PLANKGAS: THE RAPID RISE AND GREAT AMBITIONS OF ADDITIVE INDUSTRIES

Posted by Erika van der Merwe | May 2, 2019 |

Daan Kersten and Jonas Wintermans started with just an idea in 2012, and in a little over three years, they developed a complex, high-tech 3D metal printing system. Now, they have a rapidly growing company with a client base that includes Airbus, Volkswagen, and the Alfa Romeo Racing Formula 1 team. The young company Additive Industries moved last year from the Eindhoven district of Strijp-S to a much larger facility in the neighboring Strijp-T, reflecting the ambition to be among the top three global players in this segment by 2022.

Kersten, who is the CEO, describes the competition in the industry as "very intense" and says that the company needs to double its scale every year to achieve its goals. "When Jonas and I founded the company, we had the ambition from the beginning to build a substantial company with a global presence. Within this market, that is the only realistic way to play a role. It's a global market. And you either play along or you don't play at all."

From the beginning, we had the ambition to build a substantial company with a global presence. Within this market, that is the only realistic way to play a role. You either play along or you don't play at all.

"FROM LAB TO FAB"
The radical decision to bring a far-fetched idea to the market - despite the great misunderstanding and ridicule - was based on Kersten's discovery that "there was no activity in the region in the field of metal additive manufacturing." As a board member of Brainport Industries, of which he is a co-founder, he had conducted research to determine which production technologies would be of interest to members of Brainport Industries and their customers, with a view to finding areas for collaboration. Although the technology already existed and was rapidly maturing, the available systems were developed for prototyping rather than production, and therefore unsuitable for subcontractors.

"We started with one clear goal: to bring prototyping technology to production - from lab to fab, as we used to say. We did what you are used to in Eindhoven: forming a team and working together. That is something that has really made a difference for us."

The collaboration took the form of the AddLab Consortium, a self-funded pilot involving eight partners with a three-year goal in mind. The consortium operated in parallel with the process of establishing and developing the Additive Industries business, which was funded by the Highlands Group.

"We bought two systems from our (current) competitors to better understand the technology. Within the three-year program, we did a lot of 3D printing. We shared all the knowledge we gained within the collaboration. This knowledge was used to build our first product, the MetalFAB1, the first industrial additive manufacturing system. The partners used this knowledge to print parts and gain more insight into design and material knowledge."

The company started the development in 2013 and completed a functional model in 2014; a beta system was launched on the market in 2015.

AddFab, a follow-up initiative based on newly developed technology and driven by the key AddLab partners, was announced in March of this year, with the aim of scaling up for production.

Daan Kersten, CEO: Additive Industries

AN INHERITANCE OF LIGHT TECHNOLOGY - AND OF TRUST
Kersten is clear about the benefits for Additive Industries of being located in Eindhoven and the Brainport region: "I am convinced that what we have achieved has only been possible because we could reuse knowledge from the region for other applications, such as semiconductors, medical technology, and electron beam microscopy."

In particular, "when you look at the systems being built and developed in the region, there are common elements that exactly reflect what we do: All systems built here have a beam of light at their core, as they all originate from Philips, where lighting was the source of everything. Also, in all locally developed technology, there is a process of some kind of layering, such as layered lithography, layered scanning, or layered microscopy."

A healthy attitude towards trust in the region enables the sharing of this knowledge. "Eindhoven is unique because all supply chains are outsourced. For a young company like ours, this provides direct access to a highly experienced and well-developed supply chain. Additionally, the entire region is focused on collaboration. If we need something, we can simply approach colleagues in the region and access their expertise."

The whole region is focused on collaboration. If we need something, we can simply reach out to colleagues in the region and access their expertise.

Additive Industries now has more than eighty employees. Eindhoven remains the home base, with the majority of the team located here. Process and application development centers have been established in Singapore, Los Angeles, and Bristol, and the company has a Service & Support hub in Detroit.

Kersten says that the biggest challenge for Additive Industries, looking towards the future, is managing rapid growth to ensure that ambitions are achieved. "You can imagine that starting with a small team and evolving into a larger team requires implementing different structures within the company. The growth puts pressure on each of us to ensure that we can constantly grow to enter the next phase."

So far, the team has managed the pressure well. "The fact that we have developed so quickly as a company with a great product that works for the most experienced customers in the world is a huge achievement of our team. It is our team that we are most proud of."

Source.