Partnership will provide added value for AM development chain

TROY, Mich. and TAUFKIRCHEN, Germany, June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair and APWorks have recently entered a non exclusive partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) with two key areas of collaboration. Bringing the considerable benefits of geometrical freedom, lightweight, functionally integrated and customized designs of AM to their customers from various industries. Additionally they will provide them with consulting, advanced design and simulation technology as well as production processes.

A key area of collaboration is going to be joint, end-to-end consulting by Altair and APWorks to help companies explore the potential of additive manufacturing for their own applications through pilot projects and technology demonstrators. The offering will include screening and identification of applications, the redesign of components, quantification of potential levels of product performance improvements, printing and physical testing of prototypes up to serial production, and cost analysis and business case preparation. In a second phase, the offering will also include knowledge transfer to the customer and the adoption of additive manufacturing within their organization. Another area of collaboration will be the advance of Altair's Software through APWorks' expertise aiming for an end-to-end simulation driven design process for printed metal parts. This will provide engineers with a seamless working environment going from design to validation in a very short time and with an intuitive user experience.

"I am very happy about this agreement," said Dr. Pietro Cervellera, Managing Director, Altair Engineering GmbH. "At Altair we have always believed that the place for simulation and optimization is right at the concept phase of the development process. A simulation driven design process can help designers and engineers generate better design ideas faster and inject innovation into products. APWorks has fully embraced this philosophy as demonstrated by the "Light Rider". The bionic frame of this new motorbike APWorks developed has been inspired by nature, generated with OptiStruct's topology optimization technology and then printed."

"This partnership will help us to support our customers even better," said Joachim Zettler, Managing Director Airbus APWorks GmbH. "Our know-how in additive manufacturing and Altair's expertise in Simulation Driven Design are a perfect combination to help customers truly benefit from the advantages of additive manufacturing. In our "Light Rider" project topology optimization and the advances in additive layer manufacturing have allowed us to realize the bionic design we had in mind for the motorcycle, without having to make any major changes. This led to the revolutionary and lightweight design we envisioned for this project."

"Topology optimization combined with additive manufacturing will bring about a large range of new products that will be lightweight, efficient, appealing, and sustainable," said Dr. Robert Yancey, Vice President of Additive Manufacturing for Altair. "We are very pleased to partner with an innovative organization like APWorks that is aggressively developing and producing these new products of the future with additive manufacturing."

"Combining design expertise with production knowledge will greatly expand the possibilities for our customers. We are looking forward to various applications and business cases in the future," said Joachim Zettler, managing director of APWorks.

To learn more about the "Light Rider" please visit: www.lightrider.apworks.de or register here for Converge 2016 in September in Essen, Germany, where Daniel Schneider, APWorks, will talk about the project in the conference's main session and the "Design for additive Manufacturing" Masterclass.

About ALTAIR
Altair is focused on the development and broad application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with more than 2,600 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA and operates more than 45 offices throughout 22 countries. Today, Altair serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

About APWorks
As a 100 % subsidiary of the Airbus Group, AP Works is familiar with modern production processes, and makes proven aerospace technologies accessible in many different industries. In metallic 3D printing or additive manufacturing the company covers the entire value chain, from optimized component design to the choice of suitable materials, from prototyping to qualified serial production. Its customers in robotics, mechanical engineering, automotive industry, medical technology and aerospace benefit from all the advantages that additive manufacture has to offer - the shortest possible production times, lower weight and lower material consumption. 3D printing also allows much more complex geometries than were previously possible. For more information please visit: apworks.de.