Renishaw strikes agreement to expand its dental technology range

The agreement will allow the Renishaw Group to strengthen its existing dental business on a global basis. Geoff McFarland, Renishaw's group engineering director, said: "This is an important agreement for Renishaw, which allows us to sell and utilise our own additive manufacturing machines for dental market applications, and gives our customers access to important patents from BEGO, which is a leader in this field. It also comes at a time when we are introducing a range of innovative processes for the manufacture of dental structures." BEGO launched additive manufacturing (AM) technologies into the dental industry in 2001. The AM process allows the production of precision metal parts direct from 3D CAD data in a layer building process that removes many of the design limitations and material waste associated with conventional 'subtractive' milling processes. Renishaw purchased UK?additive manufacturing technology company MTT Investments Ltd (MTT), based in Stone, Staffordshire, in April 2011.