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GE Expands Its Additive and Aviation Technology Commitment Across Europe
GE is moving fast with its expansion plans for German additive manufacturing (AM) firm, Concept Laser with significant growth to its employee base, headquarters and investment in AM equipment and materials.
Just three months after GE acquired a 75% stake in the powder-bed laser AM company, its total number of employees has grown from around 200 to 244 and is expected to reach between 350 to 400 people by early 2018, adding engineers in areas such as production, quality control, development and testing across the U.S. and Germany.
Concept Laser’s headquarters in Lichtenfels, Germany is also set to get a boost as plans are finalised for a significant expansion including new floor space for manufacturing, product development and testing, and administration.
“Over several years, Concept Laser grew quickly and established a strong reputation with our innovations,” said Frank Herzog, founder and president of Concept Laser commented. “GE is enabling us to grow our infrastructure and bring more robust processes and greater resources to our operations. Our immediate focus is to mature our machines and apply the additional resources to improve customer responsiveness and mature, grow, and improve our product offerings.”
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Concept Laser is also collaborating with the GE Additive Technology Center (ATC) in Cincinnati, Ohio where engineers are identifying where AM can be used to mass-produce sophisticated components for industrial products, including components for jet engines produced by GE Aviation.
“ATC is a critical piece of the puzzle for Concept Laser,” Herzog said. “We’ve been a manufacturer of the machines and materials for years, but ATC is giving us new insights into the process of product and materials qualification because GE is such an important end user of the technology. The learning is tremendous and will accelerate the development process.”
Concept Laser has also teamed with GE to focus on future technologies including next-generation additive machines. Herzog added: “We are moving closer to a day where we can fully serve industries, such as automotive, where the mass production of several parts using additive manufacturing becomes a reality.”
GE has invested approximately $1.5 billion in manufacturing and additive technologies at GE’s Global Research Center (GRC) and has developed additive applications across six of its businesses. In 2016, the company setup a new vertical, GE Additive, dedicated to its AM activity and so far has already stated ambitions to produce 10,000 3D printers over the next 10 years along with a $10 million investment in two education programmes.
