According to Gartner Hype cycle, 3D printing used to be listed as one technology shortly before the hype in 2010. Four years later, 3D printing was divided into multiple disciplines, such as consumer, enterprise or bio-3D printing. Maturity within 3D printing very strongly depends on the application. All of these 3D printing disciplines were at a different stage of maturity. Therefore, 3D printing is very matured in industries which were the early adopters, such as Dental, Medical and also Aerospace. However, it is crucial to note that successful application of 3D printing hinges on quite a lot of influencing factors of the surrounding eco-system. CEO of Aconity3D, Dr. Yves Hagedorn believes and hopes that industrial 3D printing will more likely converge towards conventional manufacturing methods, such as milling in which well trained personnel run tool-machines with one goal in mind: Cost-efficient and sustainable production.
Presently, the pandemic hit the Additive Manufacturing (AM) market just as hard as any other manufacturing industry. Travel restrictions resulted in delayed commissioning of the Hardware, which reduced business activities, while other customers postponed investment plans for new machinery. On the other hand, AM has enjoyed quite some PR in terms of supporting manufacturing of face masks or spare parts of respirators. Furthermore, every crisis is also a chance to revaluate certain business activities and gain traction while other companies are still hibernating. This is especially the case for very flexible companies like Aconity3D.
Serving as a Partner for Innovation
Aconity3D is a machine manufacturer for laser-based 3D printing of metals by means of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF). The company was founded in 2014 in Germany within Aachen’s high-technology surrounding of the RWTH University and Fraunhofer Research Institutes—the birthplace of laser-based 3D printing of metals. The initial and still ongoing motivation was to serve as partner for innovation for high-tech companies in terms of establishing new challenging applications and truly industrializing 3D printing.
Aconity3D has a very strong technological background in production technologies and informatics with the main focus on developing open, customer-specific machinery for 3D printing of metals. It is the only machinery provider offering custom-made solutions tailored towards cost-efficient application of 3D printing in an industrial surrounding; especially the challenging applications beyond the current state of the art are provided by Aconity3D. Hence, Aconity3D is a solution provider for applications which competitors do not cover.
Pushing the limits
As laser-based 3D printing of metals originated at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen, Dr. Yves Hagedorn got in contact with this fascinating technology in an early stage during his Ph.D. thesis. The founding team of Dr. Yves Hagedorn, Andreas Görres, Hendrik Blom, Anke Vogel realized quite early that they need to have full-access on machinery hard and software in order to perform meaningful research and, hence, push the limits of the current state of art.
Dr. Yves Hagedorn recognized that if the company provides truly modular and open-architectured systems it can enable further research institutions and industrial early adopters to push the limits, resulting in new applications in the long run. The urge to enable new applications and provide true solutions for its partners is what still keeps the company going. Aconity3D earned a reputation as technology leader and has shown in the last 6 years that it can provide such meaningful solutions.
Promoting High Customer Satisfaction
Aconity3D has a brilliant team working relentlessly on providing better services to its customers. The company offers a quite elaborated ticket system in which customers can easily report potential issues or ask for additional support. It also promotes the philosophy of higher customer satisfaction as its goal. This is also one of the reasons why new customers are more inclined towards Aconity3D. This approach is maybe even further underlined as the company prefers to do little marketing and rely on satisfied customers to spread the word—which worked very well throughout the company’s journey. The company is looking for building close relation with its international customers. Within the US market this is handled by a US representation in Texas, El Paso.
It is also aiming for further multiple its sales partners for the rest of the world. As an offspring of a Laser Institute, it always has an eye on Multi-Laser processes and ways to further improve cost-efficiency for its industrial partners. The company’s upcoming interesting projects evolve around Aconity’s ability to print Multi-Material parts by means of a specially designed powder recoater from its collaboration partner Aerosint SA. Presently, Aconity3D has many ongoing projects which will be made available for a broader range of customers in the very close future. The company is also planning to release its 3DMetalWire system which is a step towards the DED process and powder-less manufacturing.
Read full magazine :Â Mirror Review’s Top 3D Printing Companies 2020
