Oerlikon — a global provider of surface solutions, equipment, advanced materials and materials processing — has formally opened a $55 million Innovation Hub and Advanced Component Production facility in Huntersville, North Carolina, as part of its on-going US growth strategy.

The new facility will serve as a cornerstone of Oerlikon’s additive manufacturing (AM) business in the USA.

It is Oerlikon’s second location in North Carolina; the other provides man-made fibres — in particular, carpet yarn systems.

Michael Süss, chairman of the Oerlikon Group (www.oerlikon.com), said: “This new facility marks an important step in our investment strategy for growth.

"Additive manufacturing will play a decisive role in how industries and industrial processes will look in the future.

"We are committed to investing in this business and leading the industrialisation of this technology.”

Sven Hicken, head of Oerlikon’s additive manufacturing business, said: “We are already working with customers in the aerospace, automotive, energy and medical industries in the USA, and we anticipate continued growth in those sectors, as well as in others.

"We believe that additive manufacturing can transform production in many industries, and we are excited that our presence here in North Carolina allows us to better demonstrate those possibilities to our customers.”

Oerlikon currently employs more than 1,300 people in 18 US states and has previously announced that it intends to expand its US footprint.

This $55 million investment means that the company has invested $400 million in the USA in the past five years. It expects to invest another $200 million in the next three years, adding some 400 new jobs.

The Huntersville facility will continue to add jobs gradually and is poised for expansion as the business grows. Oerlikon AM employs more than 300 people at its five service centres and six production sites in Europe, the USA and China.