EOS Orders 155 Dual Setup Stations From Grenzebach in Automation Push

A big automation order lands

EOS has placed an order for 155 Grenzebach Dual Setup Stations, automated production cells that sit next to its metal printers and handle build preparation while a machine is still running. The deal is the largest yet in a relationship between the two German companies that started a decade ago, and it signals where industrial additive manufacturing is heading.

Grenzebach Additive Solutions GmbH, the unit that landed the contract, only became its own company at the start of 2026. It was spun out of the broader Grenzebach Group to focus on additive manufacturing. The order is an early win for that bet.

How the numbers built up

EOS first ordered 40 of the stations before and during Formnext 2025. Then it launched the EOS M4 ONYX, a new metal 3D printing system pitched as faster and cleaner than what came before. After that launch the order grew by another 115 units, and EOS expects more through the year.

The station, built in an EOS Edition, does one practical job. It lets an operator load and prepare the next build job in parallel while the current one prints, then swaps the build cylinder automatically. Grenzebach says that cuts changeover to under 30 minutes and keeps the printer earning instead of sitting idle.

Why this matters for the shop floor

The pitch is unattended production. A metal printer that costs six figures earns its keep by running, not by waiting for a technician to swap a build. Automation around the machine, not just inside it, is how additive moves from a prototyping tool to something a factory trusts for volume.

The two companies have been here before. Their work together dates to 2016, ran through the NextGenAM project in 2017 that pioneered automated serial production of metal parts, and later extended into polymer printing with the Polyline research effort. This order is the commercial payoff of that long runway.

The bigger picture

Grenzebach Group CEO Steven Althaus said additive manufacturing grew almost 20 percent, and the spin-off gives the new entity room to chase that growth. Dimitrios Livadas took over as head of Grenzebach Additive Solutions in April. For EOS, the order shows confidence in the M4 ONYX line and in automation as the path to cost-efficient metal printing around the clock.

For everyone else watching the space, the takeaway is simple. The next leap in 3D printing productivity is not only about better printheads. It is about everything around the printer doing its own work.