Würth Industry North America (WINA) has signed a distribution agreement with industrial metal and carbon fibre 3D printer provider Markforged.
Würth said the agreement will better serve the needs of its customers in the general manufacturing market, as well as oil & gas, heavy equipment and transportation.
Markforged 3D Printing solutions complements Würth Industry's provision of innovative supply chain solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). That provision includes cost-saving options to its customers, including metal printed production parts and tools, rapid prototyping and full service digital Kanban solutions to better manage inventory.
The range of 3D printed inventory solutions are limitless, said Würth, due to Markforged's vast array of metals — from high-conductivity copper to industrial tool steel to superalloys like Inconel. In addition, its composite platform can print in continuous carbon fibre, Kevlar®, and more, creating functional parts that rival aluminium in terms of strength and stiffness, but at a fraction of the weight, said the press statement.
“We are thrilled to bring innovative digital supply chain solutions to our customers," said Dan Hill, Chief Executive Officer for Würth Industry North America. "By integrating Markforged 3D Printing technology with our existing kanban programs, we are able to offer quicker time to market and lower inventory costs. We're able to cut out the sourcing, purchasing, and transportation costs and deliver the value directly to the customer."
Greg Mark, CEO and founder of Markforged, added: "We're excited to expand the global reach of our solutions with Würth and continue to push the bounds of what's possible in additive manufacturing. This partnership truly opens up valuable potential for us, and for the industry. Markforged makes it easy to build anything you can imagine, and that capability will allow industrial manufacturers to lower inventory costs by printing production tools and parts – quickly and reliably."
3D and additive manufacturing is a sector that the likes of Bossard and Reyher have been growing their expertise.
