(Image courtesy of Concept Laser.)

Less than three months after acquiring controlling ownership of Concept Laser GmbH of Germany, GE is working to transform the additive manufacturing firm by expanding its headquarters, growing its employee base and support teams, and investing in next-generation additive equipment and materials.

When GE acquired a 75 percent stake of Concept Laser in mid-December, the company had about 200 employees. Now, employment has grown to 244 and is expected to reach between 350 to 400 people (mostly engineers and technicians) by early 2018.

Concept Laser is bolstering its field service operations in the United States and Germany, and adding engineers for production, quality control, development and testing.

Meanwhile, architectural concepts are being finalized for a significant expansion of the company’s headquarters in Lichtenfels, Germany, with new floor space for manufacturing, product development, testing and administration.

“Over several years, Concept Laser grew quickly and established a strong reputation with our innovations,” said Frank Herzog, company president. Herzog began working on metals for the additive process in the mid-90s, co-founded Concept Laser with his wife Kerstin in 2000 and commercialized the first metal additive manufacturing machine in 2001.

“GE is enabling us to grow our infrastructure and bring more robust processes and greater resources to our operations. Our immediate focus is to mature our machines and apply the additional resources to improve customer responsiveness and mature, grow, and improve our product offerings.”

In addition to the Lichtenfels headquarters, Concept Laser has significant operations in Grapevine, Texas, China and a global network of distributors and agents.

Concept Laser is also collaborating with the GE Additive Technology Center (ATC) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here, GE engineers are identifying where additive manufacturing can be used to mass-produce components for industrial products, including components for jet engines produced by GE Aviation, a world-leading end user of additive manufacturing technology.

3D printing reduces waste and allows engineers to manufacture objects with complex internal geometries that would be otherwise very difficult or expensive to achieve, such as this fuel nozzle. (Image courtesy of GE Reports/Chris New.)

“ATC is a critical piece of the puzzle for Concept Laser,” Herzog said. “We’ve been a manufacturer of the machines and materials for years, but ATC is giving us new insights into the process of product and materials qualification because GE is such an important end user of the technology. The learning is tremendous and will accelerate the development process.”

Concept Laser has also teamed with GE to focus on future technologies – including next-generation additive machines. Herzog added: “We are moving closer to a day where we can fully serve industries, such as automotive, where the mass production of several parts using additive manufacturing becomes a reality.”

GE has invested approximately $1.5 billion in manufacturing and additive technologies at GE’s Global Research Center (GRC), developed additive applications across six GE businesses, created new services applications across the company, and earned 346 patents in powder metals used for the additive process.

For more on GE’s investments in additive manufacturing, check out our interview with Greg Morris on the Formation of GE Additive