Stratasys and AM Craft cooperate for 3D printing in aviation

Stratasys Ltd (NASDAQ: SSYS) and aerospace pioneer AM Craft have announced a strategic partnership to drive demand for flight-certified 3D printed parts in the aerospace industry. This agreement includes both a commercial collaboration and a strategic investment by Stratasys in AM Craft.

AM Craft, an EASA Part 21G production approved company, provides certified parts to airlines, maintenance organizations (MROs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), overcoming a key barrier to the wider adoption of 3D printed parts in aviation. Due to the long lifespan of aircraft and the associated challenges of forecasting and stocking spare parts, additive manufacturing offers an attractive supply chain solution in these markets.

“The low volume, high mix nature of the aviation aftermarket has resulted in extreme challenges to supply even the most minor of parts necessary to keep global fleets flying,” said Stratasys Senior Vice President Jeff Hemenway. “Additive manufacturing addresses those challenges by cost-effectively producing at the rates and volumes required. AM Craft’s EASA-approved approach to certification takes this burden off the end customer.”
To facilitate the partnership with Stratasys, Hemenway is joining the AM Craft board of directors.

AM Craft currently produces aerospace components in Europe and has demonstrated the ability to extend its production approval to partner company Paradigm 3D in Dubai, UAE. Stratasys is engaged in certified aerospace parts production through its Additive Flight Solutions (AFS) subsidiary in Singapore. As part of this partnership, AM Craft will own and operate AFS, expanding AM Craft’s manufacturing network to Southeast Asia and adding a facility in Hamburg later this year.

Didzis Dejus, CEO of AM Craft, adds, “Aligning with Stratasys will further strengthen the confidence of our customers that we can supply them with needed parts. Given Stratasys’ leadership in additive manufacturing we will continue to drive the adoption of 3D printing in the airline and MRO industries. Their technology is an ideal fit for aviation.”

The combined network operates 13 printers under EASA 21G approval, which have produced more than 28,000 flight parts to date. A future step within the partnership will be to evaluate working with Stratasys Direct Manufacturing in the US, which has extensive facilities.

“Aviation is a global industry, and our customers see localization of production as a major advantage that AM Craft can offer. By aligning with Stratasys and Additive Flight Solutions, we are better able to meet our customers’ needs to be in more major MRO hubs,” said Scott Sevcik, AM Craft VP of Strategy and Business Development. “In addition to being where our customers need us to be, it’s also critical that we continue to build the catalog of parts. We believe that this collaboration with Stratasys, as well as other major aviation suppliers and distributers, will help us to accelerate our future growth.”

Stratasys and AM Craft look forward to developing further aspects of their collaboration to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry.