At November’s Formnext 2018 show in Frankfurt, DMG Mori announced that it is “boosting its already far-reaching global presence in metal additive manufacturing” (AM) by taking a 30% stake in the Indian company Intech — a developer of software for AM, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Intech is considered a pioneer in metal 3-D printing in India. It already supplies software solutions for DMG Mori’s Lasertec SLM selective laser melting) machines and other products, as well as customers using powder bed technology.

Its new Optomet software, for example, automatically calculates optimal process parameters, simplifying programming and resulting in “markedly improved surface quality, as well as reproducible component properties”.

Intech was founded in 2012 and now employs more than 60 software specialists and technology experts. It supplies not only innovative software solutions but also additively manufactured prototypes to the aerospace, medical, automotive and tool-making sectors.

Christian Thönes, chairman of DMG Mori AG (www.en.dmgmori-ag.com), said: “With Intech, we are strengthening our global footprint in India and accelerating our innovation in additive manufacturing. ‘Right first time’ is our motto, which means producing the first good part quickly.

"We are actively pushing ahead with integrated solutions along the whole generative manufacturing process chain.”

Intech CEO Sridhar Balaram said: “Leveraging synergies is key, and our collaboration with DMG Mori is a perfect fit of hardware and software.

“Optomet can also be applied to other key technologies within additive manufacturing, such as directed energy deposition and binder jetting. We believe this software is a game-changer for the whole of the additive-manufacturing market.”