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3D Printing News Briefs, August 30, 2020: Roboze, BCN3D & CREA3D, 3D Systems, ASTM International

We’re covering 3D printing business stories in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, including investments, partnerships, industry executives, and annual reports. Federico Faggin, who invented the microprocessor, is investing in Roboze, and BCN3D is partnering with CREA3D. 3D Systems has named its new CFO. Finally, ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence has released its second annual report.

Microprocessor Inventor Invests in Roboze

(Image courtesy of The Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation)

Italian-American 3D printer manufacturer Roboze has announced that physicist Federico Faggin, the inventor of the microprocessor and co-inventor of both the touchpad and touchscreen, is investing in the company, which designs and produces industrial 3D printers for the production of functional thermoplastic and carbon fiber reinforced parts. Additionally, the prolific inventor will be joining the company’s Advisory Board as a technological consultant. Born in Italy but a naturalized US citizen, Faggin has helped shape modern computer science and won multiple international awards for his efforts, including the United States of America’s National Medal of Technology and Innovation. As a member of the Roboze Advisory Board, he will help the company as it works to increase the development of additive manufacturing solutions.

“A few years ago I met Alessio Lorusso and I recognized in him an exceptional foresight and remarkable creative and organizational skills. With great enthusiasm, I therefore accepted his offer to be part of the ROBOZE Advisory Board,” Eng. Faggin said. “I am proud to see an Italian company that knows how to compete in the global economy with cutting-edge products in such a demanding sector and I am pleased to make my experience available so that ROBOZE can grow as it deserves.”

BCN3D and CREA3D Announce Distribution Partnership

Speaking of Italy, Barcelona-based BCN3D Technologies has announced a distribution agreement with Italian 3D printer distributor CREA3D in order to increase growth in Italy’s 3D printing market. CREA3D has been providing professional 3D printing solutions through both B2B and B2C channels since 2013, and has created a strong online and offline presence for itself. Now, professionals in Italy will benefit from CREA’s distribution of BCN3D’s 3D printer portfolio, made up of the desktop BCN3D Sigma and Sigmax and the professional BCN3D Epsilon system, all of which offer a higher volume of printing per piece due to the company’s Independent Dual Extruder (IDEX) technology.

“We are pleased to cooperate with CREA3D, an alliance which will support us in increasing the sales in the Italian market, where there is a high potential for the IDEX system and the distinctive duplication, mirror and multi material printing modes,” BCN3D’s CEO Xavier Martínez Faneca said. “Their considerable experience in additive manufacturing, combined with a top-quality technical know-how makes CREA3D the right fit to help us grow and serve Italian customers in the best possible way.”

3D Systems Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

3D Systems has announced that Jagtar Narula, the current SVP of Corporate Strategy and Business Development for Blackbaud Corporation, will be joining the company as its Executive Vice President and CFO. Beginning September 14th, Narula, who has nearly 30 years of progressive financial, business leadership, and investment strategy experience under his belt, will report to Dr. Jeffrey Graves, the company’s President and CEO. He will lead the Finance organization for 3D Systems, which includes all investor relations, finance operations, and capital deployment for growth and margin expansion.

“I am excited to have a leader of Jagtar’s experience join our team at such an important time for our company. Jagtar’s experience in leading technology companies with complex transformations and large-scale efficiency improvements will be invaluable as we transition to our new focus, align our organization and cost structure to our current revenues, and position ourselves for sustained growth and profitability in the years ahead,” stated Dr. Graves. “I want to add a special note of thanks to Wayne Pensky for serving as our Interim CFO, allowing us to move quickly to restructure the business and prepare for an exciting future ahead.  Wayne will support Jagtar to ensure a smooth transition in Finance leadership for the company.”

ASTM International’s AM CoE Issues Second Annual Report

ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE), which was launched in 2018, has just debuted its second annual report. In addition to offering a look at future plans, the report also includes many of the AM CoE’s accomplishments over the past year, such as the creation of an international conference, in-kind investments, new additive manufacturing staff, the new AM guide for supporting COVID-19 supply chains, a technical workshop series, the development of certificate courses, and more.

“Together, the AM CoE and its partners supported the advancement of AM technology through investments in new R&D projects, existing infrastructures, development of new educational offerings/partnerships, expansion of the AM team, and the growth of the center’s global footprint. The hard work and dedication of the center’s team are highlighted in this comprehensive report,” said Mohsen Seifi, PhD, ASTM International’s Director of Global Additive Manufacturing Programs.

Seifi also said that the AM CoE has “emphasized its commitment” to speeding up usage and capabilities of evolving technologies, like additive manufacturing, and empowering innovation in manufacturing.

