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Materialise and ITRI jointly collaborate on the Factory of the Future
Leuven, Belgium – August 17, 2016. Materialise NV (NASDAQ: MTLS), a leading provider of Additive Manufacturing (AM) software and sophisticated 3D printing solutions in the medical and industrial markets, collaborates with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan. ITRI has been engaged in the research and development of metal AM technologies that will undoubtedly become part of the Factory of the Future incorporating the Materialise Magics 3D Print Suite.
ITRI has been devoted to applied research and technical services for more than 40 years, helping industries stay competitive and sustainable. In order to introduce the complete AM workflow to the industry ITRI has developed its own industry-grade metal 3D printing machines, combining their specific process technologies with the Materialise AM software backbone. With more than 25 years of experience in developing software for 3D printing and an ever-growing network of partners from the most demanding industries, ITRI chose Materialise as the most suitable partner in pursuit of the Factory of the Future. The partnership constitutes a leading example for the AM industry worldwide.
When a company dives into AM, it requires a system that can capture valuable information such as process, machine, material, and sample data so that they can efficiently create links between the different test data, gain deeper insight into the consequences of certain choices and help reveal bottlenecks more quickly and thoroughly. Materialise Streamics software is this kind of AM focused management system and it has a significant impact on the ease of process stabilization and scalability of the AM process. It decreases human labor and error through different software automations such as automatic part labeling, which further increases the efficiency of the process, beneficiary for larger production runs. Materialise Streamics monitors the 3D printing machines and stores all relevant build data in a centralized system, ensuring traceability and enabling repeatable quality.
To increase process control and to make optimal use of ITRI's scanning technologies, a direct communication between the Materialise Streamics production management system and ITRI's metal 3D printing machine is established through the Materialise Build Processor. This is a central printing management system that provides a simplified workflow for the user; with the possibility to create and assign machine-specific build styles to the parts and platform, as well as slicing and exporting the data to the machine. In addition, it gives the user access to Materialise's groundbreaking slice-based technology. This slicing software reduces the file size of non-manageable, complex designs and leads to the successful printing of products that could otherwise never have been brought to life without these sophisticated slicing parameters.
Companies that are interested in discovering how their production process can benefit from Additive Manufacturing and what pitfalls to avoid can download Materialise's white paper "Unlock the full potential of AM", located on this webpage.
For more information about Materialise Streamics software, please visit:
http://software.materialise.com/streamics
For more information about Materialise Build Processor software, please visit:
http://software.materialise.com/build-processor
About Materialise
Materialise incorporates more than 25 years of 3D printing experience into a range of software solutions and 3D printing services, which together form the backbone of the 3D printing industry. Materialise's open and flexible solutions enable players in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design, and consumer goods, to build innovative 3D printing applications that aim to make the world a better and healthier place. Headquartered in Belgium, with branches worldwide, Materialise combines the largest group of software developers in the industry with one of the largest 3D printing facilities in the world. For additional information, please visit: www.materialise.com.
About ITRI
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is one of the world's leading technology R&D institutions aiming to innovate a better future for society. Founded in 1973, ITRI has played a vital role in transforming Taiwan's industries from labor-intensive into technology-oriented. It focuses on the fields of Smart Living, Quality Health, and Sustainable Environment. Over the years, ITRI has cultivated more than 140 CEOs and incubated over 240 innovative companies, including well-known names such as UMC and TSMC. In addition to its headquarters in Taiwan, ITRI has branch offices in Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Berlin, Moscow and Eindhoven in an effort to extend its R&D scope and promote opportunities for international cooperation around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.itri.org/eng.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, the plans, objectives, expectations, strategies and prospects of the Company, both financial and business. Such statements are subject to known and unknown uncertainties and risks. When used in this press release, the words "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "intend," "believe," "forecast," "will", "may", "could", "might", "aim", "should" and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon the management's current expectations. These expectations, beliefs and projections are given in good faith and management believes there is a reasonable basis for them. However, the management cannot offer any assurance that its expectations, beliefs and projections will actually be achieved. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events, competitive dynamics and industry change, and depend on economic circumstances that may or may not occur in the future or may occur on longer or shorter timelines than anticipated. Management cautions readers that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond its control. All of the forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Management makes no commitment, and disclaims any duty to update or revise any forwardlooking statements to reflect future events or changes in its expectations.