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In 2013 AddLab was one of the first open innovation centres for 3D metal printing in Eindhoven. Today the partners KMWE, NTS-Group, Machinefabriek De Valk and K3D have announced to take their collaboration to the next level and scale their shared facility for true series production for applications in high-tech equipment and aerospace while changing the name to K3D-AddFab. All this will be done at Brainport Industries Campus (BIC).

K3D already succeeded to implement their first collaboration in Terborg. After the purchase of their first MetalFAB1 in 2016, more than 45.000 industrial applications have been printed. Since K3D is acting as organizing partner, K3D-AddFab will be the second centre in their growing distributed manufacturing network in The Netherlands. K3D-AddFab has teamed up with the Dutch industrial 3D printing equipment manufacturer Additive Industries, who will also provide process & application development support. The MetalFAB1 system of K3D-AddFab will be installed at the brand new Brainport Industries Campus (BIC) in Eindhoven and was handed over to the partners at Additive Industries headquarters in Eindhoven.

“We are proud to be able to take our unique collaboration in industrial additive manufacturing to the next phase and scale for series production of high-tech equipment parts and aerospace components. The K3D-AddFab team will be an integral part of the K3D network of 3D Printing Centers allowing for load balancing, volume sharing and materials pooling”, said Luuk Wissink, CEO of K3D.

“Within K3DAddFab we will jointly work on our development projects for the high-tech industry and aerospace customers like Airbus. The colocation on BIC allows us to combine additive technologies with our core-business in subtractive processes like milling and turning”, added Edward Voncken, CEO of KMWE and Chairman of Brainport Industries.

“For us, K3D-AddFab will be the testbed for distributed manufacturing in demanding markets as well as an extra training and demonstration centre around the corner from our headquarters. In a close partnership we will be able to accelerate learning that started when we opened AddLab almost six years ago”, concluded Jan-Cees Santema, Sales Director Europe of Additive Industries.