The Swedish company Arcam, which makes electron beam melting metal printers for the additive manufacturing market, has issued its interim figures for the first half of this year, from January to June. Arcam is now part of the GE Group since GE bought the majority of its shareholding last year.
The net sales increased by 32 percent to SEK 407 million while the operating income went up from SEK 4.1m to SEK 5.5m. The company shipped 32 of its EBM machines, a slight improvement on the 28 delivered in the same period last year, with 16 more that have been ordered but not yet delivered. However, this includes 16 systems delivered to GE for test and evaluation.
Arcam points out that in its figures that demand for the EBM systems is driven by the aerospace industry, which is now moving into production, together with the orthopedic industry, which is becoming more interested in additive manufacturing. But, the report notes: “However, the customers are still hesitant launching large manufacturing projects. We believe that increased product maturity as well as new application areas will drive more production interest.”
Arcam’s DTI subsidiary, which specialises in medical implants, has seen some growth in additive manufacturing but is mainly reliant on conventional manufacturing technology, where sales have been weak. This has forced Arcam to write off SEK 35m in its holding in DTI.
Meanwhile, Arcam’s plans to expand its AP&C metal powder manufacturing plant are on schedule and the company expects this new facility to be completed in September. This will more than double AP&C’s capacity for titanium powder atomization.
Overall, the future continues to look bright for Arcam, not least because it can now draw on GE’s resources.
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