Materialise Bremen facility
Materialise has announced the opening of a new 3,500-square-metre metal 3D printing facility in Bremen, Germany after investing €7.5 million.
The new Metal Competence Center for 3D Printing will bring the company’s two existing metal 3D printing sites in Bremen – which included a software & development centre and an industrial manufacturing centre – under one roof. Materialise says by integrating production and development it will increase collaboration between its software development and manufacturing teams.
As the demand for metal 3D printing technology increases, so has Materialise’s focus on the technology. Per Materialise, manufacturers are recognising the growing potential of metal 3D printing as a tool to enable serial production, while the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic has also led businesses to reassess their global supply chain strategies.
Subsequently, Materialise has sought to inject more than €7m into this new facility, which has the capacity to house more than 120 employees and 30 metal 3D printers, to better serve its customers. The company believes by bringing its software and manufacturing teams closer together, they can both benefit from the others’ expertise and, in turn, deliver high-quality and cost-effective metal 3D printing solutions to its customer base. In line with the company’s corporate goals, research into enhancing metal 3D printing’s sustainability will also be carried out.
“Metal 3D printing has established itself as a powerful manufacturing solution, empowering people through local, decentralised production and providing a more sustainable way to manufacture products when compared to conventional manufacturing technologies,” commented Jurgen Laudus, Vice President of Materialise Manufacturing. “But as an industry we need to step up our efforts to make the 3D printing process itself more sustainable. Our work in Bremen will explore opportunities to optimise printing processes, improve energy efficiency and more consistently recover and reuse metal powder to create more sustainable technologies.”
Materialise is set to hold an opening ceremony for the Metal Competence Center in September 2021.
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