Volkmann USA has expanded its German manufacturing centre to increase production capacity and reduce lead times for its process and powder handling equipment.
The expansion adds 48,437 square feet to its global headquarters in Soest, and aims to optimise deliveries of its metal powder handling systems, pneumatic vacuum conveying systems, bulk bag unloaders, vibrating feeders, and companion bulk material handling equipment.
The company says the plant has already led to reduced lead times for custom conveyor orders to the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It has also introduced a new Quick Ship program which can deliver a new VS Series vacuum conveyor in two weeks.
The facility integrates design engineering, manufacturing, assembly, quality control, shipping, and related operations under one roof. A new testing laboratory also provides a full lineup of the company's powder handling equipment including fully operating pneumatic vacuum conveying systems, bulk bag unloaders, and feeders, plus metal automated powder handling equipment additive manufacturing.
Earlier this year, Volkmann introduced a 'next-generation' version of its PowTReX metal powder conveying system. The PowTReX system automatically transfers 3D printing powders from a container or supply hopper, extracts and sieves used powder after a completed build job to remove oversize particles, and collects the sieved powder for reuse and return into the printing process. It also recently announced a collaboration with HP to deliver semi-automated part depowdering, cleaning, powder recovery, and refilling to the HP Metal Jet S100 Printing Solution through the entry-level vPort contained powder management system.
