Harry Kleijnen Set to Take Over MetalFAB1 3D Printer Development for Additive Industries

Harry Kleijnen is set to take over as the Manager of Process and Application Development at Additive Industries.

Kleijnen steps in following his stint as the leader of the Philips Healthcare team responsible for printing tungsten grids for X-ray systems, and he’s set to join the Eindhoven-based technology company on September 1st.

Kleijnen will be responsible for the processes and customer applications for the company’s industrial metal additive manufacturing system, MetalFAB1.

“Harry is adding essential and in-depth process knowledge to our team and understands the business cases of our future customers in demanding and regulated markets,” says Daan Kersten, the CEO of Additive Industries, of the appointment.

Additive Industries is a privately held company founded in 2012. They announced their intention during Euromold last year to build a machine which they said would be a complete industrial-grade AM solution complete with an automated build platform, material and post-processing handling.

“Since we are preparing the launch of our first system in Q4 of this year, we need to build our sales and support organization,” says Jonas Wintermans, the COO of Additive Industries. “Harry will play a key role in this next phase of our company.”

The company says their ambition is to “bring industrial additive manufacturing and 3D printing for high tech markets from lab to fab.” They say the plan is to bring direct digital manufacturing of functional parts – in various metals and ceramics – to the industrial value chain. Additive Industries say they unite world class equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, designers, engineers, knowledge institutes, industrial suppliers and end users to build and connect next-generation additive manufacturing systems and solutions.

The company says they will launch the MetalFAB1 during Q4 of this year. The first machines are expected to be delivered to beta customers during the first quarter of 2016.

For his part, Kleijnen has spent just under 14 years as the Manager of Development Collimation Solutions at Philips Healthcare where he oversaw the work of that firm’s 3D tungsten printing team, and as a result, he brings extensive knowledge of the Direct Metal Laser Sintering process and large-volume production of 3D printed products.

“This will be the first industrial grade machine. It is an integrated machine that includes the printing and post-processing inside the machine, it has automated handling of build plates and materials so there’s no need to take out the powder or to remove the build plate of the product. This will allow us to run for 72 hours without operator intervention,” Kersten told TCT.” He added, “We are targeting the high-end of the market, aerospace, medical and automotive [industries].”

The MetalFAB1 is a device which uses metal powder bed fusion technology, and it was developed by engineers coming out of TNO, Philips and Delft University.

“With current processes there is human interaction with powder and that means the powder can get in the room we don’t like that, we don’t want to be in an asbestos situation in ten years, we really want to keep the powder in the machine at all times,” Kersten says of the MetalFAB1’s operation. “The integration and automation of printing and post-processing is also beneficial for the likes of aerospace customers. Currently each step requires certification; you have to log that the part has come out of the machine and is going into another machine for processing, this takes up a lot of time. Our system is automated so they require less paperwork.”

What do you think about this appointment at Dutch AM firm Additive Industries? Let us know in the Additive Industries MetalFAB1 forum thread on 3DPB.com.