Laser Melting with Metals (Lasercusing)

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█Laser melting with metals (LaserCUSING)

Concept Laser reports positive half-yearly results

The mechanical and plant engineering specialist again reports above-average growth in the first half of 2014

Concept Laser honored among "Best 50" companies

Lichtenfels (Germany), August 6, 2014: Companies that seek out new opportunities for growth and employment, and consistently exploit such opportunities, form the backbone of the economy. They bring the values of entrepreneurialism to life, take responsibility and create jobs. With its "Best 50" award, the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs honors fifty companies from Bavaria that stand out thanks to their innovation and growth. This year, the tool machine manufacturer for Concept Laser, the 3D metal printing company based in Lichtenfels, is among them. The company's above-average growth and high speed of innovation testify to the plant engineering specialist's consistent commitment to success in past years.

The company's success is based on its consistent technical orientation. As a pioneer in the field of laser melting with metals, the company has acquired many patents and produced many innovations during its almost 15 years of successful operation.When it comes to complex systems, it's important to ensure a wide-ranging interplay between optics, design, control technology, software and the powder material. Across the sector, the company's strong commitment to research and development of system technology and materials certification are considered exemplary. For instance, Concept Laser's new development center began operations in early 2014 to further consolidate its position as technology leader and further expand its process and system technology expertise with innovations.

Dynamic half-yearly results

Rapidly growing acceptance of generative manufacturing in markets and the attractiveness of laser melting systems from Lichtenfels are reflected in the above-average growth figures. In terms of incoming orders, 45 machines have already been ordered in the first half of 2014 (previous year: 31 machines). This is equivalent to growth of 45 % compared to last year. Sales have increased by an incredible 100 % compared to the previous year, thanks to the growing number of large systems being sold. Oliver Edelman, Head of Sales & Marketing, describes sales developments as follows: "The aerospace industry is a significant sector for us and is now increasingly relying on generative manufacturing strategies. The brackets we produce for Airbus serve as an example of how lightweight construction elements for aircraft can be produced in the future. "Additive instead of milling" is now increasingly the slogan among production experts. Of course, the dynamic development of markets such as China and the USA generally contributes to further anchoring this positive development.We are significantly ahead of our performance projections."

Future prospects: very good to excellent

For the "Best 50" award, the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs also takes job creation into account. Concept Laser has grown from a small startup to a company that now has 85 employees. "We expect this trend to continue," emphasizes Frank Herzog, President & CEO of Concept Laser. "We view the 'Best 50' award as motivation to further increase the speed of our innovations."Success appears to attract success. Many industries are increasingly relying on generative laser melting with metals. Industries driving this development include the aerospace and medical/dental industries. It's no surprise that the list of customers from the first half of 2014 reads like a "who's who" in these industries: according to Oliver Edelmann, they include customers from the service sector, such as the FineLine division of Proto Labs (USA) and Fr. Aussieker (Germany). FloMet LLC (USA) represents the tool construction industry, while Stomus (Russia), Dentware AB (Sweden) and Dentes Fräszentrum (Germany) are important customers from the dental sector. "In particular, it was the aerospace industry with customers such as Honeywell (USA), NASA (USA), Lockheed Martin (USA), Premium Aerotec (Germany) and the German Aerospace Center(Germany), that contributed to the strong growth of sales figures", according to Oliver Edelmann.

Production capacity increases significantly

"Our efforts toward increasing the performance capacity of system technology and comprehensive adaptations of capacities at virtually all levels are now bearing fruit. This year, the focus is on adapting production capacity in order to deal with the large number of received orders." A 3,500 square meter production hall is currently under construction, which will be available for use starting in fall 2014. This will allow the company to increase its production capacity by a factor of 2.5 compared to the previous business year.

Concept Laser announces new USA subsidiary

To better meet the high demand from the USA, Concept Laser announced their plans to open a US subsidiary. This branch office, to be staffed by decentralized employees, is intended to provide better proximity to customers for service and sales purposes. "With our headquarters serving the European market and a subsidiary in China, we are now active in three important regions around the world," says Frank Herzog.

