Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • March 11, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Gregory Seay gseay@hartfordbusiness.com T echnology mankind has used for generations to cast and shape metal parts is giving way to "ad- ditive'' processes, in which digital-laser machinery applies layer upon layer of hot material to create complex parts to fine tolerances. Some three decades after it was first introduced, additive manufacturing is finally taking hold, manufacturers and others say, but not just among tinker- ers, test sites or smaller firms using it to create part prototypes. Large Connecticut and U.S. original equipment makers like Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, Stanley Black & Decker and others are growing more comfort- able with the technology's product qual- ity and operating efficiencies, leading them to acquire or partner with additive manufacturing — or 3D printing — companies and suppliers. That's put Connecticut's innovative army of small, independent machine shops, some of which have led the global chase toward additive replacing production of traditional metallic and polymer parts using age-old but waste- ful milling and lathing processes, in the mergers-and-acquisition crosshairs. Last summer, for example, high- performance and specialty materials maker Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) quietly paid an undisclosed sum for New Britain additive-manufac- turing shop Addaero Manufacturing, launched by a pair of former Pratt engineers. The deal gives the $3 bil- lion annual-revenue Pittsburgh, Pa., company a foothold in technology that one top ATI officer says is the future of producing quieter but more powerful, full-efficient passenger jet engines. In February, Eastford aeroparts maker Whitcraft Group purchased a tiny, but emerging New England devel- oper of additive- manufacturing technology, Form 3D Solutions, of Dover, N.H. Boston-based GE has aggres- sively expanded its additive footprint, too, including buying stakes in several 3D printers and estab- lishing its own additive manufacturing division with a global footprint. Among its acquisitions was Shelton-based DiS- anto Technology Inc., which it acquired in 2017 through its purchase of Sweden's Arcam EBM. DiSanto, which uses addi- tive manufacturing to produce medical- device components, has since been sold again to Switzerland's global high-tech industrial company Oerlikon, which has an additive-manufacturing partnership with GE. Meantime, a small batch of 3D printing startups that came to Hartford last fall to participate in the Stanley+TechStars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator say they are staying in the Capital City, to focus on refining their technology. Martin Guay, Stanley's vice presi- dent of business development and a Stanley+TechStars mentor, said that while many of the earliest accelerator participants' technologies are still too undeveloped, it isn't unreasonable to expect that they will mature enough to be attractive acquisition targets. Stanley, which recently seeded one accelerator participant — MetalMaker 3D — with a $500,000 investment, could be a suitor. "It's a game-changing technology,'' said Jeff Crandall, senior research and applications engineer at East Hartford's Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), an early proctor in the development and appli- cation of additive in this state. Additive uses high-temperature lasers to melt and bond, layer by layer, beads of plastic polymers or metals to shape a form or part. Connecticut has been a development hotbed for the technology because of its sizable advanced-manufacturing footprint. There are also several training sites like CCAT, Central Connecticut State University and Tunxis Community and Asnuntuck Community colleges, where additive and other cutting-edge production technologies are refined and test-driven for use in real-world manufacturing applications. Machine shops are increasingly drawn to the technology because it al- lows for rapid prototyping that reduces time to market and the development of more customizable or small-batch parts. It can also help reduce waste and lead to better product performance, ac- cording to research firm CB Insights. Whitcraft Group CEO Doug Folsom, a 27-year manufacturing veteran who spent time at GE Aviation, says additive is just the tip of the iceberg of future benefits for original equipment manu- facturers (OEMs) like Pratt, GE and their commercial customers worldwide. "Additive is an innovation in manu- facturing," Folsom said, "that we believe is going to be the future of aerospace." Whitcraft, which got new equity ownership in 2017, opted to deepen its relationship with Form 3D by buying the company. "We see the ability to additively manufacture aerospace components as a competitive advantage going forward for the Whitcraft Group businesses,'' Folsom said. "We wanted this to be part of our family to help each of our busi- nesses grow with this new technology. You just do not get the same kind of relationship with a supplier or partner." Challenges to overcome While 3D printing is becoming more mainstream, there are still challenges to its widespread acceptance. Veteran Connecticut manufacturing executive Paul Murphy cautions that for every machine-shop owner who relishes the advantages that additive offers, there are skeptics who are in no real hurry to embrace the latest production technology. Additive-manufacturing equip- ment is costly. Prices run from as low as $5,000 for small, tabletop laser 3D printers to upwards of $500,000 or more for larger additive machines ca- pable of transforming metal powders into full-scale, working parts. That makes affordability an issue, especially for smaller shops. "The problem is the technology keeps evolving,'' said Murphy, executive direc- tor of Aerospace Components Manu- facturers (ACM), a Rocky Hill-based, Connecticut-Western Massachusetts coalition of aeroparts makers-suppliers "Something you buy today could be obsolete in five years," he said. One way companies are gaining or deepening footholds in the 3D-printing space is through acquisitions. There's been significant additive-manufacturing Projected size of global 3D printing market This chart gives the projected size of the global market for 3D printing, materials and associated services by 2025. On a worldwide scale, the market is expected to blossom into a $50 billion industry by 2025. 3D Opportunity CT stakes high ground in additive-manufacturing arms race Doug Folsom, CEO, Whitcraft Group HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER David Hill, director of additive manufacturing operations at ATI Hartford, formerly Addaero Manufacturing, inspects a part developed using 3D-printing technology. Pittsburgh's Allegheny Technologies acquired Addaero last year as part of the U.S. manufacturing industry's growing embrace of additive technology. 2015 2025 $0 $25 $50 Market size (in billions) $46.1B $5.9B Source: Statista

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