Reuters recently published an article confirming that New York State is set to build a $125 million 200,000-square-foot industrial-scale 3D printing facility in Plattsburgh, NY, in partnership with Norway’s Norsk Titanium (NTi). The venture is expected to run as a public-private partnership: the plant will be government-owned but operated by NTi. Building is expected to get underway in late October. State University of New York (SUNY) Polytechnic Institute is involved with the program as well.
3D printing is known for its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and NTi states that its use of titanium wire can cut costs up to 70 percent, in about 10 percent of the time. NTi works with a proprietary plasma arc Direct Metal Deposition (DMD) technology that is at the cutting edge in 3D additive printing. Titanium wire is melted in an argon gas cloud, quickly building up layers that require minimal finishing machining. The process costs 50% to 75% less than other manufacturing processes currently used–legacy forging and billet manufacturing techniques–because there’s less machine energy used and less waste produced.
The plant is expected to be fully operational, with several dozen 3D printers, by the end of 2016. It will be able to more inexpensively 3D print large components for defence and aircraft industries. NTi actively sought bids from states, with New York’s bid winning over the others.