Harting opens Center of Competence Additive Manufacturing in Rahden to centralize AM expertise

Harting has opened a new Center of Competence Additive Manufacturing at its Rahden, Germany facility, consolidating its additive manufacturing activities into a single global hub. The center will focus on multiple 3D printing processes and materials, spanning applications from prototyping to early series production. Key personnel include Jörn Held, expert in Industrial Engineering New Technologies, and Heinz-Peter Einhoff, Global Director Center of Excellence Industrial Engineering, who will drive the transfer of AM knowledge across the organization. The facility will develop technologies, standards, and methods for internal use and global deployment.

This move reflects a broader industrial trend where established manufacturing groups are internalizing AM capabilities rather than relying solely on service bureaus. Harting, a major connector and industrial connectivity supplier, is positioning additive manufacturing as a strategic tool for shortening development cycles, enabling flexible variant production, and increasing technological independence. The center addresses a common pain point in industrial AM adoption: the tight coupling of design, material selection, and process parameters that requires deep in-house expertise to achieve repeatable quality. By centralizing this knowledge in Rahden, Harting aims to make AM accessible across its business units, from product development to production tooling and internal spare parts.

For Harting, the practical challenge now is moving from a centralized competence center to measurable throughput and cost savings across its global factories. The company must demonstrate that the Rahden hub can standardize best practices effectively enough to justify the investment in equipment and headcount. For the broader AM industry, this is a quiet but meaningful signal that mid-sized industrial OEMs are treating additive as a core manufacturing capability, not just a prototyping curiosity. The real test will be whether Harting can scale this model beyond internal use into customer-facing production services.