Freemelt and Etteplan enter into strategic partnership in 3D printing

ETTEPLAN OYJ, Press release, December 1, 2021, at.11.00 a.m. EET

Freemelt and Etteplan enter into strategic partnership in 3D printing to jointly develop Freemelt’s coming industrial 3D printer. The partnership combines Freemelt’s capabilities in designing and building 3D printers and Etteplan’s capabilities in engineering and software development. It also aims at joint commercial activities towards the AM industry.

“Through our strategic partnership we will be able add more value to our customers by offering not only world-leading additive manufacturing equipment but also, together with Etteplan, industrial processes and factory solutions” says Ulric Ljungblad, CEO Freemelt.

The target of the partnership is to deliver 3D printing capacity to manufacturing companies around the world and to accelerate the transition to more sustainable and better products and production.

“Etteplan has identified AM as one of the most important technologies for the future and we are committed to continue building our capabilities in AM. A close partnership with Freemelt opens up possibilities to deepen the knowledge in the area and creates synergies with the potential to substantially increase the value offered to the market and to our common customers over time”, says Riku Riikonen, Senior Vice President, Engineering Solutions, Etteplan.

3D printing or AM is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital model.

Working together to develop the next industrial metal 3D printer
As part of the strategic partnership Freemelt and Etteplan are working together to develop and industrialize Freemelt’s next metal 3D printer. Freemelt is specialized in metal 3D printing based on Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (E-PBF). The new printer will be tailored for an industrial context with technical attributes such as robustness, reliability and productivity. Etteplan’s role in the development project includes delivering project teams in different expertise areas such as  software, mechanical, electrical, safety and documentation to speed up the development until release of the new printer. The cooperation will transform into production engineering, product support and application engineering for AM products moving forward.

For more information, please contact:
Riku Riikonen, Senior Vice President, Engineering Solutions, Etteplan, tel. +358 50 522 8255
Matts Eriksson, Business Unit Director, Engineering Solutions, Etteplan Sweden, tel. +46 70310 3390
Outi Torniainen, SVP, Marketing and Communications, Etteplan, tel. +358 10 307 3302

Freemelt in short
Freemelt is a high-tech growth company whose ground-breaking solution creates new opportunities for rapid growth in 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing. The Company’s protected technology – which already are available – takes 3D printing to a new level and provides new opportunities for printing products in a cost-effective way and to a consistent and high quality that previously was impossible. By choosing an open-source solution, the conditions are created for strong growth, and the Company will expand towards manufacturing markets,  moving forward. For more information,  see www.freemelt.com

Etteplan in short
Etteplan provides solutions for industrial equipment and plant engineering, software and embedded solutions, and technical documentation solutions to the world’s leading companies in the manufacturing industry. Our services are geared to improve the competitiveness of our customers’ products, services and engineering processes throughout the product life cycle. The results of Etteplan’s innovative engineering can be seen in numerous industrial solutions and everyday products.

In 2020, Etteplan had a turnover of approximately EUR 260 million. The company currently has over 3, 600 professionals in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Denmark and China. Etteplan's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd under the ETTE ticker. www.etteplan.com