GE Additive opens Customer Experience Center in Munich.
Today GE Additive opened the doors to its first international Customer Experience Center in Munich, a new 2,700 square meter facility, designed to showcase its additive manufacturing (AM) capabilities.
The $15 million centre, located with GE's European Technology Center, will allow customers to gain first-hand insight into the AM process from concept to prototyping and production. The site houses 10 metal 3D printing systems from Concept Laser and Arcam, both acquired by GE last year, and will also employ approximately 50 people in dedicated AM roles.
The centre will allow customers to access metal AM systems, collaborate with GE's additive experts on product identification, design, material selection and facility setup, build prototypes, produce low volume initial production batches, and gain access to spare parts and materials. In addition, the Munich centre will offers an educational facility as part of Additive Academy, GE Additive's customer training team, where customers can collaborate with the local team on their AM processes.
"The opening of our Customer Experience Center here in Munich marks a great milestone for us," said Robert Griggs, Customer Success Leader at GE Additive. "Germany is the global innovation hub for additive manufacturing. Right here, at the heart of the additive revolution, the centre will operate as the interface between customers and our teams, combining the strengths of Germany's Concept Laser and Sweden's Arcam, both leading providers of additive machines and services. We look forward to working closely with European companies and institutes, allowing them to fully realise the transformative potential that additive design and manufacturing can bring. We're excited about the types of products they will design and the improvements they can make to their operations using additive."
The launch builds on GE Additive’s growth plans which recently saw the expansion of Concept Laser's headquarters in Lichtenfels, Germany. GE says its Customer Experience Centers are an integral part of its strategy to accelerate the adoption of AM and following the opening of its first centre in Pittsburgh in May, the company plans to increase its network of facilities across the globe.
