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:
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,
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.
In 2016, Massachusetts-based 3D printing company RIZE Inc. released its first industrial-grade desktop 3D printer, the Rize One, renowned for its safety, low emissions, and elimination of post-processing. Then, in 2018, the company introduced the first industrial desktop AM solution for manufacturing full-color functional parts, the XRIZE system, which I was lucky enough to test out at RAPID 2019. Today, it’s announcing a new kind of desktop 3D printer, the professional RIZE 2XC, an adaptive system that was developed collaboratively with South Korean 3D printer manufacturer Sindoh.
I spoke with RIZE CEO Andy Kalambi ahead of the release, who told me that even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the company has been “very productive.”
“It’s been an interesting time, but rewarding,” Kalambi said.
He said that the RIZE team speaks every morning during a check-in meeting, to make sure everyone is doing okay and see if anyone needs help with a project. Even during lockdowns across the US, the company has been busy, 3D printing personalized face shields that were distributed to hundreds of essential and healthcare works in the Boston area and working on the new 2XC.
“Entirely during COVID times, we developed this new printer with Sindoh,” he told me.
The RIZE 2XC was engineered from home offices, and, according to a RIZE press release, is a testament “to the safety principles embodied in RIZE’s solutions – principles that are especially relevant today as organizations reinvent workflows for a return to office locations.” The business supply chain needs to be even more flexible now due to COVID, and RIZE says its new printer can help. The 2XC can be used at home – no need to worry about germs spreading from lack of social distancing – and in offices and classrooms, with no fear of releasing harmful airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
“The newer, higher performance, safe materials from next-gen FFF players such as RIZE are helping to drive a transformation in the 3D printing sector that are particularly relevant now as the world emerges from a pandemic. The durability and safety advantage that’s possible from next-generation 3D printing systems merits the attention of any engineering or design team that wants to give their users the best, and safest, tools,” Tim Greene, research director, 3D printing, for IDC said in the release.
The adaptive printer is the first deliverable to come from the RIZIUM Alliance, which is a new collaboration between RIZE and industry partners, like Sindoh, to drive safer, more sustainable 3D printing. The RIZE 2XC was made with a redesigned Sindoh dual-extrusion 3D printer, which can run engineering-grade RIZIUM materials that are moisture-resistant, recyclable, and zero emission.
RIZIUM One material
“We based our material on safety – it’s engineered for safety, durability, and strength,” Kalambi told me. “They’re medical grade, and especially in today’s context, things like sanitizing and being able to wash it with alcohol or acetone is important. Materials science is our differentiating factor.”
Kalambi told me that the ‘C’ in the company’s new 2XC printer stands for ‘composite,’ since RIZE takes a “material-led approach.”
“What we have done now is taken our material portfolio and partnered with industrial players, so we can offer it to a broader market of users.”
Sindoh is applying the innovative RIZIUM materials, engineered for user health, so that customers in various sectors on its platform can use a safe, sustainable material at a lower price.
“With Sindoh, we’re working with the same materials,” Kalambi explained. “We have done lots of engineering efforts with them to get the printer ready for our materials, worked on nozzles and the drive train and the slicer, all of that, and made the printer far more robust. It’s a printer that is a joint product. It’s a new hybrid platform, releasing a set of products with Sindoh that’s based on our polymers and materials science.”
The two independent extruders on the RIZE 2XC are designed for composite filaments and hardened materials. One extruder runs RIZIUM polymers and composites, which can be washed with just soap and water, while the other runs the unique RIZIUM Support, created by RIZE specifically for filament-based extrusion 3D printers. All in all, RIZE says that its new printer offers a safe way to fabricate durable, strong, functional components, without any unnecessary post-processing.
“The RIZE 2XC is especially well-suited for a variety of Industrial and Academic applications,” Ricco Busk, Director at RIZE partner CADSYS, stated. “Given the high demand for having 3D Composite Parts, we are able to, almost immediately, sign up a customer for the RIZE 2XC to use in their innovative plastic molding applications, such as robotic grippers. Combining RIZE’s material advantage in the high quality, easy to use 2XC 3D platform opens doors to new markets for 3D printing that need precision parts made safely and sustainably.”
Kalambi told me that the RIZE 2XC has plenty of great features, such as a heated build plate, a camera for monitoring prints, and automatic bed leveling. Because the company’s Augmented Polymer Deposition (APD) platform has not been added, the system does not print in color, but he said that it does have “a much bigger build volume” in comparison to other desktop printers.
