft’s SupportBlaster 320-HA offers a semi-automated alternative, using dry-ice pellets to detach supports in a controlled manner. In this article, Joseph Kowen reviews the technology’s development, underlying process physics, and experimental data, highlighting its relevance for more scalable metal AM production.
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As metal Additive Manufacturing shifts toward larger, higher-value components, conventional AM simulation often fails to scale and remains focused on prediction rather than actionable process improvement. PanOptimization’s PanX seeks to address this gap with a scalable, high-fidelity Finite Element Analysis (FEA) solver for PBF-LB and DED that supports feed-forward optimisation of parameters, timing, and distortion compensation. In this article, Erik Denlinger and Pan Michaleris examine the technical innovations enabling next-generation AM simulation and the commercial implications for throughput and yield, as well as market directions.
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Additive Manufacturing’s promise isn’t in ‘printing everything’ – it is in knowing exactly where to apply the technology. At Domin, a UK manufacturer of motion control products, CEO Marcus Pont’s team uses the technology sparingly yet decisively, exploiting AM-enabled innovations and its potential to deliver complex internal geometries. The twist? A focus on steel. Too often overlooked for titanium or aluminium, maraging steel underpins robust, precise, and efficient hydraulic products. Martin McMahon explores the disciplined use of AM as powerful tool: performance first, costs controlled, and selectively delivering impact at scale.
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While AI is accelerating innovation across industries, engineering design remains slow, manual and opaque, constrained by tools such as CAD that capture geometry but not intent. In this article, LEAP 71 co-founder Lin Kayser argues that to realise the full potential of Additive Manufacturing, and enable meaningful AI in hardware development, we have to rethink how machines are designed. His solution is Computational Engineering, a system that encodes physics, constraints, and logic directly into code, transforming engineering into a scalable, intelligent process.
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Additive Manufacturing is gaining traction in regulated industries, but broader adoption depends on proven qualification frameworks. This article explores the methodology developed by Qualified AM GmbH, demonstrated through case studies in the semiconductor, rail, and remote manufacturing environments. Whether applying ISO/ASTM 52920, 52904, 52930, 52928, 52901 or industry standards such as ISO 9001, AS/EN 9100, and ISO 13485, Qualified AM supports industry with a scalable, standards-based approach to compliant and decentralised AM production.
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Ten years ago, in the first-ever issue of Metal AM magazine, Materials Solutions was featured as one of the industry’s rising stars. A decade on, with ongoing questions about the wider industry’s progress, we returned to see what the company’s journey reveals. Much has changed, including its acquisition by Siemens Energy (formerly Siemens AG), which fuelled significant growth. Yet the company remains firmly focused on its core expertise: processing nickel-base superalloys for high-temperature applications. Martin McMahon reports on its journey to large-scale series production, including a milestone agreement with Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace and a major investment in Nikon SLM Solutions’ NXG XII 600 machines.
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As Additive Manufacturing pushes the boundaries of design, post-processing remains a major challenge – in particular powder removal in Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB). But what if the digital twin of a part could not only optimise its design, but also predict and streamline powder removal? Here, Joseph Kowen explores how Solukon’s SPR-Pathfinder software achieves this, using advanced simulation to map powder flow and automate depowdering, ensuring that even the most intricate designs remain manufacturable.
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