ADDiTEC
ADDiTEC may look to deliver additional production technologies in the future, CEO Brian Matthews revealed on the Additive Insight podcast.
The company was founded in 2015 to develop and bring to market direct energy deposition (DED) 3D printing technology suitable for meeting production needs in industries such as aerospace and defence. But last year, ADDiTEC also acquired Xerox’s Elem Additive business, integrating its Liquid Metal additive manufacturing technology.
Liquid Metal has since been made available by ADDiTEC as a standalone product and a technology that supplements its DED process in the company’s Hybrid3 system. Speaking to TCT in August 2023, Matthews explained that its Liquid Metal and DED technologies are very complementary, addressing different manufacturing challenges, while also noting that it is the company’s aim to be ‘95% confident that whoever the customer is, whatever the industry is, whatever the material is, we’re got the product for you.’
As the company continues to work towards that goal, Matthews won’t rule out further expansions to its product portfolio.
“We’re always going to be flexible,” Matthews said, “and so you’ll see a lot of twists and turns. The technology vision, at least two technologies in a two-technology stack company, but don’t be surprised in the future if you see additional technologies come into the company that we’ve developed organically or through acquisition. As long as it meets that criteria [around] sustainability, that’s the critical thing, as long as it supplements what we’re doing, [as long as] it’s synergistic.”
Elem Additive’s Liquid Metal technology was deemed to be just that and as ADDiTEC continues to grow, the company will remain focused on improving its additive manufacturing solutions offering.
Since establishing the company nine years ago, ADDiTEC has been working to enable the additive manufacture of complex products. That, Matthews explained, is the high bar the company set for itself. Achieving it is the vision, but how the company achieves it is flexible.
And it always has been. Matthews suggests producing a business plan as a startup is often futile, since the ever changing landscape of a young business can render the plan redundant within two weeks.
“It’s a nice exercise to go through,” said Matthews, “to think about what we want to accomplish, what’s the next step? And a step after that, step after that? That adaptability equation metric is really critical as a company. If you can’t adapt, you can’t survive.”