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Dyndrite Adds Trumpf, Additive Industries, Others to 3D Printing Developer Group

US-based Dyndrite, a solutions provider for next generation hardware and software for additive manufacturing, has added five new members to its Dyndrite Developer Council: Additive Industries, Open Additive, 3D Currax, Photocentric, and Trumpf.

Dyndrite provides tools, resources and community platforms to OEMs, independent software vendors, service providers and educators to leverage its core GPU-based 3D geometry kernel (a pioneering ‘Computational Geometry Engine’), Additive Toolkit (AT), and integrated Python API to develop, access and advance cutting-edge additive solutions, new digital workflows, and best practices. Along with the inaugural members, its current list of 20 members also include 3D Systems, Altair Engineering, AON3D, ANSYS, Aurora Labs, Desktop Metal, ExOne,  Impossible Objects, and SLM Solutions.

The company launched its Dyndrite Developer Program and Dyndrite Developer Council in 2019, with HP, Aconity3D, EOS, Plural Additive Manufacturing, Renishaw, and NVIDIA as its inaugural members. Earlier this month, the first council member, HP had announced a strategic partnership with Dyndrite where it would be adopting the Dyndrite platform to develop and scale next generation digital manufacturing software solutions.  In June, we had also reported on the Digital Manufacturing Investor Day hosted by Dyndrite Corporation to support companies (such as Authentise, CASTOR, Essentium, Gen3D, Exlattice, Impossible Objects and more) in bringing new innovations to market, despite the untoward impacts of the pandemic.

“Photocentric is excited to be a part of the Dyndrite Developer Council. Additive Manufacturing is entering a new era and we are delighted with the opportunity to collaborate using cutting edge software and innovative technologies to help expand the possibilities for scalability and the mass manufacture of 3D parts,” said Nikita Chibisov, Software, Photocentric.

“Open Additive and Dyndrite share a vision for a more open future for the AM industry, in which users have more accessible and powerful tools to accelerate innovation’ said Ty Pollak, President, Open Additive. “We’re excited by the potential impact of our complementary hardware and software capabilities to increase productivity and quality of metal AM parts.”

“A strong industry has to have modern, robust standards,” said Mark Vaes, CEO/CTO of Additive Industries. “As a provider of industrial solutions for metal additive manufacturing, we are joining the Dyndrite Developer Council in part to be active in creating a new set of standards that deliver the productivity, efficiency and automated workflows that our customers need.”

“TRUMPF is excited to join the Dyndrite Developer Council. As a pioneer in additive manufacturing as well as laser specialists we are always looking to implement the latest technologies,” said Ilona Heurich, Head of R&D Software HMI, TRUMPF. “We are excited to see how the Dyndrite GPU accelerated geometry kernel can help to maximize process performance and further strengthen the power and scalability of the AM industry.”

To transform productivity in AM, Dyndrite used a First Principles approach to develop a next generation GPU-powered geometry kernel for design and manufacturing, to bring efficiency, economy and integration between computer and 3D printer software and digital workflows. The last such geometry kernels were developed in the 80’s and 90’s, and since then there’s been little innovation to change this. Dyndrite’s GPU-based geometry kernel solution is a much-needed innovation for advanced manufacturing today, and is able to reduce processing times from days to seconds, and compress terabytes of model information to kilobytes. It could be the next generation platform that AM design to manufacturing workflows needed—and could potentially do what Adobe did for 2D printing, decades ago.

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3D Printing Service Bureau Voodoo Manufacturing Closes Permanently

“Please continue dreaming, imagining, designing, and making new things.” – The Voodoo Manufacturing Company

Millions of lives have been affected as the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world. Unfortunately, catastrophic health scares usually breed financial devastation too. As unemployment has wreaked havoc on millions of household budgets in just the US alone, businesses of every size are suffering as well.

The latest casualty within the 3D printing space is Voodoo Manufacturing. This may come as a huge surprise as they were considered to be a shining star in their niche, rising quickly to become one of the world’s largest high-volume 3D printing farms.

Here is an excerpt from their recent announcement upon closing:

“Dear Voodoo Manufacturing community,

It’s with a heavy heart that we announce that Voodoo Manufacturing has permanently closed its doors.

COVID-19 was challenging for everyone, but we tried to continue going. We repurposed our factory to make PPE in order to help fight the pandemic and through donations and individual purchases, we were able to distribute more than 15,000 protective face shields across the U.S. Unfortunately, without a clear end to the current health crisis, Voodoo Manufacturing couldn’t make it to the other side….”

