Collins Aerospace today announced the opening of a new additive manufacturing center at its campus in Monroe, North Carolina. The company completed a $30 million expansion of the site in 2021 and has since invested an additional $15 million as part of the Monroe City Council and Union County Board of Commissioners MAGNET100 economic development incentive program.

Collins' new additive manufacturing center in Monroe includes two 3D printers with plans to add more in the future. The new facility will join the company's existing global network of additive production centers in Iowa, Minnesota, and Singapore, and additive research centers in Connecticut and Poland, to support the next generation of aircraft with state-of-the-art systems and optimized designs.

“Through a process of joining materials layer upon layer to make parts from 3D model data, additive manufacturing offers several key benefits compared to traditional manufacturing,” said Kevin Myers, vice president, Operations for Collins Aerospace. “By using additive manufacturing to produce aircraft parts and components, we can help reduce weight, cost and time to market, and provide more sustainable solutions for our customers.”