“It’s great for home and office use, as those industries wanted a good printer within a certain price point,” Kalambi explained. “Lots of 3D printing is being done in schools and offices, which is why we partnered with Sindoh…they have lots of knowledge in the education field. That industry had a requirement for a low-cost printer, and RIZE wanted to be able to offer a more affordable option.”
Kalambi also said that the RIZE 2XC is great for 3D printing industrial parts.
According to the RIZE release, this new printer is the first that has brought “safe, sustainable 3D printing” to the industry’s compact sub-$5k market, which can help organizations struggling to get back on their feet in a post-pandemic world get a leg up over the competition.
“Sindoh’s cooperative R&D effort with RIZE showed us that we chose the right partner indeed – a partner as committed to innovation in materials and technologies as we are. We’re delighted to expand our reach into more segments of the market through the cooperative solutions we are creating with RIZE,” said BB Lee, CEO, 3D Printing Division at Sindoh Co., Ltd.
The RIZE 2XC will be available from RIZE’s network of channel partners starting June 30th, for an introductory price of $3,995 in the US market and €3,995 in Europe. In the meantime, I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground, because Kalambi said RIZE will have some more exciting news to share with us in mid-July.
Managing Director and Founder of AMTC, Roscher Van Tonder takes us through an interesting topic on Simplified Manufacturing in 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing. Currently based and operating in South Africa, Roscher is actively involved in the sector through consulting and printing as a service.
What is it that you do?
The manufacturing world is changing and it is daunting to many companies out there, the rise of I4.0 has a lot of people unsure of what the correct direction is for the business relating to AM.
AMTC Pty Ltd goal is to supply a unique set of systems, strategies, additive manufacturing equipment, and materials to our customers and to cater for a wide range of industries ranging from, Aerospace, Automotive, Manufacturing industry, Mining, Oil & Gas, Metal Casting to the Defence industries.
Our scope is to assist companies to adopt AM by creating successful business cases with exceptional ROI. These business cases complement the current business workflow. We look at the business as a whole and we identify the core areas where the maximum benefit will be reached by implementing AM for sustainable successes.
AM-WorX addresses all the business areas to ensure total coverage and ensures maximum benefit to the bottom line.
The main stages of AM-WorX
An onsite audit (Gauge potential AMT scope)
Business readiness analyst (Current and lacking AM Experience/Gaps/Skills )
Market review ( current and potential new markets and opportunities)
Parts/Product review (Ascertain the printability of the product/parts)
Develop the new processes and skill framework for AMT integration
By aligning with some of the bleeding edge technology companies out there the result is a business case that shows a minimum potential revenue increase compared to current company revenue over the planning horizon by showing the 10x Value guarantee by unlockable the value of AMT in the business.
Can you also explain the Simplified Manufacturing line of thought concerning 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing?
Our slogan “simplified manufacturing” comes from the benefits that technology brings to the table.
Time Reduction of the new product to market.
Additive Manufacturing has been seen as an R&D tool, the last 2 years the change to the final product has taken shape. The company that gets the product out into the market the fastest has the leverage, the technology typically cuts these times by 40-60%.
Customization & Mass customization
The instant gratification culture created by online stores and the internet is spilling over to the manufacturing industry. The ability of a company to leverage mass customization will give them an advantage on their competition, Additive manufacturing is allowing companies to move away from minimum batch volumes and give the freedom to offer customized products on-demand as per customer preference in a short amount of time.
Various Products and models from Prototyping to Mass Customization
On Demand Manufacturing
One of the biggest benefits of Additive Manufacturing is that it enables on-demand manufacturing. The ability to manufacture parts at the point of need points to a shift from “make-to-stock” to a more sustainable “make-to-order” model for low-volume production of spare parts.
Lead Time reduction
Hydroforming is primarily used for low volume forming of sheet metal parts while thermoforming is mainly used for high volume forming of plastic sheets. The tooling used in these processes is typically produced by CNC machining of materials such as aluminum or wood which typically involves high costs and long lead times. Additive manufacturing makes it possible to substantially reduce the cost and lead time involved in making these tools while offering additional design freedom and reducing tooling weight.
Simplified Manufacturing process
Part consolidation
AM is uniquely capable of producing complex geometries that can’t be manufactured using legacy manufacturing. A mechanical assembly that would normally have many parts fabricated as separate components and then assembled can be additively manufactured as a single unit, even if the geometry is very complex. In addition to design simplification, there are other tangible benefits to using AM for part consolidation. This leads to lower overall project costs, less material, lower overall risk, better performance.
