voestalpine completes run-up phase for new metal powder facility
November 27, 2018
voestalpine’s new Additive Manufacturing powder production facility in Kapfenberg, Austria (Courtesy voestalpine Group)
voestalpine Group’s High Performance Metals Division, based at sites in Kapfenberg and Mürzzuschlag, Austria, states that it has completed the run-up phase for a new metal powder production facility which will produce powders for Additive Manufacturing. The new facility forms part of an wider, ongoing investment in technology development at the Kapfenberg site, expected to reach around half a billion euros by 2021.
The launch of the AM powder facility follows the division’s opening of a pilot plant in 2016, and the group stated that in future, it expects each of its external partners as well as its own global AM centres to be supplied with powders from Kapfenberg. Franz Rotter, Member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and Head of the High Performance Metals Division, stated, “We are one of only a few suppliers worldwide able to offer a complete value chain in the metal Additive Manufacturing sector — covering everything from powder and design through to the final metal part.”
In summer 2018, a new chemical laboratory was opened at Kapfenberg with the aim of enabling the ongoing optimisation of material production and processing at voestalpine Böhler Edelstahl. An in-house competence centre for digitalisation was also established to provide a training and development space, with an apprentice workshop applying digitally-supported training concepts, and an electronics and automation laboratory has been set up with a focus on process control, mechatronics, robotics and IT technology.
voestalpine High Performance Metals Division employs a workforce of around 3,800 and is a leading global provider of high-performance materials and special forgings for the aerospace sector. Its products are used in structural and undercarriage parts, engine components, and door segments in all major models of aircraft, including Airbus, Boeing, Embraer and Bombardier.
