Safran Additive Manufacturing Campus celebrates fifth anniversary

Safran, the world’s second largest aircraft equipment manufacturer, is celebrating a big milestone this week: the fifth anniversary of its Safran Additive Manufacturing Campus (SAMC). Based in in Mérignac, France, SAMC spans 12,500 square meters and currently manufactures in the range of 18,000 aircraft and helicopter parts a year using a variety of AM solutions.

Since it first became operational five years ago, the Safran Additive Manufacturing Campus has evolved considerably. For instance, the team that runs the site has grown from 60 people to over 150. Not only that, but the team now includes three cohorts of employees who have earned SAMC’s professional metallurgical qualification certificate in cooperation with the Union des industries et métiers de la métallurgie (UIMM). The campus has also served as a training ground for designers across Safran to learn about AM and how they can integrate it into their respective processes.

SAMC’s evolution parallels the AM industry’s own maturation over the last half a decade and its growing production rates prove it. As François-Xavier Foubert, head of the campus, said: “Five years after opening, the Campus has taken additive manufacturing from the experimental stage to serial production. We have gone from producing just five or six parts in serial production when we started to more than 25 part numbers now in serial production.”

Last year, SAMC reportedly delivered some 15,000 3D printed components, including helicopter and aircraft engine parts. In 2026, this number is expected to rise to 18,000. Stéphane Bensilum, engineering director at SAMC, sees even greater growth on the horizon, saying: “Today, less than 1% of parts are produced using additive manufacturing. In the future, we expect this technology to be used across various aircraft systems and equipment, particularly within engines, where nearly 20% of parts could be designed and manufactured using additive manufacturing.”

Serial production isn’t the only thing that SAMC has excelled at. The AM campus is also home to about 100 development and industrialization projects and collaborates with 10 out of Safran Group’s 12 companies. Marie Pirotais, digital methods engineer at SAMC, is part of the team that uses process data to improve efficiency and AM operations generally.”All our research work focuses on converting the raw data produced by embedded sensors into usable information for production engineers,” she said. “Digitalization truly supports the work of other departments. Our objective is to provide tools and solutions that improve performance and save time across the organization.”

From a hardware perspective, the site relies on a variety of metal LPBF systems, with a particular focus on multi-laser machines. Presently, the largest systems SAMC uses are two 12-laser systems—SLM Solutions‘ NXG XII 600—which have enabled it to boost its productivity. Among the other systems we know SAMC uses are Additive Industries’ MetalFAB1 and Renishaw’s RenAM 500Q.

“Our greatest achievement has been demonstrating that additive manufacturing is more than just a manufacturing process: above all, it is a design enabler that makes it possible to develop innovative, more efficient and differentiated products, including products that would be impossible to manufacture using conventional industrial processes,” said Foubert. “This opens up new possibilities for the Group, particularly in terms of weight savings, performance, and fuel consumption. Several projects illustrate these benefits in practice, such as the production of structural components to reduce helicopter engine weight.  But above all, the real added value lies in our teams’ ability to master this complex technology and make the most of it for our products.”