Now, we come full circle in reporting on the Brooklyn, NY-based startup, from their opening in June of 2015 to their recent sign-off just a little over five years later. In that short amount of time, there was considerable news to share as the small but dynamic company—founded by a group of engineers who previously worked at MakerBot—ascended. From beginning to end, their intent was notable in terms of continually working to bring affordability and accessibility to potential users via a refreshing business model based on fast 3D printing services with low overhead—and low prices.

The past five years marked collaborations with other companies, both big and small. Right out of the gate, business was thriving. Numerous projects were highlighted; for example, they collaborated with Autodesk and e-NABLE Community Foundation, acting as the largest donor for 3D printed prosthetics sent to kids in developing countries. Industry leaders like Autodesk, Microsoft, and Mattel also served as customers. Upon receiving $1.4 million in seed funding from investment company KPCB Edge, they were able to expand further in terms of their facility, 3D printers on hand, and doubling their team from nine to eighteen.

Voodoo Manufacturing’s 3D printer farm

Voodoo continued to grow rapidly, releasing Project Skywalker, a fully functional, robot-operated 3D printer cluster in 2017. The next year, their team launched Fulfilled by Voodoo (FBV), a 3D printing fulfillment service mean to encourage entrepreneurs to open online businesses. Overall, success continued for the service bureau while the industry continued to become more competitive.

Fast forward to 2020, however, and all bets were off (pretty much for everyone) as the COVID-19 pandemic halted lives—and businesses. The Voodoo team explains that they kicked into action 3D printing personal protective equipment (PPE), and distributing 15,000 face shields around the US. They re-designed their 3D printing service bureau factory and continued on due to donations and purchases, but quickly became apparent that they would not “make it to the other side.”

Small businesses within the US have been especially vulnerable during these strange and challenging financial times, but as they falter in the droves, the economy is affected substantially; in fact, as a whole, the US business sector and economy are reliant on small businesses as they are cumulatively the largest employer of workers.

For thousands of commercial endeavors, however, no matter how hard they work to keep up with new regulations after COVID or scramble into new directions to please existing or new customers, such enormous financial damage has occurred that closings have been and will continue to be inevitable.

[Source / Images: Voodoo Manufacturing]

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3D Printing Financials: ExOne 27% Revenue Drop, Employee Layoffs and Government Contract in Q2 2020

Pioneer and global leader in binder jet 3D printing technology ExOne has posted a year-on-year revenue fall of 27% for their second-quarter earnings report. Company officials said challenging market conditions and future uncertainties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to put a strain on ExOne, particularly the disruptions to domestic and international shipping and the negative macroeconomic effects. In response to the global crisis, the company took several cost-saving actions, including a mix of employee terminations, furloughs, and pay rate reductions in an effort to save close to $2 million for the April through June quarter. Nonetheless, it is optimistic that a record backlog, increased liquidity, a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, and a growing interest in 3D printing from companies worldwide will increase revenues in the future.

Heavily disarrayed supply chains brought chaos as lockdown impositions around the world meant factories were shut down and transportation was disrupted. As the year’s second-quarter earnings season took off, we have witnessed countless companies inform revenue declines mainly due to the impacts of the pandemic and various curtailment measures. In the statement released on August 6, 2020, ExOne said the revenue for this period totaled $11.1 million, down from $15.3 million in Q2 2019, claiming its revenue decline resulted from a 47% decrease in earnings from 3D printing machines driven by lower volumes (eight units sold in the current quarter versus 13 in the prior-year period) and an unfavorable mix of machines sold. This decrease was partially offset by a 3% increase in revenue attributable to 3D printed and other products, materials, and services driven by funded research and development contracts.

ExOne Q2 2020 revenue summary. (Image courtesy of ExOne)

Following the report’s release, ExOne’s stock was trading at $9.90, a 1.44% increase compared to the previous day. On March 11, 2020, when COVID-19 reached pandemic status, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), company stock was trading at $5.16 and since then, its shares have increased by 95% and are now at $10.07.

ExOne’s CEO, John Hartner, said on an earnings call that the results showcase how ExOne business has truly differentiated within the 3D market and that during the second quarter they made contingent progress towards a more predictable revenue model delivering recurring revenues of $6.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 3%. Hartner explained that this is largely due to the growth in the company’s install base, funded R&D, and other engineering development services. He also particularly highlighted the continued growth of an already strong backlog to $38.2 million, a new record level that, he expects, will continue to support revenue predictability for some time. As well as a stable gross margin of 27.8% and a total liquidity increase to $29.7 million from $26.8 million on March 31, 2020.

“The fundamentals that support our business remain highly favorable, it may even be enhanced by the current market conditions. ExOne is part of a ten billion dollar 3D printing industry that is growing at double-digit rates and remains relatively young […],” explained the CEO. “We believe our binder jetting technology is in a sweet spot, as manufacturers look for smart and sustainable supply chain solutions that link into a new industry 4.0 dynamic.”

