AddUp Adds DED 3D Printing Technology with Acquisition of BeAM

BeAM was founded in 2012 as a company focused on Directed Energy Deposition (DED), a unique method of metal additive manufacturing that builds parts in free space and can print onto existing parts, repairing, coating or simply adding on to them. Based in Strasbourg, BeAM has since opened subsidiaries in Cincinnati and Singapore, and serves customers in a wide variety of industries, particularly aeronautics, defense and energy.

Today, BeAM announced that it has been acquired by AddUp, founded in 2016 as a joint venture between Fives and Michelin. The company offers complete industrial metal 3D printing solutions and is based in France with a subsidiary in the United States. Acquiring BeAM will allow AddUp to add DED to its range of metal 3D printing technologies, complementing existing Laser Beam Melting (LBM). Incorporating DED will enable AddUp to take advantage of its abilities, which include component repair, the addition of new features onto existing parts and the creation of large, complex parts.

“Together, BeAM and AddUp will be uniquely positioned in the additive manufacturing market by offering their customers a comprehensive range of metal additive manufacturing solutions, with, in particular, training and consulting, 3D printing systems and the making of parts for Proof Of Concept (POC),” said Vincent Ferreiro, CEO of AddUp.

The acquisition of BeAM strengthens the position of both companies, which share a goal of supporting customers in the development of metal 3D printing solutions that center on industrial robustness, HSE (Health, Safety & Environment) and certification.

“We see a lot of value in combining DED with other 3D technologies. For instance, we developed the manufacturing of a civil jet airduct combining powder bed fusion and DED: mixing the advantages of both technologies provided great benefits. Teaming up with AddUp will enable us to push such combined approach and create value for our customers,” BeAM CEO Vincent Gillet told 3DPrint.com.

“BeAM and AddUp are both young companies but share very similar values. We both put the emphasis on bringing the technology to a more mature stage. This translates in developing better process controls, repetitive performances, health and safety assessment and vision for production requirements.”

BeAM’s customers are located both in France and abroad. The company has registered its technology at the highest qualification level for the repair of aeronautical parts in turbines and is currently developing new industrial applications for a variety of sectors. BeAM’s technology can both manufacture and repair highly complex, critical parts, making it a valuable resource for its growing list of customers, which includes such prominent organizations as Safran, Chromalloy, the Ecole Polytechnique, IRT Saint Exupéry, ESTIA, OPT’ALM – a subsidiary of Rossi Aero, Aero Sud-Ouest, the University of Sheffield (UK) and SC3DP Research Centre (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore).

“We are very excited to bring together our development teams and cross share their current work to capitalize on each other progress. Although our machines do not operate with the same modalities, we see a lot of common work to improve them simultaneously,” Gillet told 3DPrint.com.”It is great for BeAM to access to true AM industrial experience such as the one Michelin has integrated in AddUp, through their own experience of producing over 1 million parts per year. With our international growth, the opening of new subsidiaries, such as in Singapore, and our planned technological roadmap, BeAM needed to secure its funding for the years to come. Joining forces with AddUp and its shareholders Michelin and Fives will support this goal.”

AddUp not only produces and sells industrial metal additive manufacturing machines, but offers services, consulting and training to help its customers adopt additive manufacturing technology. The company is dedicated to making industrial additive manufacturing accessible, and supports its customers through every part of the 3D printing journey. The acquisition of BeAM will allow AddUp to introduce another facet of additive manufacturing technology, and both companies will benefit from the pooling of their ever-growing customer bases.

“We have very exciting machines in development and we will accelerate their launch thanks to our cooperation with AddUp,” Gillet told us.

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