Tool-less manufacturing
We give users the ability to deliver end-use parts directly from CAD files, saving cost by cutting out tooling requirements. Benefits: Accuracy and repeatable production, High-speed printing production, Material flexibility, and versatility, improved time-to-market and part mass-customization, Low Total Cost of Operation (TCO) and low per part cost & scalable options to meet growing needs.
Manufacturing Process step reduction
The technology can reduce current legacy manufacturing processes by up to 70%. Cost-saving implications are extensive as well as risk reduction and resource savings to the company. For exaample, in an investment cast application AM can reduce the production steps from 7 steps to 3 steps.
What impact can Simplified manufacturing with 3D Printing have, especially on African economies?
We believe that Africa is sitting on an opportunity that could change the Africa continent forever. AM technology brings the ability for SMEs to not just compete but to lead supply of manufactured parts, become self-sufficient, by exporting final products that are created from our raw materials, creating sustainable economies throughout Africa. The danger is if we miss this opportunity Africa will probably never become a major player in the manufacturing world. Why should we be following if we can lead?
Are companies especially in supply chain ready or prepared for 3D printing?
The process of manufacturing, storing, and delivering spare parts is a time-consuming and laborious one for OEM, s and remote operations. Costly warehouse, transport & logistics, storage of spare parts in addition to time-intensive lead times and shipping are just some of the difficulties faced. I believe that some Multi-national companies are getting ready, however in South Africa only a handful are starting to look at AM. As Africans, we are very slow to change and adapt to “New” we don’t like change and have a mentality of “if it’s not broken why fix it” and this is hindering the widespread adoption of AM.
The change and adoption must come with a clear vision from top management that drives the vision, this is a new way of doing things potential changing the whole business model and logistics will be one of the hardest hits I believe. Savings of 30-60% on stock holding can be achieved with AM.
Gavin Leggot from Promake International Ltd discusses 3D printing in Africa in this interview. Africa is not yet fully explored when it comes to 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing. There is huge potential for use and application of the technology in Africa and an opportunity to boost development and innovation. Gavin’s firm is helping to make 3D printing more accessible throughout the continent by offering 3D printing services.
Can you describe Promake International in relation to the technology and service you offer in 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing?
Promake International Ltd is a multi-disciplinary functioning company that has the ability to a service a wide range of industries at a professional level by giving our customers and users of our platform international access to a wide variety of machines and services that are not necessarily available in South Africa, thus giving our users an advantage on other industry players of which helps our customers embrace what the technology is able to achieve which helps them grow their businesses further. We offer everything from FDM, SLS, SLA, MJF, Direct Metal printing along with a wide range of other services such as 3D Scanning, moulding and mass production.
Promake Fused Deposition Modelling
What is your view of the African environment when it comes to 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing?
The Promake team take a photo after successful inner ear transplant using latest bio-compatible 3d printing materials.
The African entry to the industry compared to the rest of the world is at a stage of self-development but yet is growing exponentially and we foresee that Africa will soon embrace this technology as and industry norm.
What do you think the African continent needs to do to fully embrace and continuously promote and make use of 3D printing?
We feel that in order for the African continent to embrace the additive manufacturing industry extensive education platforms will need to be implemented in order to bring users understanding of the industry up to speed so that they fully understand what is possible and what processes need to be followed in order to achieve great results, from there further introduction of the latest machines that are not available in South Africa as yet will need to be addressed.
Funding is a key thing in implementing 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing. What advice can you give to potential investors interested in exploring the African 3D printing sector?
I do agree that funding is essential but we feel the approach as to where this funding is placed is really where the key to the matter is held. Buying a range of machines does not mean that the industry will flourish when there has been no market set up for that particular machine along with knowledge on the industry. With us having offices both in the UK and in South Africa we are able to advise on best placement to funding so that return on investment is fully achieved.
How do you see the education sector fully adopting 3D printing? Do you think African governments will adopt the technology as part of the curriculum in the immediate future?
3D printing in an African educational set up
Yes we do see this becoming a big part of schooling curriculum as I already see this being implemented here in the UK and we are currently working on a fully certified online platform, where users will be able to learn through smart devices and write exams that way too of which once the students have done this will then have access to all the professional machines on our platform which will help them enter the industry both with knowledge and the services to deliver professional products whether they work for themselves or are employed by a corporate entity.