Record backlog for ExOne during Q2 2020. (Image courtesy of ExOne)

Although Hartner revealed that the operating results continue to be impacted by a prolonged downturn in the global manufacturing sector, which has in turn influenced the capital expenditures of its customers, he remains confident that Pennsylvania-headquartered ExOne can better the situation. Mainly through the combination of its encouraging backlog, robust front-of-sales funnel, traction in new contracts, recurring revenue stream, and accelerated market adoption of binder jetting technology to provide the basis for operating stability for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021.

Despite machine unit sales in Q2 being at 57% of Q1 2020, investments still remain focused on the further development of binder jetting technology, including the X1 160PRO metal 3D printing system, which is poised to move metal 3D printing into high volume production. The team of engineers behind its fabrication continues to receive many inbound requests and is already producing the first machine for its customers, remaining on target with the original release plans, and expecting first shipments by the end of 2020.

Machine unit sales for ExOne during Q2 2020. (Image courtesy of ExOne)

A focus on government R&D and adoption projects has provided diversified strength during the capital spending downturn for ExOne. The company revealed a significant contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a field-deployable binder jet 3D printer. The recently awarded $1.6 million contract is part of ExOne’s program development contracts with the U.S. government and companies that want to ramp up the engineering work associated with getting a production 3D print cell and workflow off the ground.

On this point, Hartner suggested that part of the growth in these contracts, which are recognized as recurring revenue, is leading towards future production machine sales. Beyond government awards, ExOne also has engaged several global manufacturers in the automotive, medical, and consumer goods industry on production program developments. Further revealing that at least one of these companies is planning to use the printers to modernize and decentralize the supply chain in key locations around the world.

The X1 160PRO from ExOne. (Image courtesy of ExOne)

Claiming to be the only binder jet 3D printing provider with a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for the direct printing of metals and ceramics in addition to sand molds and cores, ExOne expects to have a key competitive advantage by offering customers manufacturing flexibility through its more than 20 material printing capability. Last November, the company unveiled its tenth metal printer, the X1 160PRO, in what 3DPrint.com considered “a solid move towards a more production-oriented 3D printing industry.” Moreover, in two months, it expects to surround the new production 3D printers with a complete and intelligent workflow to enhance the user experience, from applications to monitor the 3D printers to entirely new 3D printing networks. Part of this has already been announced as the company revealed an entirely new Scout App to monitor industrial 3D printers and launched a new Sand 3D Printing Network, powered by more than 40 industrial binder jetting systems. Hartner suggested these are the first steps in broader long term plans to include new automation and software tools that are currently in development.

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3D Printing News Briefs, July 18, 2020: DOMO & RPD, AMPM2021, Alloyed

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, DOMO Chemicals and RPD have announced a partnership related to a Sinterline initiative. The 2021 AMPM event is calling for technical papers related to metal additive manufacturing. Finally, Alloyed has won a prestigious award.

DOMO Chemicals and RPD Partnering

DOMO’s Sinterline PA6 powders combined with RPD’s SLS printer, modified and upgraded by LSS, enable OEMs to step up their 3D printed parts performance. (Photo courtesy of RPD)

Polyamide solutions provider DOMO Chemicals and Rapid Product Development GmbH (RPD), a specialist in prototyping and serial production of complex parts and assemblies, have formed a strategic partnership for the purposes of speeding up the growth of plastic materials for selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printing. The collaboration will merge the continuing development of DOMO’s Sinterline Technyl PA6 SLS powder materials with a package of support services for SLS technology, benefiting from RPD’s expertise in application development and the SLS process. Sinterline PA6 powders are an oft-used nylon in the industry, especially by demanding markets like automotive.

“Sinterline® has pioneered the use of high-performance PA6 in 3D printing, and allows us to leverage the same polymer base that has proven so successful in many existing injection molding applications. Backed by the joint application development services of our companies, even highly stressed automotive components can now be successfully 3D printed in PA6 to near-series and fully functional quality standards,” stated Wolfgang Kraschitzer, General Manager and Plastics Processing Leader at RPD.

AMPM Conference Seeking Papers and Posters

The Additive Manufacturing with Powder Metallurgy Conference (AMPM2021) will be held in Orlando, Florida from June 20-23, 2021. While this may seem far in the future, the event’s program committee is looking ahead, and has issued a call for technical papers and posters that are focused on new developments in the metal additive manufacturing market. Stuart Jackson, Renishaw, Inc., and Sunder Atre, University of Louisville, the technical program co-chairman, are asking for abstracts that cover any aspect of metal AM, such as sintering, materials, applications, particulate production, post-build operations, and more.

