The Belgium-based leader in additive manufacturing Materialise has announced the acquisition of e-Prototypy, Poland's leading provider of rapid prototypes and 3D printing.  The acquisition is not the company's first foray into Eastern Europe; Materialise has been a market leader in the Czech market, through its subsidiary in Usti Nad Labem CR, since 2004.

By acquiring e-Prototypy, Materialise has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to further investment in the eastern European market. "Thanks to the acquisition, Polish customers will be gaining access to the vast production capacity of Materialise." says Bart Van Der Schueren, VP of industrial production at Materialise.

e-Prototypy has been active in the Polish market since 2008 and has grown to become the market leader in this region. e-Prototypy is Poland's first comprehensive prototype center specializing in the production of fully functional prototypes using 3D printing and 3D scanning and in the direct production of small series (Direct Digital Manufacturing) using VC, CNC, SLS, DMLS. Today, e-Prototypy offers a broad range of 3D printing solutions, with a specialization in the production of laser sintered components, and has invested in scanning and reverse engineering services in recent years - services from which current Materialise customers will now also be able to benefit.

Since 1990, Materialise has been playing an active role in the field of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, as it is also known, and today is acknowledged as a global leader in this field. The company is also known for its innovative software solutions.  Grzegorz Sworobowicz, vice-CEO and co-founder of e-Prototypy, was enthusiastic about the deal, commenting that he saw enhanced opportunities for growth in the Polish market as a result of being acquired by Masterialise. "As part of Materialise, our customers will be given access to even better service with a larger range of 3D Printing technologies and they can benefit from Materialise's 23 years of experience in this industry," he noted.