Elisabeth Moreno, the Vice President and Managing Director Africa at HP Technology, talks to us about HP’s role in 3D printing in Africa, as well as the company’s influence in promoting the technology.
Elisabeth Moreno
Can you tell us about your involvement in 3D printing and additive manufacturing?
HP’s vision in 3D printing is to change how the world designs and manufactures and to lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The combination of our IP, an expanded platform and a portfolio of products, and a continuously growing ecosystem of partners makes us a leader in 3D printing. We have alliances with organizations and companies including BASF, Materialise, and Siemens; and with industry leaders like Jaguar Land Rover, Vestas and more, all of which embrace HP 3D printing solutions.
Just a few weeks ago we announced a new 3D Printing and Digital Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Barcelona, Spain, which brings together hundreds of the world’s leading additive manufacturing experts in more than 150,000 square feet of cutting-edge innovation space.
In Africa, we know from Albright Stonebridge Group that 3D printing technology is expected to become a $4.5 billion industry in emerging markets by 2020. The technology is already being used today in various industries throughout the continent, including medical, agricultural, infrastructural and manufacturing applications.
What special projects or works have you done or are currently developing in the 3D printing landscape?
Globally, our work in 3D printing is quite vast. HP 3D printing technology is used for everything from prototyping to mass production. A few examples include:
HP LIFE Centers throughout Africa are one area we’re exposing youth and women to disruptive technologies like 3D printing. Through these LIFE Centers, HP is giving entrepreneurs in Africa the tools and education needed for jobs of the future, and no doubt 3D printing will play a huge role in this transition.
Globally, we recently announced an expanded collaboration with customer SmileDirectClub to revolutionize the way that millions of people can achieve a straighter smile. By leveraging HP Jet Fusion 3D printing, SmileDirectClub will produce 50,000 unique mouth molds a day, and nearly 20 million individual 3D printed mouth molds in the next 12 months.
HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers family
What can you say about Women in 3D Printing and their influence or contribution to the technology?
3D printing can help make life better for everyone, everywhere. But like all other industries, if the people shaping the technology and the way it is used do not reflect society, we will be let down.
As an African woman, this topic is near and dear to my heart. We must ensure this next industrial revolution is inclusive and powered by the diversity of thought. HP prioritizes diversity in all that we do, and our 3D printing business is no exception.
How do you see 3D Printing and Additive manufacturing’s growth and development?
Although 3D printing technology isn’t necessarily new, the scope of its potential has taken off in just a matter of years. 3D printing is already being used in major industries like automotive, healthcare and heavy industry, just to name a few.
Here in Africa, we’re working closely with leaders like Tarsus Distribution and SeTech to bring 3D printing to South Africa.
SeTech’ s demo center, just outside of Johannesburg, is fully functional with an HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200 production unit and will enable customers to do benchmarking for a variety of verticals mentioned above.
Working with SeTech and Tarsus, we are spreading the knowledge about the possibilities 3D printing can offer to the African landscape, provide training sessions with experts and teaching customers about the technology.
HP Jet fusion 3D printer
Around the world, we also see 3D printing playing a huge role in education and skills provision for future jobs. For example, we’re beginning to see universities adopt 3D technology to prepare the future workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Model printed with HP Multi Jet Fusion
Two universities in Turkey have recently installed HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers to drive education and R&D purposes. Celal Bayar University has installed Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers in their Technology Centre, which they are using for both education and R&D purposes.
And, Istanbul Technical University, a highly respected university dedicated to the field of technology, has installed MJF 3D printers in their incubation center, ITÜMagnet, giving startups access to 3D printing technology.
ITU Magnet Incubation Center
What is your current organization’s position on 3D Printing and Additive manufacturing?
No doubt, there is a digital revolution happening in all areas of design, distribution, sustainability, and the entirety of the end-to-end manufacturing process. This revolution is enabling companies to do great things – innovate faster, leverage flexible manufacturing, reinvent their supply chains, create new markets, and produce new applications in new ways that were previously impossible.
And we’re just getting started. The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently estimated the value of digital transformations in the Fourth Industrial Revolution to be as much as $100 trillion over the next 10 years.
Parts printed at Incubation centre using HP Multi Jet Fusion
Nigeria is an African country well known for high profile academics and a large base of entrepreneurs. How is Africa’s most populous country utilizing these twin resources for 3D Printing? We interviewed Godwin Izibilli of CAD Works to give you insights into 3D printing in Nigeria.
Godwin Izibilli
Who are you and what is CAD Works?
