Steam billows from chimneys, and hissing sounds mix with hammering and drilling from a sprawling construction site that represents a $450 million wager on Germany’s industrial future.

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In the country’s Rust Belt — dotted with shuttered coal mines and struggling steel mills — Evonik Industries AG is building a plant to make a material the chemicals company believes will become the gold standard for industrial-scale 3D printing.

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The project in a Ruhr Valley industrial hub three times the size of Monaco offers a lifeline for the local economy and could serve as a case study on how to apply Germany’s old-school engineering to a new era. But it also reflects the risks looming over the country’s economy.

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The printing technology, capable of churning out everything from shoe soles to auto parts in micro-factories, could upend the traditional manufacturing that underpins […]

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