New head for additive manufacturing division

On 1 October, Astrid Rota was appointed managing director of the additive manufacturing division of German company Kurtz GmbH & Co. KG. In her new role, she will manage the additive manufacturing division for metal 3D printing within the Kurtz Ersa group.

The division, which sets out to operate with the spirit of a start-up, is three years old and builds systems to produce metal components – starting with the entry-level model Alpha 140 and ranging through to the Kurtz Ersa Flying Ray, which is designed for the production of large parts. Astrid Rota will make important decisions in the metal 3D printing space and, in particular, work to take the Flying Ray to the next levels of maturity in the market.

Dr Rota obtained an engineering degree from the University of Karlsruhe (KIT) and received her doctorate in engineering from the University of Bremen in the Department of Production Technology, with her research work focusing on process development in powder metallurgy. For more than ten years, Dr Rota worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM) in Bremen, developing innovative manufacturing technologies using powder metallurgy. Her focus at the institute was on strategic and market-oriented research and development work for various fields such as the medical technology, energy and automotive industries.

Dr Rota gained further experience as director of an internal start-up specialising in energy storage solutions at SGL Carbon, with which she achieved lasting commercial success. For the last seven years, Dr Rota has been head of metal process technology at EOS, a leading industrial 3D printing solutions provider. In this role, she was responsible for the development of metallic materials and processes and worked with her team to set out the hardware and software requirements for new equipment. Dr Rota was instrumental in developing the company’s laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology. She continually worked to improve products to meet customer needs and to help expand the fundamental understanding of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) as a strategic springboard for future development.

Dr Rota has extensive technical knowledge in the realm of metal 3D printing. The additive manufacturing division at Kurtz Ersa will profit from her many years of expertise as she heads up the 3D printing team, which currently has 25 staff.