I am presently the head of the operation at CAD WORKS limited. I did my engineering degree at the University of Benin, Benin-city and graduated after which I worked in the vehicle assembly unit of KIA Motors (that is after the one-year mandatory National Service in Kwara-State, Nigeria). And also consult for Prightle solutions on a part-time basis.
Cad Works Limited is an engineering company that specializes in various engineering design, CAD consulting, Laser Scanning, and 3D printing services which could be in form of setting up 3D printing Laboratory, 3D printer sales and repairs, 3D printing service, part designs, and training on Engineering Design. We are presently located in Nigeria and Ghana and have carried out projects for companies like Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mobil Nigeria limited, Global Ocean and many more. We have recently done several presentations/expo for the Association of professional women Engineers in Nigeria, Nigeria Society of Engineers (Victoria Island), DigiFab Conference, Girls Hackathon for Justice, and for the sake introduction, we are having a 3D printing conference for the whole of Africa. It is called “Future of Additive Manufacturing in Africa.”
What are some of the projects that you do in 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing?
We recently worked on an oil facility that did not have a 3D model of the entire facility. So, our team did the laser scanning of the facility and produced the 3D model of the facility after which we used the 3D model to 3D print a model of the facility.
3D printed oil facility model
Also, we 3D modeled and 3D printed a large number of key holders for a church as a souvenir during their Christmas celebration.
3D printed church key holders
Give us a brief description of the 3D Printing landscape in Nigeria?
The Nigerian environment is a dicey one in the sense that people who are aware of the technology are fascinated by it, but are not willing to take steps. Some factors which are negatively impacting this include the cost. Also, because of the unavailability of metal 3D printers in the country, big players do not stimulate that development. But some schools are gradually taking it into their extra-curricular activities. Individuals who want to print products, want the finishing to be as if the production process was like that of an injection molding process. This is holding us back. But the market is growing, people are seeing the need. It would be a boom if the government could either train masses of people or create centers where individuals can print at a much lower cost and still have a quality product.
Demonstrating 3D printing to students
You have recently published the first edition of your 3D Printing magazine entitled ‘Advanced Manufacturing’ and of particular interest is the section ‘Why 3D printing matters to Africa’.
That article, we hope could cause an awakening that this technology is made for us and that several persons are already doing something great with it. Take, for example, some time ago, some Togolese created a 3D printer from recycled materials! This I believe should be encouraged as I know that since most things that pertain to this technology are open source (that is from models to parameters, to experiences), we Africans, can utilize the opportunity to grow somethings for ourselves and become innovators! Like the rest of the world.
Do you see any possible financial support in developing 3D printing in Africa considering that it’s one of the challenges in promoting the technology?
It all depends in which direction they do this. Nobody I believe would invest in something unless the person has something to benefit from it. Unless it’s just for humanitarian purposes. To this end, I feel we only within Africa through the government seeing the need, or individuals who have technology inclined business and as such would be willing to bring out resources gotten from another venture, and put it into 3D Printing. But the difficult thing about it is that, as the usefulness of the 3D Printing technology expands, and as the time to print/volume of prints increases, individuals and bodies (which also includes schools of different cadres) would embrace it and include it to their everyday lives. As in the case of South Africa, the government saw the need and invested in the technology. I believe that other countries would with time, do the same and encourage the young ones to become beneficiaries of this technology.
In 2014, French startup Poietis developed a unique technology for the bioprinting of living tissue. Unlike conventional approaches to tissue engineering or extrusion bioprinting, their promising 4D laser-assisted system allows cells to be positioned in three dimensions with micrometric resolution and precision. Their aim is to design living tissue using cells and biomaterial that researchers can apply to manufacture products for regenerative medicine, preclinical research, and cosmetic uses–making a big difference in the testing of cosmetics and consumer products. This is especially relevant considering that the debate about animal research and testing is a hot topic everywhere.
In 2013, the European Union passed legislation that instituted a ban on the sale of animal-tested products in the continent, followed by other countries like India, Israel, Norway, Taiwan, and New Zealand, while the practice is being contested in the US and other markets where it is still legal. Companies like Poietis are using 3D bioprinting technology to develop a more cost-effective, versatile, and ethical way for companies to go about testing. But that’s just one of their advantages, along with the development of the multimodal bioprinting platform Next Generation Bioprinting (NGB); the creation of Poieskin, commercial bioprinted human tissue; and the NGB-C system for clinical applications.
