September 10, 2025 14:02

Arburg, the German manufacturer of injection molding machines, has announced it will withdraw from the additive manufacturing market by the end of the year, shutting down its ARBURGadditive division to refocus entirely on its core business of injection molding.

The decision affects not only Arburg’s in-house-developed Freeformer industrial 3D printers, but also filament and silicone printing systems produced by its Bavarian subsidiary InnovatiQ, based in Feldkirchen.

While the company will discontinue sales and its participation in trade fairs, events and symposia related to additive manufacturing, it will maintain post-sales service, spare parts supply and technical support for all Freeformer systems currently installed in the field.

Approximately 40 employees from ARBURGadditive will be reassigned to other roles within the Arburg Group.

"This business decision was made after careful evaluation and consideration of the current market situation and the current economic parameters," says Armin Schmiedeberg, chairman of the advisory board at Arburg.

First introduced at K2013, the proprietary Arburg Plastic Freeforming (APF) process initially generated strong industry interest due to its innovative technical approach. However, Arburg notes that the business unit did not meet its long-term financial objectives, and the global additive manufacturing market has not developed as anticipated.

A key feature of the APF process is its ability to produce fully functional parts directly from CAD data, without the need for molds, using standard plastic pellets instead of powder or filament.

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