Expansions and Partnerships Bring More 3D Printing and Advanced Technology to the UK and Portugal

Additive Industries has become well known for its annual Additive World Design for Additive Manufacturing Challenge – the latest winners of which have just been announced – as well as for its industrial MetalFAB1 3D printer. Founded in 2012, Additive Industries has expanded its presence by implementing its equipment at such prominent companies and organizations as Airbus, the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 team and GKN. Now the company is further growing with the establishment of a Process and Application Development Centre in the United Kingdom.

The new Centre will allow Additive Industries to expand its industrial metal 3D printing equipment, software development, sales and service throughout the UK and Ireland. It will be run by Dr. Mark Beard, who has been in the 3D printing industry for 14 years and was previously the Technical Director at 3T RPD, a leading metal 3D printing provider in the UK.

“Over several decades, the UK has established itself as one of the global leaders in knowledge and successful application of Additive Manufacturing in series production and end use components,” he said. “Strong academic research and established AM users in medical, aerospace, industrial and motorsport sectors have developed a mature, standardised and qualified supply chain for these markets. The MetalFAB1 is next logical step for these users as it is the first AM machine capable of true series production.”

The new facility will house MetalFAB1 demonstration systems and support process and application development for the UK and Ireland. A staff of 3D printing professionals will be hired to help companies realize series production for additively manufactured components and provide support for the full manufacturing process chain.

Portugal will also be seeing some more technology, including 3D printing, happening within its borders shortly.

BEEVERYCREATIVE, the leading 3D printer manufacturer in the country, is partnering up with Siemens Portugal and CadFlow to open i-Experience Centers 4.0 in Portugal. i-Experience Centers 4.0 are experimentation centers designed to promote Industry 4.0 within the country.

In January of 2017 Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa, announced several measures to encourage adoption of Industry 4.0 concepts and practices by Portuguese companies. BEEVERYCREATIVE is one of the companies selected by the government to participate in the Industry 4.0 movement, and one of its first initiatives is to open the i-Experience Centers 4.0. BEEVERYCREATIVE’s role in the partnership will be to equip the centers with 3D printers and provide support.

“Our goal is to help in the training of everyone who wants to join us in the industry transformation and give them the tools necessary to help the country take this technological leap,” said António Mira, Industry Director at Siemens Portugal.

The centers will be open to companies, universities and others, and the equipment will be accessible to anyone. The first center was already inaugurated at the Siemens Portugal headquarters.

“The i-Experience Centers will work as testing labs to design, test and validate solutions within the Industry 4.0 paradigm, open to the academic community and business incubators,” said Carlos Melo, Product Manager at CadFlow.

As additional centers are established, they will connect with each other and promote differentiation initiatives to help modernize Portugal’s industry.

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