Swiss advanced manufacturing company Oerlikon have announced plans to build a new 3D printing facility in North Carolina. The company will spend $55 million on the manufacturing hub over the next two years and will create over 100 jobs in the long term. The state-of-the-art R&D and production facility will be located in Huntersville, Charlotte.
The Swiss group, already a leader in the production of metal powders for 3D printing, are now looking to expand this area of their business. As they expect “the demand for additively manufactured metal components to increase rapidly in the coming years, making it one of the key growth areas in next-generation manufacturing technologies.”
This is shown, as the Swiss company recently acquired German 3D printing bureau Citim GmbH. Oerlikon also recently expanded their additive manufacturing facilities into North America with the announcement of a new location in Michigan last year.
Another company that has been expanding their reach into the U.S.A is Dassault Systèmes. The French company are bringing their 3DEXPERIENCE lab concept to Boston to support entrepreneurial projects in the United States.
Oerlikon’s additive manufacturing facilities
With this announcement Oerlikon will now have four global additive manufacturing facilities. Adding Charlotte’s location to Citim’s existing two sites and their recently opened Michigan location. Oerlikon’s acquired citim sites are located in Germany and Atlanta, Georgia. The new Charlotte site will be fully operational in 2018. Until then, the company will be using an interim site this year in order to support their additive manufacturing enterprise.
The new facility will offer clients, “a single source for a full suite of integrated services for end-to-end advanced component manufacturing – from R&D, design, applications engineering and series production to post processing.”
Roland Fischer, CEO of Oerlikon, spoke about the announcement and how the company are keen to be investing in this advanced technology,
As we strategically transform to become a powerhouse in surface solutions and advanced materials, we are investing in high growth potential businesses such as additive manufacturing. Charlotte is an important step in our plans to grow our additive manufacturing business and our investment in key technology areas. The investment underlines our intention to become a leading independent global partner in the industrialization of additive manufacturing. I would like to thank our economic development partners in North Carolina and the Charlotte region for their support in our investment.
Featured image shows an additive manufacturing graphic. All photos and images via Oerlikon.
