3D Systems opens 50,000-square-foot Colorado center for certified aerospace parts

3D Systems has opened its Industrial Technology Center in Littleton, Colorado, adding about 50,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space. The company says the site is meant to help aerospace, defense, and semiconductor equipment manufacturers develop, qualify, and produce mission-critical parts with 3D printing, and it pitches the expansion as a boost to "supply chain resilience."

The addition raises 3D Systems' advanced manufacturing capacity to approximately 270,000 square feet across Europe and the US. The company says it responds to growing demand for qualified, U.S.-based production.

The certification list is the part quality teams will check first. The Littleton facility is ISO 9001 and AS9100D certified and ITAR registered. It is JCP registered, with eJCP (DD2345s) in process, and CMMC Level 2 compliant for controlled unclassified information. For QA managers qualifying additive parts for regulated programs, that means development, qualification, and production can sit under one set of quality systems at one site.

Reji Puthenveetil, Executive Vice President, Additive Solutions at 3D Systems, said the expansion lets the company "rapidly scale production" using the same validated processes and quality systems customers already rely on. The campus builds on decades of regulated healthcare manufacturing, where it developed experience in process validation and quality management. Jeffrey Graves, President and CEO of 3D Systems, said the opening also creates room for growth in the company's healthcare manufacturing operations and new jobs for engineers and technicians in Colorado.

The center is one piece of a larger domestic metal additive plan. Once planned investments are complete, 3D Systems says the work will be split across three states. Metal additive system development, part of a multi-phase U.S. Air Force sponsored program, will take place in California. Large-format printer manufacturing will stay in South Carolina. Colorado will handle application development, qualification, and certified parts production.