Oerlikon announced today the acquisition of German 3D printing bureau Citim GmbH. Oerlikon is a century-old company and continue to invest in 3D printing. This news follows the announcement of a new dedicated facility in Michigan earlier this month. With twenty years of experience in additive manufacturing Citim brings strong expertise to Oerlikon’s global business. A Swiss company, Oerlikon are a leader in the production of metal powders for additive manufacturing and the facility they are building in North America is intended to meet increased demand.
Citim were founded in 1996 and now have over 120 employees, last year sales generated $12 million in revenue. Financial details of this new deal are not yet public.
Priding themselves on the quality of the products they produce it is understandable that Oerlikon have sought to acquire Citim. Adding the German expertise to their existing materials manufacturing business means that Oerlikon will now be able to offer an end-to-end additive manufacturing service. The news comes in the same week of the announcement that Tangible Solutions are expanding.
Regarding the move Dr. Roland Fischer, Oerlikon CEO, said,
The competencies and team from Citim will serve to consolidate our position in the additive manufacturing business, marking the acquisition as an important move for us to drive the industrialization of additive manufacturing and to become an independent service provider for the production of additively manufactured components. We will continue to make targeted investments in the additive manufacturing market to solidify our value proposition.
Citim provides a 3D printing service through use of 17 metal 3D printers from manufacturers EOS, SLM Solutions and TRUMPF. They provide a 3D plastic printing service through use of 4 3D printers of the manufacturer EOS. The bureau recently moved to a new building in the German municipality of Barleben and have a U.S. presence with a site in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Oerlikon are also expanded there position in the U.S. market and announced a new facility in Michigan. CEO Fischer said earlier this month,
We intend to take a leading position in the industrialization of additive manufacturing and are convinced that the facility in Plymouth Township will ignite this ambition.
This ambition has well and truly been ignited with the acquisition of Citim. Merger and aquisition activity has shown little sign of slowing down in the 3D printing industry and this latest news comes very shortly after another European company, Sandvik stated they are looking to acquire industrial software firms as part of their move into the 3D printing industry.
Featured image of Oerlikon Headquarters via Oerlikon.
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