“As the only annual additive manufacturing/3D printing conference focused on metal, the AMPM conferences provide the latest R&D in this thriving technology. The continued growth of the metal AM industry relies on technology transfer of the latest research and development, a pivotal function of AMPM2021,” said James P. Adams, Executive Director and CEO of the Metal Powder Industries Federation.

The submission deadline for abstracts is November 13, 2020, and must be submitted to the co-located PowderMet2021: International Conference on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials.

Alloyed Wins IOP Business Award

Alloys By Design (ABD)

UK company Alloyed, formerly OxMet Technologies, has won a prestigious award from the Institute of Physics (IOP), the learned society and professional body for physics. The IOP is committed to working with business based in physics, and its Business Awards recognize the contributions made by physicists in industry. Alloyed has won the IOP Business Start-up Award, which OxMet submitted for consideration before merging with Betatype to form Alloyed, and recognizes the team’s hard work in developing its digital platform Alloys By Design (ABD). This platform is helping to set new metal material development standards, including the commercialization of Alloyed’s ABD-850AM and ABD-900AM alloys for additive manufacturing.

“Everything we do in every bit of our business rests on the foundations provided by physics, and we’re delighted that the judges believe we have made a contribution to the field,” Alloyed CEO Michael Holmes said about winning the IOP Business award.

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3D Printing News Briefs, July 3, 2020: ExOne, 3D Printz & Monoprice, CNPC, Liqcreate

We’re talking about business and materials in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs. First, the ExOne Company has been added to the Russell 2000 and 3000 Indexes, while 3D Printz has signed a distribution deal with Monoprice. Moving on, CNPC is introducing a new aluminum alloy powder for additive manufacturing, and Liqcreate has released its own new 3D printing material.

ExOne Added to Russell 2000 and 3000 Indexes

This week, the ExOne Company announced that it has officially been added to the Russell 2000® and 3000® Indexes. FTSE International Limited, trading as FTSE Russell, is a British provider, wholly owned by the London Stock Exchange, that creates and manages a variety of stock market indexes, data, and analytic solutions in order to meet its clients needs. Roughly $15 trillion is presently benchmarked to its indexes, now including ExOne, which was added after the 2020 Russell annual reconstitution of its indexes closed at the end of the US stock market’s day on June 26th.

“We are optimistic about our long-term growth prospects and believe that the inclusion of ExOne in the Russell indexes is validation of the progress we are making with our binder jetting 3D printing technology, the strength of our backlog and the breadth of our updated machine portfolio,” stated ExOne CEO John Hartner. “We look forward to the increased exposure to the investment community.”

3D Printz Signs Distribution Deal with Monoprice

3D Printz director Peter Roberts with the Monoprice printer

3D printing specialist 3D Printz Limited is now the UK supplier of Monoprice 3D printers after signing a distribution deal with the company. The Monoprice printer that 3D Printz is currently stocking comes fully assembled, and at an affordable price as well, which is why the Shropshire company, already a distributor for Magigoo, 3D Gloop!, Micro Swiss LLC, and Antclabs, is glad to supply it. Through this new partnership, will be able to provide some of Monoprice’s 7,000 affordable, high-quality products to customers.

“Our collaboration with 3D Printz means we have a reliable partner to help grow our business in the UK 3D printing industry,” said Christoph Esser, Monoprice sales director for Europe. “We are hoping to expand our working relationship to include more items from our product line before the end of this year.”

CNPC Produces New Aluminum Alloy Powder for AM

Vancouver-based company CNPC Powder announced that its Automated Metal Production (AMP) line is now producing a brand new range of aluminum alloy powder designed specifically for powder bed fusion (PBF) 3D printing. The company already produces many other metal powders, including copper and iron alloys, stainless steel, and nickel, and its new aluminum alloy material exhibits good sphericity and flowability. CNPC says that the material could be valuable to large-volume additive manufacturing applications in the aerospace and automotive industries.

“We have achieved success with our AMP line and suite of Al alloys by redesigning atomisation beyond existing atomisation capabilities, such as VIGA, PREP and EIGA. This bottom-up redesign has allowed for increased efficiency and lower production costs, all while improving flowability and sphericity, almost eliminating impurities, and increasing output,” the company stated.

Liqcreate Releasing New Material on 4th of July

Professional-grade 3D printing materials manufacturer Liqcreate has announced that its latest material, Liqcreate Flexible-X, will be available for purchase through its distributor network starting on July 4th. The soft material, perfect for open source DLP, LCD, and SLA 3D-printers in the 385 – 420 nm range, is an opaque black photopolymer with 55 Shore A hardness, excellent tear strength, and an elongation up to 160%.

