BASF and Ricoh announce partnership for Additive Manufacturing innovation

BASF and Ricoh are evolving their Additive Manufacturing capabilities through a development partnership.

BASF and Ricoh are collaborating on materials, processing and application development to bring further innovation to the market.

The partnership also includes development of new materials for the RICOH AM S5500P, which has been installed by BASF in its 3D-P Application Technology Centre in Heidelberg. The agreement will increase the capabilities of the high-end plastic sintering production machines.

Greg Plowman, Director of Ricoh Europe’s European Additive Manufacturing Business Group said: “The wider success of the AM market in the coming years rests on the crucial advances made in material sciences. These improvements will pave the way for creative implementations in new verticals and industries. By partnering with BASF as one of the largest material manufacturers in the world, we can jointly enhance our development expertise to meet specific and advanced customer requirements for end-use parts.”

Dr. Dirk Simon, Global Business Director of BASF 3D Printing Solutions GmbH commented: “This partnership brings together Ricoh’s status as a renowned SLS hardware manufacturer with our expertise on materials and their applications for series production. This collaboration will enable our customers to expand into industrial usage of Additive Manufacturing while enjoying increased productivity and more efficient working.”

Both companies will attend formnext – the trade fair for Additive Manufacturing and the next generation of intelligent manufacturing solutions – which takes place at the Messe Frankfurt, Germany from 14-17 November. Ricoh’s AM experts will be at Hall 3.0, Stand D20 throughout the event, with BASF representatives at Hall 3.1, Stand F20.