Materialise acquires CENAT: Subsidiairy of Test & Measurement Solutions

Materialise Broadens the Range of its Software Solutions by Acquiring the CENAT Embedded Software Platform for Additive Manufacturing Control Systems

Complementary Transaction Brings Additional Solution to Machine Manufacturers and Users Looking to Produce High Quality End Parts with 3D Printing

Test & Measurement Solutions Group announced today the sale of its subsidiary company CENAT a developer of embedded computing software and solutions for additive manufacturing control systems to Materialise NV (NASDAQ: MTLS).

This transaction will enable Materialise to add new software solutions for quality control to its open platform for additive manufacturing, which already includes tools for everything from file preparation to complete automation and control systems. The high-performance embedded software and processing power of CENAT’s AM machine control systems, which have been developed in collaboration with Materialise, will support the extremely demanding quality control systems and processes needed to assure the correct production of printed end-parts in industries such as aerospace and medical.

“We are very pleased with the acquirement of CENAT by Materialise, they are a perfect match”, says Kurt Hensen, CEO of Test & Measurement Solutions Group. “This acquisition will leverage  CENAT’s embedded software platforms for additive manufacturing control systems.”
“CENAT is very enthusiastic about joining the Materialise group”, stated Stijn Schacht, founder and CEO of CENAT. “We have enjoyed the close collaboration with Materialise’s R&D team in the development of an AM machine control system and look forward to furthering this work from within Materialise. Furthermore, by teaming up with such established players in the AM industry, we are very excited to be increasing the reach of a technology that answers a growing need for greater control over quality and repeatability.”  

Materialise founder and CEO Fried Vancraen commented, “We are very proud to welcome the CENAT team to the Materialise Group. We began collaborating with CENAT in response to a growing demand for a greater control over quality for the manufacturing end-use parts, both within our own AM facilities as well as in those of our customers. As the system being developed was complementary to the broad range of solutions in our Open Software Platform for 3D Printing, the decision was made to bring the CENAT system in-house and to the market as part of our broad range of software solutions for industrial additive manufacturing.”

For 25 years, Materialise has been constantly focused on driving 3D printing forward with innovative applications, operating in an open ecosystem. The company’s market-leading software offers a neutral platform to link all 3D printing applications with any 3D printer in the industry and, in 2014, Materialise announced multiple partnerships with 3D printer manufacturers to create build processors that link software even more directly with the machine. This latest acquisition will further improve the transfer of data between machine and user, enabling a potentially greater amount of print success and allowing users to manufacture even more complex and higher quality parts.