With its durability, excellent rebound, and toughness, Flexible-X, part of Liqcreate’s line of engineering materials, is a great choice for manufacturing industrial-grade flexible touch and elastic parts.

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COVID-19: Ivaldi’s Nora Toure on 3D Printing and the Supply Chain

Last year, Nora Toure made a very interesting talk on the impact of 3D printing on the global supply chain. The topic was a prescient one, given the events to come in 2020. In turn, I have interviewed Toure about how the topic has evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s been a year since you last gave your talk on how 3D printing will disrupt the global supply chain. Can you give a review of the supply chain and 3D printing between that talk and now?

A lot has happened since then, as far as implementing Ivaldi Group’s distributed manufacturing solution! Since my TEDx talk on disrupting supply chains with additive manufacturing, we’ve delivered the world’s first maritime spare parts on merchant vessels, we continued digitizing, optimizing and reviewing performance of thousands of spare parts, not only in maritime, but also in automotive, construction and mining.

The world’s first 3D-printed scupper plug.

I believe the adoption of additive manufacturing in supply chains optimization will be boosted in the next few months as heavy industries will go back to business and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential of additive manufacturing goes beyond technical comparison between materials and manufacturing process. Shipping, warehousing,  procurement, CO2 emissions, downtime are all savings that need to be taken into account when comparing current supply chain models to distributed manufacturing enhanced supply chains.

A closer look at the first 3D-printed scupper plug.

We have experienced COVID-19 the world over and it has almost completely changed the way we have been doing things. Have you noticed an impact on 3D printing in the global supply chain, particular as a disruptive technology?

As much as I’d rather COVID-19 wasn’t our new reality, I have to admit I’ve been impressed by our additive manufacturing community. It’s fantastic to see how we’ve organized ourselves in such a short amount of time. What strikes me the most is how fast individuals, but also companies of various sizes organize themselves and build their own supply chains, from designing and testing, producing, sanitizing and getting the PPE to the hospitals.

I see disruption of supply chains on two levels:

  1. Simplification of supply chains, with a more limited number of intermediaries and a collaborative approach in product sourcing and design are leading to efficient supply chains, even when triggered by individuals,

  2. Removing shipping from supply chains and focusing on sending files rather than physical products is not only fastening the entire process and saving on CO2 emissions, it’s also now proven that it’s improving efficiency all over

Interestingly, you are the founder and president of Women in 3D Printing. What role is your organization playing in 3D printing in the global supply chain, if any?

Since we do not provide parts nor any technology service, it was a bit challenging to see how we could contribute in manufacturing [personal protection equipment]. I was involved on a personal level in some local initiatives, but I wanted to keep Wi3DP agnostic because, again, we don’t have a full-time team nor employees we could dedicate to any project.

That being said, being a large community, we get information. So, our contribution has been to provide a directory of those 3D printing responses.

But I have to say, I am impressed with the work our ambassadors have done during this time, as many of them have been involved with local 3D printing responses to COVID-19.

How do you view the impact of 3D printing in the supply chain for developing nations, particularly in Africa?

Wherever supply chains aren’t fully developed and established, I believe there is an opportunity to adopt distributed manufacturing solutions sooner and implement those strategies faster.

Organizations such as 3DAfrica are doing a great job at enabling local businesses adopting 3D printing. This could be taken a step further with corporates adopting the technology as well.

Role of Additive Manufacturing in Supply Chain courtesy of Croftam UK.

What is your financial outlook for 3D printing in the supply chain in the next five years, especially after the effects of COVID-19. Do you see a rise in financial growth for 3D printing services in the supply chain or a drop?

The savings enabled by on-demand distributed manufacturing, enabled by 3D printing services, are so big and are impacting, from a financial point of view, more than unit parts cost comparison. The impact is the entire supply chain—on warehousing, shipping, delivery etc.—that it just makes sense to switch some of the traditionally sourced spare parts to additive manufacturing.

 

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Royal DSM Acquires Portion of Clariant 3D Printing Materials

Royal DSM has announced that it will be taking over portions of the 3D printing portfolio of Swiss chemical giant Clariant, representing a somewhat dramatic shift in the additive manufacturing (AM) materials market. Specifically, DSM will now have a larger collection of filament, pellet and powder products for 3D printing.

The 3D printing materials space has become a competitive one since an increasing number of established chemical companies began entering the space. Among them was Clariant, a near $6.5 billion spin-off of Sandoz, once known as the inventors of LSD but which has since become Novartis, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. In 2017, Clariant launched its 3D printing business and, only three years later, Clariant has determined that AM materials don’t fit within its general strategy, though it will keep a foot in the market with its additives and flame retardants.

Clariant 3D Printer Filament.

