Arcam AB fka AMAVF

[charlie T colton]

TITANIUM Supply, Demand, Distribution and Global Supply Chain

If anyone's interested in the titanium production and supply business, there's a decent article out. This includes supply for all types of titanium end use products. There's nothing specific about Arcam or electron beam melting but there are more than a couple of references to additive manufacturing. I'm posting it because Magnus René recently said that the cost of the powder supply is limiting AM adoption (see quote below).

In the current issue of Titanium Today published by the International Titanium Association (www.titanium.org) is a 13 page "Special Section: TITANIUM 2015 Executive Summary" starting on page 42.
TITANIUM 2015 Forum: Experts, Executives and Engineers Gather To Discuss Supply, Demand, Distribution and Global Supply Chain

From an earlier post - "So it went at this year's AM-day conference"

This year's main speaker, Arcams Magnus René, explained how During his fifteen years on the market has gone from the first trembling steps to have sold hundreds of systems in the world. The strongest is in the United States, China and Italy, in the areas of aviation industry and implants. The largest bottleneck today, as the Arcam is a material supply and costs.

- We can reduce the cost of material for additives to the manufacture, we can speed deployment of technology," says Magnus René.

Annika Strondl is responsible for Swereas overall research within the additive manufacturing. She explains that it now has access to most of the 3D-printer technologies, both in the house, but also through partnerships with other organizations and universities. The latest investment is a machine from Arcam that will be in place at the beginning of next year.


My take is that Magnus René is saying the cost of the powdered metal is holding back manufacturers from using additive technologies.