GKN Powder Metallurgy (Radevormwald, Germany), a materials and parts producer in the powder metal industry, has entered into a strategic partnership with additive manufacturing technology (a.k.a. 3D printing) supplier EOS (Krailling, Germany). Together, the companies have designed a new, high-productivity process for laser metal 3D printing that has reduced production time by 70% and overall cost by up to 50%.
"This collaboration makes laser metal 3D printing a viable long-term solution for manufacturers across the board that require fast delivery turnaround and could benefit from the high degree of design freedom that comes with laser 3D printing," says Peter Oberparleiter, CEO of GKN Powder Metallurgy.
The automotive and industrial industries have embraced additive manufacturing for rapid prototyping, but oftentimes, customers find the process cost-prohibitive for producing parts at full-scale production. The combination of GKN's metal powder, EOS StainlessSteel 316L VPro system, and EOS's process and additive manufacturing expertise enable creation of a high-performance part designed for end-use at scale.
For more information, please visit www.gknpm.com and www.eos.info.