The Dutch nutrition, health and materials multinational DSM, meanwhile, has been in the additive materials business for over 25 years and has been rapidly increasing its growth in the space particularly in recent years. Its finance capital arm, DSM Ventures, has poured money into a number of projects, including material startup Adaptive3D, smart inkjet 3D printing company Inkbit, post-processing firm Additive Manufacturing Technologies and Voxel8, a startup dedicated to multimaterial 3D printing. DSM continues to expand its materials horizons, as well, focusing on such pellet-based extrusion and flame retardant filament, among others.

DSM’s glass-reinforced Arnite AM8527 PET 3D printing material. Image courtesy of Royal DSM.

Clariant is handing over several staff members, its background in powder development, a piece of its filament and pellet materials portfolio to DSM. Additionally included is a small production line for manufacturing small batches of materials, as well as some operations dedicated to 3D printing customer relations.

DSM suggests that these acquisitions will not only increase its overall product portfolio, but will allow for more agile production with “faster product tweaks based on application needs” due to both the expertise of the Clariant team that will be joining DSM and a “dedicated, highly flexible and high-speed compounding setup.”

Joris Peels, 3DPrint.com Executive Editor and SmarTech analyst, provided his insight into the news, saying, “[I loved] their rail product; the packaging was awesome, the marketing was really good; it was very slick and well done. It was smart of them to use their compounding and additives expertise to make flame retardant and other highly functional products. If the Clariant team brings its agility and speed, as well as application knowledge, to DSM it should make the [Dutch] giant nimbler.”

In particular, Peels noted how quick the Clariant team was in the market, adding that the acquisition could provide DSM with its mark in 3D printing filaments:

“Relative to other polymer companies the Clariant team really our executed and in a very rapid manner met the market with high quality compounds and filaments for specific applications. Clariants products, filaments, compounds and the selected additives are all very high grade and their products were very application focused and ahead of the curve,” Peels said. “DSM has yet to really make a mark in filaments and the Clariant teams’ agility and market knowledge could give DSM the edge that it seeks on application focused FDM filaments.”

As DSM continues to grow in the additive space, it will be competing against the likes of BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, which is also making serious moves within the space and at a rapid pace. The most notable and recent may be the purchase of 3D printing service bureau Sculpteo, as well as its large investments in Materialise and Essentium. As these transformations continue to occur in materials, we will certainly see the AM industry as a whole change shape in new and unexpected ways.

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Made In Space Acquired by New Space Company Redwire

In an era of endless mega-mergers and acquisitions, perhaps nearly every startup’s dream is to one day become big enough to be bought out. That dream has now been fulfilled by Made In Space (MIS), the company to first install a 3D printer in the International Space Station (ISS). MIS has announced that it was purchased by a firm called Redwire.

Made In Space’s Additive Manufacturing Facility, the first commercial 3D printer in space. Image courtesy of Made In Space.

MIS is already well-known in the additive sector for its work in 3D printing in space. In addition to the aforementioned ISS machine, the company subsequently sent up the first commercial system in space. This allowed customers to print objects on the ISS. Other projects explored by MIS include the Archinaut, a system meant for the additive construction of large-scale objects, such as satellites, in space, as well as in-space fiber optics pulling, material recycling, and metal 3D printing.

While, in many cases, corporate buyouts are performed by much more established businesses to grow their portfolios, MIS has announced that it was purchased by Redwire, a seemingly unknown new space company. Part of the reason for Redwire’s lack of name recognition is the fact that it was only formed in June 2020, the result of strategy by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners. AEI acquired two other space firms, Adcole Space and Deep Space Systems (DSS), earlier in 2020 to form Redwire. The company’s goal is to be a leader in “mission critical space solutions and high reliability components for the next generation space economy.”

In the new space industry, there is plenty of opportunity to take advantage of media and investment hype due to the fact that much of the sectors goals are on a very protracted timeline. Mining on earth has already proven to be ripe for fraud, as discovery and extracting valuable metals can take years to achieve and may never be realized, allowing the purported mining operations to cover up financial malfeasance. Mining asteroids in space is that much more abstract.

For this reason, it would pay to be skeptical of nearly any new space company. However, whereas Redwire may have come out of the blue, AEI and the companies purchased have much more established histories. AEI was founded in 1998 to expand middle market aerospace companies using its team of over 30 investment staff and resulting in the closure of 46 acquisitions.

The team is made up of numerous aerospace veterans, with Managing Partner David Rowe having served at GE Aerospace and GE Capital before becoming executive vice president at Gulfstream Financial Services Corp. and then building AEI. Other members worked at such companies as UBS, Boeing, GE and Hawker Beechcraft, with some serving as U.S. federal officials, including former acting Department of Homeland Security secretary Kevin McAleenan.

