Renishaw PLC shows continuing faith in AM

Today's news that Renishaw PLC has acquired 100% share capital of MTT Investments Ltd, and thus the subsidiary MTT Technologies Group Ltd could prove to be one of the most important stories The TCT Magazine has broken (or will break) this year.

While both MTT and Renishaw are individually well known to the majority of readers, this coming together of the technology and the infrastructure to accelerate its development signifies a turning point for both parties.

MTT offers a number of solutions to the industry — from vacuum casting to micro injection moulding to SLM technology. Renishaw brings to the table investment, expertise and enthusiasm for AM (you only need to spend 5 minutes with Jeremy Pullin to realise that!). Where this 'best of British' partnership takes things is open to debate, but it's bound to have a significant impact on the industry of which it is a part.

Throughout the 3DSUG conference it was apparent that while companies in the AM industry are growing, the industry is still tiny, with even the biggest players genuine small-fry (especially considering that many go to great lengths to make themselves appear much larger than they really are). This leads to frustrations for users along the lines of: "You've shown me this great technology, now where's the next level? The new materials? The new processes?"

Development costs money, time and skills — things that even the largest AM players don't have a great deal of. I'd expect we will see many more acquisitions like this over the next couple of years as the risks decrease for investors, and the technology reaches mainstream audiences. There are plenty of obvious candidates from the laser, machine tool and general engineering arenas for whom it would make perfect sense to buy a bit of AM expertise.

Until the next announcement...