Reprint permitted - copy requested

Captions █████████████████████████████████████████████

Caption 0: Conferral of "Bavaria´s Best 50" award to Frank and Kerstin Herzog(Managing Directors of Concept Laser)

Caption 1: Dominant in its environment: the X line 1000R large system from Concept Laser

Caption 2: Oliver Edelmann, Head of Sales & Marketing at Concept Laser: "Additive instead of milling" is now increasingly the slogan among production experts. Of course, the dynamic development of markets such as China and the USA generally contributes to further anchoring this positive development. We are significantly ahead of our performance projections."

Caption 3: Lightweight construction and bionics in aircraft construction: Titanium bracket for the Airbus A350 XWB replaces a milled part and reduces the weight by approx. 30 %

Caption 4: Frank Herzog, President & CEO of Concept Laser: "We view the 'Best 50' award as motivation to further increase the speed of our innovations."

All image sources: Concept Laser GmbH, Lichtenfels, Germany (unless stated otherwise)

Trade fair appearances: Concept Laser will appear at ...

Euromold Brazil, Joinville (BR)18.-22.08.2014

Gems & Jewelery, Bangkok (TH) 11.-15.09.2014

Dental Expo, Moscow (RU) 29.09-02.10.2014

TCT, Birmingham (UK) 30.09-02.10.2014

Contact ████████████████████████████████████████████████████

Concept Laser GmbH

An der Zeil 8

D-96215 Lichtenfels

Germany

Phone+49 (0) 95 71 / 1679 - 200

Fax +49 (0) 95 71 / 1679 - 299

Press contact:

Daniel Hund

Phone: +49 (0) 9571 / 1679 - 251

E-mail:

About LaserCUSING® █████████████████████████████████

Keyword: LaserCUSING®

The LaserCUSING® process is used to create mechanically and thermally stable metallic components with high precision. Depending on the application, it can be used with stainless and tool steels, aluminum and titanium alloys, nickel-based superalloys, cobalt-chromium alloys or precious metals such as gold or silver alloys.

Procedures

With LaserCUSING®, finely pulverized metal is fused using a high-energy fiber laser. After cooling, the material solidifies. Component contour is achieved by directing the laser beam with a mirror deflection unit (scanner). Construction takes place layer by layer (with each layer measuring 15 -100 microns) by lowering the bottom surface of the construction space, then applying and fusing more powder.

Concept Laser systems stand out due to their stochastic control of the slice segments (also referred to as "islands"), which are processed successively. The patented process significantly reduces tension during the manufacture of very large components.

Concept Laser Overview ███████████████████████████████████

Concept Laser GmbH is an independent company from Lichtenfels, Germany. Since its founding in 2000, it has been a leading innovator in the field of laser melting with the patented LaserCUSING® technology across many industries.

The term LaserCUSING®, a combination of the C from CONCEPT Laser and the word FUSING (to fully melt) describes the technology: the fusing process generates components layer by layer using 3D CAD data.

The method allows the production of complex component geometries without tools to create parts that are difficult or even impossible to achieve through conventional manufacturing.

With the LaserCUSING® process, conformal cooling can be used to create tool inserts as well as direct components for the jewelry, medical, dental, automotive and aerospace industries. This applies to prototypes and series parts.

The company offers both standard systems and custom concepts for metal laser melting. With Concept Laser, full service as an option means that customers can either purchase their own metal laser melting systems or rely directly on service and development services.

Laser machining systems from Concept Laser process powder materials made from stainless steel, hot work tool steels, cobalt-chromium alloy, nickel-base alloy as well as reactive powder materials such as aluminum and titanium alloys. Precious metals such as gold or silver alloys for jewelry making are also an option.

LaserCUSING® offers new perspectives in terms of cost and speed for efficient product development in industries such as:

•Jewelry

•Medical and dental technology

•Aeronautics and space industry

•Tool and mold construction

•Automotive and racing

•Mechanical engineering

The systems reduce development time and costs substantially while offering much greater flexibility in product development.

The high quality standards, level of experience and successful track record of Concept Laser guarantee reliable and cost-effective solutions with proven performance in daily production, with a particular focus on unit cost reductions.

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