Researcher at work at Poietis labs
In 2012 and after 20 years of professional experience in the biotech MedTech sector, the co-founder of Poietis, Bruno Brisson, met Fabien Guillemot (the other co-founder of the company and CEO).
“Guillemot was questioning himself about the valorization of a technology he had developed with his team at INSERM and the Tissue Bioengineering Lab of the University of Bordeaux: laser-assisted bioprinting, and I had created a consulting firm focused on business development in life sciences, so it was the right time to get together and share our vision of what could be done with this technology and what we wanted to do in the future,” revealed Brisson in an interview with 3DPrint.com. “We wanted to set-up an innovative company that could take the technology to clinics, provide new therapeutic solutions to the market of tissue and organ repairs, and help develop new advanced therapies.”
Bruno Brisson, Co-Founder of Poietis
Regulatory pressure everywhere to ban animal testing and concerns about animal experiments to model human health, along with the animal experiment ban for the cosmetics industry in Europe, has resulted in an evergrowing demand for in vitro alternatives. This is one of the reasons why Poeitis founders decided to first focus on in vitro applications for the skin tissue market. To do so, they hired an interdisciplinary team of physicists, software developers, biologists, and pharmacists to bring their expertise to the areas of laser and optics, microfluidics, machine learning, cell biology, and tissue engineering as well as cell therapy manufacturing. Their bioprinted in vitro models are used in dermo-cosmetics, but also in pharmaceutical research, for example, to evaluate the mechanism of actions for validating new drug candidates in the case of disease models.
The company, headquartered in Pessac, France, soon developed partnerships with other firms. In 2015, chemical giant BASF signed an agreement with Poietis to 3D print skin for cosmetic testing purposes, using the 3D laser-assisted bioprinting technology to further develop its Mimeskin tissue, which is one of the closest equivalents to the original physiological equivalents of real human skin. After their success, they moved towards improving the skin models by increasing structure complexity and adding new cell types. Almost around the same time, Poietis became associated with the L’Oréal group and began researching how to bioprint hair as a viable solution for people suffering from alopecia.
“Poietis has been able to enter into industrial partnerships quickly after inception, like with pharma company Servier to develop a 4D bioprinted liver model that could predict liver toxicity of drugs better than current methods,” Brisson said. “As well as other collaborations with the academic sector, such as with the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), in Belgium, on cartilage. As well as through two European Consortium EU H2020 FET-Open Pan3DP projects, one to biomimic developmental processes to fabricate 3D bioprinted pancreatic tissue units that allow sustained cell viability, expansion and functional differentiation ex vivo and another in neurobiology.”
A 16 layer 3D structure designed with Poietis CAD software and created with the NGB-R’s extrusion process
At Poietis, the core of their expertise is the high-resolution laser-assisted bioprinting, after which they have based and developed their Next-Generation Bioprinting (NGB) platform, which they claim gives tissue engineers and researchers greater freedom in the choice of biomaterials and hydrogels, and greater versatility in their research and development. The two bioprinters currently marketed are the NGB-R Bioprinter (commercialized for research applications) and the NGB-C Bioprinter (a clinical-grade, GMP-compliant system dedicated to clinical applications and challenges of industrial manufacturing of implantable tissues).
“Today our NGB-R consists of a platform (CAD + bioprinter) allowing to control the 3D organization of cells with cell resolution. It is an automated, robotized bio-printing platform guaranteeing reproducible tissue manufacturing and accelerating translation to clinical phases. Moreover, it is a single multimodal platform embedding the three main bioprinting technologies–including laser-assisted bioprinting– and allowing researchers to work with a variety of cell types but also to assess the printability and biocompatibility and work with a number of bioinks. Finally, we can control and monitor the formation of organoids through a controlled deposition of 2D cells (one or more cell types) and bioprint large objects such as cell aggregate of spheroids,” said Brisson.
At Poietis, they talk about the process as a form of 4D printing, claiming that “the approach consists in programming self-organized tissue (cells and extracellular matrix) that evolve in a controlled way until specific biological functions emerge”. So that by analyzing tissue evolution during maturation, they are able to optimize the initial tissue architecture defined by a CAD tool in order to improve the functionality of the printed tissues and guarantee that they are manufactured in the most reliable way. The company is developing dedicated software to program tissue self-organization, which means that they will anticipate the evolution of the bioprinted construct with time. And time plays a big role in 4D bioprinting, something which makes their system quite unique.
