German industrial group ThyssenKrupp plans to open its own 3D printing centre this year to manufacture products for its customers, a company executive said on Tuesday.
As well as producing steel, submarines and elevators, ThyssenKrupp supplies thousands of tonnes of metal and plastic products and provides supply-chain management services to a quarter of a million customers worldwide.
Some industrial components such as airline or wind-turbine parts can now be made by 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, in which objects are printed in layers directly from a computer design instead of being cut out of blocks of material.


