BLT and AMT3D: Cooperation brings metal 3D printing to sub-Saharan Africa

Chinese metal 3D printing specialist Xi’an Bright Laser Technologies (BLT) has entered into a sales and service partnership for sub-Saharan Africa with South African company AMT3D. The agreement has been in force since 17 September 2025 and provides that AMT3D will market selected systems and solutions from the BLT portfolio and, together with BLT Europe, provide technical support to users in the region. The focus is on industrial metal laser powder bed fusion systems used, for example, in aerospace, power generation and toolmaking.

In the new setup, AMT3D assumes the role of local point of contact for prospective and existing customers. The company will offer pre-sales consulting, application support and coordinated technical service. BLT Europe, based in Frankfurt, will remain closely involved, for example in complex process adaptations or when introducing new machine platforms.

“We are excited to offer BLT’s cutting-edge systems to our market and have no doubt that they are the best machines for the African continent”, says Dr Devon Hagedorn-Hansen. “We have been watching BLT grow from strength to strength and what really stood out for us was their goal to become the world’s leading AM technology solutions provider. From what I was privileged to witness in Xi’an. I would say they are living up to that goal and at a price point that is unmatched for the quality they offer. We look forward to selling their systems in our complete facility package where we handle everything from installation of auxiliary equipment to hands on training. With BLT we look forward to realising our goal of industrialising Africa, one layer at a time.”

“Having Devon and the team of AMT3D as our new BLT partner makes me very proud”, says Benjamin Bäumer, Sales Manager at BLT Europe. “AMT3D has a deep experience in supporting customers not just with a system, but a real end-to-end solution. This means Devon and his team can support from a basic feasibility study all the way to providing an entire customer production site. What’s more, his team also supports its clients during operations with full after-sales support. The experience from such complex processes across the entire customer journey will help our clients to successfully start producing with AM.”

For BLT Europe, the cooperation fits into a broader partner strategy with which the company is expanding its presence in selected EMEA markets. From the users’ point of view, it is particularly relevant that the planning, installation and operation of metal 3D printing cells will in future be supported more directly on site and that know-how will be built up in the region. This will provide the market for metal additive manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa with additional infrastructure for the introduction of series applications.