We have talked about 4D printing before, which means creating 3D objects that change their shape over time in response to stimuli such as heat, moisture or light, making structures that easily adapt to their environment. On the hardware side, Poietis applies its laser-assisted bioprinting technique using laser pulses programmed to be sent every nanosecond, used to deposit microscopic droplets of cell-laden ink on a cartridge (composed of an ink film spread on a glass plate). Via the software, they can control the physical conditions of the ejection (like energy and viscosity), as well as the droplet volume to near picolitre accuracy. According to the company, the process can achieve 20 µm resolution at speeds of 10,000 droplets a second, resulting in cell concentrations of 100 million cells/mL and 100 percent cell viability.
The process led Poietis to develop Poieskin, a bioprinted skin made up of a human full-thickness skin model that is entirely produced by 3D bioprinting.
“Poieskin® consists of a dermal compartment composed of primary human fibroblasts embedded in a collagen I matrix overlaid by a stratified epidermis derived from primary human keratinocytes. Its biofabrication benefits from the latest advances in 3D bioprinting technology. The high precision and resolution of Poietis laser-assisted bioprinter, as well as the embedded in-line monitoring systems, able to control the quality of each bioprinted layer and hence to manufacture controlled 3D cell structures and reproducible tissue models. It can be used for pharmacological and cosmetic research (like testing the effects of a drug on a real human skin equivalent), so at the moment, we are mainly selling the innovation to CROs (Contract Research Organisations), academic laboratories and dermo-cosmetic firms.”
With a tissue engineering market worth an estimated 15 billion dollars, and growing, the bioprinting industry is getting a lot of attention, and companies all over the world are taking notice. Poietis has three patents covering its bioprinting technology, and a recent financing round of five million euros to accelerate technological developments that could lead to the first implantation of a bioprinted tissue into patients starting in 2021, and is well is on its way to becoming one of the innovative European startups to look for during the coming years.
Brisson explained that “the future of tissue engineering will be based on technologies capable of studying the growth of connective tissue or organs but also to produce replacement tissue for implantation into the body. We consider that tissue engineering will be the next revolution in healthcare, using the patient’s own cells to build or rebuild organs.”
At the lab with Poietis
“Poietis is still working a lot on skin bioprinting, especially for in vitro applications based on Poieskin® as a platform of complexification. But the company is also developing the NGB-C system to meet future clinical needs of our partners, which is based on the same core technology as NGB-R, but NGB-C will face the requirements of translational research and the challenges associated with the industrial manufacturing of implantable tissues. Right now we are at a turning point as we started different projects with clinical aims, the first and most advanced is on the skin by targeting certain wound indications with a goal of a first-in-man within two years (clinical trials). We also have two other projects in cardiology and for all of these, we already have clinical collaborators.”
NGB-C System
The bioprinting technology available at Poietis is the result of innovative research, and over a ten-year time lapse at Inserm and the University of Bordeaux, resulting in wins at the iLab competition in 2014, the World Innovation Challenge Phase II in 2017, and most recently the EY Disruptive Strategy Award. But Poietis is lucky to be among a forward-looking bioprinting environment. The groundbreaking technology has seen some challenges over the last few years, and not every country has made efforts to help with its development.
According to Brisson, “France is certainly helping the emergence of these technologies with agencies such as BpiFrance, the French Public Investment Bank and a one-stop-shop for entrepreneurs and different subsidies for innovation at regional and national levels. That being said initiatives at the European level will certainly have a bigger impact, such as Restore–a very large action for advanced therapies at the EU level–, as well as the support of the European Medicines Agency.”
In many ways, Poietis has begun to change the future of regenerative medicine and the manufacture of living tissue. With uses in cosmetics and drug testing that are quickly becoming an alternative to animal testing everywhere, the company is fast to becoming a household name in France, pushing the advances of their innovation into clinical labs and giving researchers more tools to efficiently surpass the limits of bioprinting. We’ll have to wait until 2021 before the first implantation of bioprinted tissue into patients become a reality.
GROW is a software company founded several years back with the aim to enable secure distributed additive manufacturing. They have developed a suite of cloud and desktop solutions enabling a secure end to end AM workflow which is now available for free!
In order to understand more about the solution, we have asked some questions of Dr Siavash Mahdavi, Founder and CEO of GROW.
What challenges in additive manufacturing is GROW solving today?
At GROW we have carefully listened to our partners which are maturing from simple prototyping through to serial manufacturing and have realised that they face several challenges around ensuring the quality of manufacture and the protection of their intellectual property.
At GROW we have developed a range of tools that allow designers to secure their design files and ensure that they are only manufactured to their desired specifications with complete traceability.
