Australian engineering company WorleyParsons has entered a 50:50 joint venture with Aurora Labs aimed at furthering the development of 3D printing in the mining, oil & gas and major infrastructure sectors.

The JV, to be named AdditiveNow, will seek to provide a “complete additive manufacturing based engineering service” for those industries, according to Aurora.

AdditiveNow will focus on developing a service offering envisaged to include:

• Consultation – assisting clients with additive manufacturing plans and conducting optimisation studies to improve efficiency, operability and manufacturability;
• Engineering – providing clients with additive manufacturing related engineering services, such as parts design, bespoke metal 3D printing, parts optimisation and parts certification services;
• Agile manufacturing (short run productions) – providing clients with parts design/analysis services through to final production and deployment of those parts, allowing for optimal part design to reduce costs and improve overall performance.

Aurora said these service offerings and the timetable for deployment will, in part, be dependent on the continued development of Aurora’s products, systems and technology.

Up until this point, Aurora has specialised in the development of 3D metal printers, powders, digital parts and their associated intellectual property.