Major industrial companies have been making serious acquisitions lately, seeking to strengthen their capabilities with metal additive manufacturing. Brent Balinski spoke to Mark Cola, co-founder and CEO of Sigma Labs, about what it all means.
The last few months have been big ones for industrial, no-gimmick 3D printing, for areas including aerospace.
In early September, GE Aviation – already a leading adopter – announced that it would spend $US 1.4 billion acquiring Germany’s SLM Solutions and Sweden’s Arcam.
The two European companies manufacture machines that use lasers and electron beams, respectively, to fuse metal powders – including titanium alloys – as well as offer expertise in areas such as powder metallurgy and software.
