The Exploration Company’s Thrustworks unit adds a second TRUMPF TruPrint 3000
Capacity increase targets flight-relevant metal AM work in C103 niobium, Inconel 718 and Ti-6Al-4V for internal programs and external customers
Thrustworks Additive Manufacturing GmbH, a metal additive manufacturing unit owned by The Exploration Company, has put an additional TRUMPF TruPrint 3000 (now commercialized by ATLIX) into service at its facility in Mönchengladbach, Germany. The company reports that the system is intended to increase throughput for TEC programs and contract manufacturing work for customers seeking “flight-relevant” metal additive manufacturing parts.
TEC acquired Thrustworks in November 2025 as part of a broader effort to expand in-house manufacturing capacity in North Rhine-Westphalia and sell those capabilities to the wider aerospace and defense market. In a statement tied to the acquisition, Hélène Huby, CEO and founder of The Exploration Company, described the combination as a way to “scale … a unique niobium printing capability” for applications that include satellite thrusters.
Thrustworks established its production facility at Mönchengladbach Airport in mid-2025, consolidating pre-processing, printing, post-processing, and quality control for refractory and aerospace alloys under a single facility.
The company focuses on making high-quality parts using special metals for aerospace, like C103 niobium for parts that need to handle high temperatures, Inconel 718 for tough aerospace and defense items, and titanium Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) for lightweight structures, as mentioned in their LinkedIn post about the facility
Now marketed under the ATLIX brand, after TRUMPF’s recent spinout of the AM business, the TruPrint 3000 laser powder bed fusion platform boasts a cylindrical build volume of 300 mm by 400 mm, with fiber-laser configurations up to 500 W and preheating up to 200°C.