Commercial Lunar Payload Services Small Lunar Lander from Deep Space Systems. Image courtesy of Deep Space Systems.

Both DSS and Adcole Space are fixtures in the space industry, with DSS involved in the development and management of space systems, including parts and spacecraft. Since its founding in 2001, DSS has created complete spacecraft, data recovery systems, fully qualified payloads and has been involved in projects related to the Space Shuttle, ISS, Orion, Dream Chaser and more. Adcole Space was founded in 1957, when it began working on satellite technology that has since been used in hundreds of low-earth orbit, geosynchronous and interplanetary spacecraft, including missions to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto.

The purchase of MIS is meant to expand Redwire’s portfolio from space sensors and payloads, flight hardware and space craft to include MIS’s in-space manufacturing technology.

Of the acquisition, Redwire CEO Peter Cannito said, “To truly realize the full potential for space exploration, innovation must change the economics. Made In Space has been driving these innovations and is now positioned to revolutionize the industry.”

Cannito, it is worth noting, worked as an operating partner at AEI after serving as CEO of Polaris Alpha, a developer of technology for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.

In other words, while Redwire may be new as a business entity, its team is not, and MIS is joining what may be an altogether formidable group of space experts. It will be taking along with it its sister company, Made In Space Europe, which develops space-capable robotic systems. In addition to its headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida, MIS has offices in California, Alabama and Ohio. Andrew Rush, president and chief executive officer of MIS, said that the purchase by Redwire would allow the company to grow and advance its technology.

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3D Printing News Briefs, June 10, 2020: 3D Systems, nTopology, Jellypipe

We’re discussing an upcoming event and some business news in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs. 3D Systems is holding a virtual trade show next month. nTopology and Yamaichi have signed an agreement, and a 3D printing platform has announced the onboarding of Europe’s largest purchasing and marketing association for industrial B2B.

3D Systems Holding Virtual Trade Show

On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, 3D Systems will be holding an exclusive virtual trade show centered on helping manufacturers keep their competitive advantage by using digital manufacturing solutions to fix supply chain dependencies, streamline supplier distribution, reduce supply interruptions, and lower risk. By integrating both additive and subtractive technologies into the environment, businesses can improve their productivity and agility, and offer customers new innovations. 3D Systems’ own Phil Schultz, Executive Vice President, Operations, and Radhika Krishnan, Executive Vice President and General Manager – Software, will give the keynote address for the event.

“Phil Schultz and Radhika Krishnan outline the essence of agile manufacturing, explaining in practical terms how to transform your environment to deliver a digital end-to-end manufacturing workflow that is fit for today and perfect for tomorrow.”

The event will kick off at 9:30 am EST and, in addition to the keynote, will include live webinar presentations and a virtual exhibit hall. Register here. If you’re unavailable to attend on the day of, the virtual trade show will be available on demand for the 30 days following the event.

nTopology and Yamaichi Sign MoU

Software startup nTopology has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Yamaichi Special Steel (YSS) to bring its next-generation nTop software platform to Japan. YSS is part of the automotive and heavy industry manufacturing supply chain in Japan, and its additive division promotes 3D printing and DfAM in the aerospace, automotive, and medical industries. The two have set up a reseller and service agreement, where YSS will bring nTop to its Japanese customers, providing support and training to users. Then, the Cognitive Additive solution of YSS will be connected to the nTop platform, to help users predict cost and printability.

To kick off the partnership, the YSS Additive Manufacturing team used topology optimization to redesign a brake caliper. As the part is used in a high temperature and fatigue environment, YSS designed a TPMS-based heat exchanger for the caliper, and also added an oil circuit and shielding surfaces. The brake caliper was 3D printed out of aluminum alloy AlSi10 using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) technology.

Jellypipe Onboards PVH Future LAB and E/D/E

German 3D printing platform Jellypipe uses its Jellypipe Eco-system to help companies take their 3D business to the next level, and features a comprehensive marketplace and the largest 3D printing factory in the D-A-CH region. Now, it’s announced the onboarding of PVH Future LAB, an innovation platform for technology-driven business models, and Einkaufsbüro Deutscher Eisenhändler GmbH (E/D/E), which drives PVH and is the largest purchasing and marketing association for industrial B2B in Europe. Both will now connect to the Jellypipe Eco-system.

“With Jellypipe’s 3D ecosystem – the connection with 3D specialists and our partners is a most important step in the digital automation and supply of 3D printed parts,” said Thilo Brocksch and Frederik Diergarten, both General Managers at PVH FUTURE LAB GmbH. “We can now offer our customers a new and wide process range for 3D printed products.”

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