Carpenter Technology, Philadelphia, announces the grand opening of its Emerging Technology Center (ETC), a 500,000-square-foot additive manufacturing facility in Athens, Alabama, containing true end-to-end capabilities. It provides the capability to atomize a range of specialty alloys into metal powder, and then manufacture the powder into finished parts.
Its downstream equipment for taking the initially produced part to a final finished product includes the latest, state-of-the-art quick-cooling hot isostatic press system in the United States, as well as vacuum heat treating to optimize the material properties of high-value specialty alloy components. Parts manufactured in the ETC can then be qualified for a range of cross-industry applications, from aerospace and transportation to oil and gas and energy.
Critically, the ETC is designed to maintain full traceability and provide analytical insights throughout the manufacturing process by a digital thread, allowing Carpenter to manage the entire manufacturing process under one roof with a streamlined workflow—a key differentiator in the AM industry.
“Our Emerging Technology Center is a critical component of Carpenter Technology’s future growth and development, and is aligned with our business strategy of evolving to an end-to-end solutions provider and influential leader in the AM area,” said Carpenter Technology Chief Executive Officer Tony Thene. “We will also use it as a base to launch future investments as we expand our soft magnetics technology platform, scale up additional powder operations, and demonstrate a number of next-generation materials we have under development today.”
The ETC investment complements Carpenter Technology’s 500,000-square-foot Alabama manufacturing facility, which began operations in 2014, and produces high-end specialty alloy products, primarily for the aerospace and energy markets.
Carpenter Technology has invested approximately $40 million to date in the ETC and is expected to create approximately 60 jobs over the next five years as well as help further the region’s position as an advanced manufacturing technology center. To date, the Company has invested a total of over $600 million in its Alabama operations.
