Apr 5, 2017 | By Tess
LPW Technology, the UK-based developer, manufacturer, and supplier of metal powders, has announced that it has received a significant strategic investment from 3D printing solutions company Stratasys Ltd. The investment will help LPW Technology to further develop its metal powder business by going towards the building new facilities and advancing its 3D printing powder lifecycle management solution, PowderLife.
LPW Technology certainly has its sights set high for its additive manufacturing metal powders. In October of last year, for instance, the British company announced it would be investing £20 million to expand its 3D printing business. Impressively, the £20 million marked the largest single investment put into the metal 3D printing sector in the UK. Now, with a new strategic investment from Stratasys, we can only expect to see more from the powder manufacturer.
One of the most noteworthy aspects of LPW’s business is probably its PowderLife smart powder management system, which allows LPW clients to easily trace and manage their metal powder batches over the course of their lifecycle. The innovative system offers a comprehensive material history, and is capable of monitoring the metal powders to make sure they remain compliant with any particular specifications and production requirements.
“LPW’s PowderLife solution will enable us to apply our current quality driven approach to additive manufacturing; having full traceability and control over our materials and process is absolutely central to our manufacturing philosophy,” said Giuseppe Facchini, CEO of Switzerland-based Precicast, a company that manufactures investment castings for the aerospace and gas-turbine markets.
According to LPW, its PowderLife system is designed to be integrated into a client’s facility, and can be used to both monitor and “recondition” metal powders for additive manufacturing. The system also enables users to send used powders back to LPW to be reprocessed and sent back, which helps cut back on material waste.
As mentioned, LPW Technology plans to invest £20 million into its business over the next two years. LPW founder and CEO Phil Carroll explained that the investment "will be focused on establishing new facilities in both the UK and US, further developing LPW’s PowderLife and other processing solutions." Carroll added that the "Stratasys investment demonstrates confidence in LPW’s solutions for metal additive manufacturing powders.”
With the financial partnership between Stratasys and LPW, the latter is confident that it will achieve strategic growth, and will be even more equipped to meet the AM demands of the aerospace, defense, automotive, and medical sectors. For Stratasys, the investment marks a growing interest in metal additive manufacturing technologies. Notably, the investment is LPW’s “first consolidated partnership arrangement” with a 3D printing industry leader.
Stratasys vice president of corporate development, Alon Elie, commented: “LPW’s vision is closely aligned with our goal of bringing 3D printing to production environments through closely integrated solutions, combining materials, software and hardware. As metal 3D printing extends to production environments, issues of quality control, integrated workflows, and process know-how become more critical in the supply chain.”
LPW Technology is still majority owned by its founder Phil Carroll. The company also recently published an investigation into the effects of gaseous corruption on metal 3D printed parts.
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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