Lockheed Martin and Sintavia have announced a collaboration to expand research of metal additive manufacturing (AM) opportunities as an alternative to castings and forgings.

AM has the capability to improve efficiencies in existing castings and forgings supply chains, and provide parts with a higher level of detail and greater design opportunities.

Sintavia is an AM supplier to Lockheed Martin, supporting several programmes in the manufacture and production of metal additive parts. The new collaboration will explore additional AM technology areas, including laser powder bed fusion, electron beam-directed energy deposition and friction stir AM.

This enhanced relationship builds on the White House initiative AM Forward, announced by US president Joe Biden in May, a voluntary compact aimed at strengthening US supply chains by supporting US-based suppliers’ adoption and deployment of AM.

“Sintavia and Lockheed Martin are committed to improving the capability, agility and competitiveness of the defence industrial supply base,” said Brian Neff, Sintavia’s founder and CEO. “Our partnership with Lockheed Martin seeks to identify and streamline manufacturing inefficiencies, specifically in the production of flight critical structures.”

“Lockheed Martin’s collaboration with Sintavia demonstrates our dedication to the White House’s AM Forward campaign in reducing overall operating costs and strengthening our domestic supply chain, efforts that are in line with our 21st Century Security vision,” said David Tatro, vice president for operations process transformation at Lockheed Martin.

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