DSM Launches Additive Manufacturing Business

DSM has announced a new approach for its additive manufacturing (AM) activities, an integrated business called DSM Additive Manufacturing. This business aligns all the company’s AM activities within the Materials cluster and promotes a partnership approach. The company says this move will enable it to provide an open, flexible infrastructure that will help customers to find exactly the right materials and production systems for their applications. 

The new customer-centric organization will build on experience and expertise from all of DSM’s existing materials businesses, combining deep market segment-specific application understanding and expertise in all polymer AM processing technology platforms. The business will offer SLA, DLP and FFF as well as experience from years of research in SLS, Multi Jet Fusion, ink jet and binder jet processes. 

DSM will initially focus on four market segments in particular: healthcare, transportation, apparel, and tools and electronics. 

“Somos has provided us with a deep understanding of key market segments and end-customer needs in the AM space,” says Hugo da Silva, vice president of additive manufacturing at DSM. “We continue to introduce major innovations in SLA and DLP materials, but this is only a part of the total AM picture, and we want to cover the entire area.”

“Right now, there is a lot of excitement around Fused Filament Fabrication and DSM has a growing portfolio of materials for this technology, including Novamid polyamide and Arnitel thermoplastic elastomer. But we intend to go much further, extending our innovation efforts—supported by technology partnerships and industry collaboration—to develop new solutions for SLS, Multi Jet Fusion, ink jet and binder jet. We also want to explore new and emerging technologies in AM as they graduate from research, giving us the industry’s broadest solutions portfolio.”

DSM Additive Manufacturing will have a strong focus on R&D and continuous innovation that will enable it to develop a broader, sustainable solutions portfolio.

“AM is quickly evolving from a prototyping technology on the fringes of manufacturing into a mainstream discipline, offering tangible value and economically viable benefits to large industrial companies and eventually through to end-users,” says Da Silva. “Mass customization and small volume production using AM are now a reality, and as the sector evolves and matures to reflect new, disruptive business models and shifting customer behaviors, so must we. SLA is our heritage; however we can play in all polymer printing technologies, we can deliver in all areas. What is important is what is best for the customer.”