Pact signed to scale up 3D printed parts manufacturing in Oman

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Muscat: In a significant boost for the localisation of 3D printed manufacturing in the Sultanate of Oman, a leading international tech firm has announced a partnership with Intaj Suhar – a one-of-its-kind Omani advanced manufacturing research facility – to enable the introduction of high-tech manufacturing of spare parts for the country’s pivotal energy industry.

3D printed manufacturing - also known as additive manufacturing (AM) – is an industrial process involving the fabrication of physical 3-dimentional objects by extruding material, layer-by-layer, to form the desired shapes. Globally, additive manufacturing is an estimated $90 billion industry focused primarily on the manufacture of spare parts for the Oil & Gas, and related energy sectors.

On Thursday, Immensa – a leading additive manufacturing player in the MENA region – announced a strategic alliance with Intaj Suhar, affiliated to Madayn’s Industrial Innovation Academy, to make it possible for local oilfield companies, among others, to get their critical spares manufactured locally.

In addition to unlocking opportunities for the localisation of this key market, the initiative is expected to contribute to significant cost and time savings for local companies that currently have to source their requirements from expensive overseas suppliers.

Dubai-headquartered Immensa, which operates high-tech manufacturing facilities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, now plans to add Oman to its regional presence. Besides establishing itself as a specialist in the Additive Manufacturing industry, it is also a provider of Digital Inventory Solutions (DIS). Leveraging these specialist skills, Immensa takes physical spare parts and dematerializes them into the digital world by creating a digital warehouse of spare parts. In the region, Immensa is billed as the only company that owns and controls the entire digital supply chain encompassing the digitalization and production of spare parts.

Local partner Intaj Suhar is Oman’s only player in the Additive Manufacturing space. Conceived as an advanced manufacturing research facility, it launched a manufacturing incubator in 2022 with the following objectives: developing technological skills and capabilities; prototyping, product and tools designing and manufacturing; enhancing ICV and promoting economic diversification; and fostering job creation.

Intaj Suhar is currently made up of three main units, namely, Plastic Technology and Moulds Manufacturing Centre, Advanced Manufacturing Centre, and a unit for reverse engineering and machinery. Just last week, the centre signed agreements with a number of prominent Omani manufacturing company to support cooperation in the fields of mould manufacturing, precision components manufacturing and reverse engineering.

Immensa says its partnership with Intaj Suhar will help replicate its successful business model in Oman. That model centres on the establishment of digital warehouses of the complete spectrum of spares required by the energy industry in Oman. Intaj Suhar’s local capabilities, combined with Immensa’s strengths in digital inventory solutions and additive manufacturing, will help create a complete solution for Omani companies to procure locally produced parts, it stressed.

Importantly, the partnership will help boost the In-Country Value (ICV) strategy of the Omani government, which advocates for the growth of a modern and technologically advanced manufacturing base in the country. Local oilfield companies expend tens of millions of dollars every year in procuring parts from overseas suppliers for their operations, elements of which can now be localized through the Immensa – Intaj Suhar alliance, the partners stated.