Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is set to expand its application development focus in additive manufacturing technology, according to a report.

The move underscores Sabic’s commitment to this evolving technology that is pushing the industry to rapidly develop new materials and processes that can help to achieve improved performance, complex designs, enhanced aesthetics and more economical part builds, said the Arab News report.

The firm’s capabilities and experience in additive manufacturing across a number of industries will enable it to work closely with technology innovators including universities, research laboratories, printer manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and emerging technology companies to help accelerate the advancements necessary for additive manufacturing to reach its full potential, it said.

"The insights and technology developments coming from Sabic will deepen the understanding of the critical link between materials, design, processing and part performance needed to expand the technology from functional prototyping to real-world part production," said Ernesto Occhiello, executive vice president, Technology and Innovation at Sabic, was quoted as saying.

"Continuing to invest in capabilities and equipment to support the development of high performance materials for existing additive manufacturing processes as well as new, emerging technologies is a key enabler of Sabic’s strategy to help our customers address their constant challenge of lowering the cost to innovate and bringing their designs to market more quickly,” he added.