ADDiTEC Launches Portable 3D Printing Robot Cell for Forward Deployment

ADDiTEC, a Florida additive manufacturing (AM) technology firm specializing in robotic metal 3D printing solutions, launched the Performance AMRC-P (Additive Manufacturing Robotic Cell – Portable), at RAPID + TCT 2023 in Chicago. ADDiTEC co-founded the MELTIO brand of metal AM platforms in 2019 with Spanish company SicNova 3D.

MELTIO’s technology is used in one of only two metal AM platforms that have so far been installed on US Navy vessels. The same laser metal deposition-wire powder tech, then, is a logical fit to power the Performance AMRC-P. Although it follows the same general format as the AMRC-P, the Performance model is designed specifically for forward deployment.

In addition to containing all of the components integrated into a single unit, the new release features ADDiTEC’s own control system. Also, the Performance cell has a 6kw laser head compared to the previous model’s 1.2kw head.

In a press release about the Performance AMRC-P, the CEO of ADDiTEC, Brian Matthews, said, “We are delighted to bring this high specification product to market. It is the culmination of more than 7-years laser DED experience and provides a state-of-the-art capability enabling large applications and material possibilities not seen before. We are excited to see the many first-of-a-kind applications this product will unlock.”

As the company’s application engineer, Louis DeMola, told me at RAPID + TCT, ADDiTEC specifically moved its headquarters to Florida to be closer to the aerospace industry, and it would seem like a necessity at this point for any company targeting the defense market to work on forward-deployable platforms. At the same time, as I also mentioned in that same post about RAPID, ADDiTEC had large components from multiple different energy sectors on display this year.

Along with an overlap in the materials required, the military’s demand for AM platforms that can be used anywhere is precisely why companies with a foot in the defense market will have such an easy time branching out into energy markets. Oil & gas is the one with the most obvious parallels, insofar as the requirements for machines that can be used on naval vessels aren’t so different from those for machines that can be used on oil tankers and offshore drilling platforms.

However, in renewable energy sectors, too, there is a call for equipment that can survive extreme terrain, and all the more so as the problem catalyzing increased renewable energy investment — global warming-induced chaos — intensifies. And in many cases, soldiers are likely to even be the ones producing, installing, and repairing the renewable energy infrastructure, meaning there is all the more reason for 3D printing companies with a defense-bent to already start strategizing on how to diversify.