en.Wedoany.com Reported - Two Belgian additive manufacturing service providers have recently advanced their metal 3D printing capacity layouts, intersecting with German equipment manufacturer EOS. AnyShape has added two EOS M 400-4 systems at its facility, while Materialise plans to commission an EOS M4 Onyx at its Metal Competence Center in Bremen, Germany, by the end of this year. These two investments are respectively located in Belgium and Germany—two countries that happen to represent two facets of Europe's metal additive manufacturing industry.
In the European metal additive manufacturing landscape, Belgium's influence primarily stems from its service providers—companies that print parts for others rather than manufacturing their own equipment. Germany, meanwhile, is home to EOS's headquarters and the majority of the region's additive manufacturing hardware base, with its own service business also growing. The deployment of new EOS equipment in both countries simultaneously highlights both sides of this dynamic.
AnyShape, located in Villiers-le-Bouillet, Wallonia, Belgium, has added two EOS M 400-4 systems to expand its metal additive manufacturing capacity for aerospace and defense projects. Each new system is equipped with four 400-watt lasers and a build volume of 400×400×400 mm, balancing productivity, repeatability, and the ability to produce large, complex metal components. According to the company, these two systems are configured to meet the requirements of several ongoing aerospace and defense programs, capable of processing aluminum alloys including Scalmalloy, titanium alloys suitable for large high-performance components, and supporting industrial production with high demands for consistency and repeatability. The two systems are currently undergoing qualification alongside several original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers.
Founded in 2016 by two materials scientists, AnyShape holds ISO 9001, EN 9100, and ISO 13485 certifications in metal, plastic, and composite additive manufacturing. Its customer list includes Airbus Group, Airbus Defense and Space, Safran Group, ArianeGroup, OHB, Thales, Sonaca, SABCA, and the European Space Agency (ESA). Earlier this year, the company was selected by Airbus Defense and Space to produce structural mechanical components in Scalmalloy—one of the applications the new EOS systems are planned to support. This investment further consolidates AnyShape's positioning as a one-stop additive manufacturing partner, covering the full workflow from design, process development, production, post-processing, to inspection.
Materialise, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, operates the largest single-site additive manufacturing equipment capacity in Europe. The company is self-funding the purchase of EOS equipment and plans to commission an EOS M4 Onyx at its Metal Competence Center in Bremen by the end of this year. As EOS's successor to the M 400 and M 400-4 platforms, the M4 Onyx was unveiled at Formnext 2025, featuring six 400-watt fiber lasers and a build volume of 450×450×400 mm. EOS states that this configuration delivers up to 50% higher throughput and 30% lower part costs compared to the previous generation. Materialise says the added capacity and precision will support its continued delivery of serial production applications to aerospace, defense, and other industrial customers at scale, while offering a complete metal 3D printing service from concept to finished part, including design and engineering support, EN 9100-certified production, and post-processing options.
Together, these two investments illustrate the regional division of labor: Belgian service providers are driving demand for large-format, multi-laser metal systems, while Germany, through EOS, supplies both the hardware and the service capabilities built upon it. Together, the two countries are forming the center of gravity for European metal additive manufacturing.
