Desktop Metal Acquires Aidro Metal Additive Manufacturer

Desktop Metal has acquired Aidro, a company known for volume production of next-generation hydraulic and fluid power systems through metal additive manufacturing (AM) across a range of industries, including oil and gas, agricultural equipment, aerospace, mobile and industrial machinery, and others.

Founded in 1982 and based in northern Italy, Aidro has almost 40 years of experience in the design and production of valves, manifolds, and various hydraulic components and fluid power systems. Aidro is said to offer best-in-class expertise in design for AM, including finite element analysis simulation and topology optimization techniques.

Aidro engineers leverage these technical capabilities to redesign traditional hydraulic components for AM production using complex geometries to reduce weight, save space and consolidate multiple components into one, eliminating assembly and welding requirements. Hydraulic components produced by Aidro using AM are said to improve performance versus conventional manufacturing by optimizing flow channel placement and geometry to increase flow capacity and decrease pressure drops.

To offer customers innovative and custom solutions, Aidro has invested in AM facilities and processes alongside its conventional manufacturing capabilities. The company’s dedicated AM department features metal 3D printers, 3D scanning technologies, and ISO9001 and AS/EN9100 certifications, all leveraged to deliver high-performance products to customers, while reducing production lead times for volume quantities of end-use components, spare parts or on-demand rapid prototypes.

“This acquisition advances Desktop Metal’s strategy to support our major OEM customers with proprietary design and application know-how as well as through a combination of best-in-class AM products and high-value parts production across killer applications for AM 2.0,” says Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal founder and CEO. “Aidro brings a talented team with decades of experience in hydraulics and fluid power systems and a passion for leveraging AM to deliver performance advantages to their customers. We’re excited about the acquisition and look forward to advancing AM 2.0 for high-volume production of hydraulics, valves, fluid power systems, and many more end-use parts in development with Aidro.”