Sintavia EOS RAPID 2018
Glynn Fletcher, President, North America (left) shakes hands with Brian Neff, Sintavia CEO (right).
Sintavia, an additive manufacturing service provider, has purchased an EOS M400-4 and received National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program (NADCAP) approval for its laser and electron beam powder bed fusion applications.
The two developments occurred within days of each other, and represent a growing commitment from the Florida-based company to serve its customers with reliable and quality 3D printed products. Sintavia serves customers in aerospace, oil and gas, and power generation, delivering precision components, such as housings, propellers and bracketry clevises.
NADCAP accreditation has resulted from a year-long process, while the purchase of the M400-4 has come about after the successful implementation of other EOS Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) platforms. Sintavia now has certifications from three different bodies, and has taken its additive manufacturing machine count to nine.
Speaking at RAPID + TCT, Sintavia CEO, Brian Neff, touched on the reasons for the purchase of the companies ninth additive manufacturing system, and how NADCAP approval, as well as the AS9100 Rev. D and ISO 1705 accreditations it boasts, is set to improve the service the company offers.
“There’s probably a few reasons,” he said. “Number one, we own a M400-1 and we’re very happy with it so far. Number two, I think it’s a qualifiable machine, so our customers like it, they’ll allow flight parts to be printed on there. And the third [reason], is they [EOS} give good service, there’s a good structure around it. That’s not to say we’re only going to buy [EOS machines] because we’re not, but we’re happy. We use it for nickel alloys and it does a very good job.
“We’re accredited in a number of different ways and once you have that as a starting point, it’s easier to please aerospace folks. You have your own quality system and then you integrate it with your customer’s quality system, and you have a good base to work.”
“As the only Tier One additive manufacturer with NADCAP, AS9100 Rev. D, and ISO 1705 accreditations, we are understandably proud of this major quality achievement,” Doug Hedges, Sintavia President commented in a company press release announcing the NADCAP accreditation. “Sintavia has long differentiated itself with aerospace OEMs through its vertically aligned aerospace quality system. Our customers know that we offer high quality, cost-effective metal AM production, and the NADCAP accreditation is an outstanding third-party validation of this.”
The EOS M400-4 will be used alongside a trio of SLM Solutions machines, a Trumpf TruPrint 3000 (the first in North America, per Neff, set to be installed this week), machines from Arcam and Concept Laser, and fellow EOS DMLS platforms, M290 and M400-1. Founded in 2012, and spun out of Neff’s other business, CTS Engines in 2015, Sintavia has grown to a company of 30 employees, has begun work on a second facility, and counts Honeywell Aerospace among its customers. Going forward, Sintavia would like to further improve its offering to the likes of Honeywell by establishing production centres close to all of its major customers’ manufacturing locations, starting in North America, and potentially expanded into Europe, long term.
