BASF Continues Expansion into 3D Printing Materials with Acquisition of Innofil3D

Global chemical company BASF has been involved in 3D printing for a while now. The company is a producer of materials as well as chemicals, and as the 3D printing materials industry is such a fast-growing one, BASF has wisely decided to put significant resources and effort into the development of 3D printing materials. The company took a big stride forward into the 3D printing industry when it became one of HP’s materials development partners, and additional partnerships with companies such as Essentium have placed it in a position to become a leader in next-generation 3D printing materials.

A few weeks ago, BASF made it even clearer that it is serious about 3D printing with the establishment of BASF 3D Printing Solutions, a new business that will be fully dedicated to additive manufacturing when it begins operations on September 1. The business will be a subsidiary of BASF New Business GmbH, a unit that seeks out potential new areas of growth and, as its name suggests, builds new businesses around them. Following the announcement of the creation of BASF 3D Printing Solutions, today BASF New Business announced that it has acquired Innofil3D, a Dutch filament manufacturer that produces a wide range of standard and specialty materials for FDM 3D printing.

“With this acquisition, BASF is moving one step further along the value chain and can now provide not only plastic granulate for 3D printing but also the next processing level: the filaments,” said Volker Hammes, Managing Director at BASF New Business. “Following the recently announced establishment of BASF 3D Printing Solutions, based in Heidelberg, Germany, this is another important step in strengthening our 3D business.”

Innofil3D offers PLA, ABS and PET filaments in addition to a large selection of specialty filaments such as flexible, water-soluble, color-changing, recycled and more. It also offers a Professional series of high-performance materials. After the acquisition, Innofil3D will continue its normal business activities, in addition to serving as a filament development and production platform for BASF.

“Innofil3D’s well-filled product pipeline in combination with BASF’s plans to develop high-performance filaments will form an important foundation of BASF’s solutions for layered 3D printing,” said Hammes, who will become the Managing Director of BASF 3D Printing Solutions.

Innofil3D is a young company, established in 2014 as a spinoff of Applied Polymer Innovations. Based in Emmen, Netherlands, the company has a wide distribution network that spans multiple countries. BASF, meanwhile, has a presence in nearly every country in the world, and Innofil3D will benefit from being a part of the massive corporation.

“We are very happy to be part of BASF,” said Jeroen Wiggers, Managing Director of Innofil3D. “One of the first immediate advantages is that this will accelerate the further development of the newest filament technologies, making us even better able to help our customers be successful now and in the future.”

Both companies have a particular focus on engineering-grade materials, so they should work well together as they continue to develop new 3D printing filaments and help to advance 3D printing – particularly FFF 3D printing – from a prototyping technology to a full means of final production. Discuss in the BASF Innofil3D forum at 3DPB.com.