Can you tell me about GROW’s offering?
As you may have heard, we have now made our encryption technology both for the designers as well as the manufacturers entirely free. This means that anyone interested in secure quality distributed manufacturing can sign and download our software from www.grow.am.
Users can encrypt their intellectual property including design files, manufacturing processing instructions and anything else that they find valuable, send it directly to the manufacturer of their choice and be assured that their parts are only manufactured to their specification with complete traceability.
Why have you decided to provide your solution for free?
We really believe that this is what the industry needs to unblock distributed manufacturing. Moreover, there will be a layer of services that I can reveal more about later which sits on our encryption technology and we charge for that. The services will include insights that we can generate for the designers and engineers enabling them to further optimise their designs for the AM processes. On the other hand, there will be a set of tools that can enable manufacturers to optimise their AM machines.
Who would benefit from this technology?
A typical user would include someone that cares about quality control with valuable intellectual property which requires protection. Industries that we tend to work with include medical, aerospace, automotive and tooling.
Your last word?
We would love to have even more people try out our technology as it is very simple to use. We have integrated our technology with the most popular additive manufacturing machines and can enable an end to end security and quality control.
If anyone is interested, I highly recommend them to visit our website at www.grow.am, sign up and download our software for free or request a demo.
Massimo Bricchi is Kuraray Europe‘s Regional Marketing Manager. The company is involved in the production of chemicals and resins, fibers and textiles, high-performance material, and medical products. In this interview, the discussion is focused on the 3D printing of biodegradable materials that Kuraray has been manufacturing.
Take us through your organization and a brief introduction to the service and products you offer?
The Kuraray Group is an expanding, stock exchange-listed specialty Chemicals Company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with around 8.500 employees and annual sales of over EUR 4 billion. Kuraray Europe GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary headquartered in Hattersheim and Main and has around 850 employees. Kuraray is the world’s largest producer of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and an international leader in the development and use of innovative high-performance materials for many industries.
From our PVA resin catalog, our R&D Labs in Frankfurt have developed our family of water-soluble compounds called MOWIFLEX which can be used in various other applications like a sausage casing, injection molding, and frac balls. For 3D Printing, we have 2 specific grades called Mowiflex 3D 1000 and 3D 2000 which are specifically designed for water-soluble support material.
Besides PVA, we sell PVB resin to produce solvent-soluble filaments for FFF. PVB has similar mechanical properties as PLA, is very transparent and can be polished, after printing by spraying it with alcohol that dissolves the surface of the objects, therefore, giving that shiny look.
For the future, we are planning to introduce to 3D printing also other Kuraray products like high-temperature PA(Nylon) and elastomers.
What is the significant aspect of your 3D printing water-soluble materials and how important are they in 3D printing?
The main features that differentiate our material from the competition are:
They are 100% soluble in tap water. No need for any additive.
Moreover, they are certified by TUV Austria as biodegradable in water
Low Moisture uptake. This makes our filaments quite rigid, which is beneficial for better printability
How compatible are your filaments with the 3D printers in the market, are there specific printers to use on?
Do you see 3D printing biodegradable material as another crucial material in 3D printing for the future?
3D printing biodegradable materials will be a crucial material especially if you consider the microplastic issue. The market is also now focused on the pure technical performance of support materials.
Mowiflex water soluble filament
What is your vision with the Africa 3D printing market? Do you have plans for it?
Kuraray does not have a clear vision yet. We have exhibited at various 3D Printing fairs but hardly got visitors from Africa. We have no idea of the potential market in Africa, for our support material but would be glad to learn more about it.
And lastly, how do you see 3D printing in the future?
We are now in an early phase of the market where you see many players, from very small family companies to large enterprises continuously offering new products and technologies. But we already see that the market is moving from a hobby-like approach to real industrial use of 3D Printing. You can see it also by looking at big companies like BASF or Henkel investing a lot into 3D printing.
We expect a future consolidation of the market where only bigger companies having the capability to develop new and reliable products will survive.
Just a couple of short years ago, Kodak entered the AM market with its 3D Printing Ecosystem, which includes specialized software, the dual extruder, professional Portrait 3D printer, and a line of premium, low moisture content filaments. I learned a lot about this ecosystem while visiting Kodak’s booth at the recent RAPID+TCT show in Detroit, as the Portrait, and a wide array of example prints made on it, were being showcased.
On to new business first – the company launched its new Design to Print Service, which Kodak’s CCO and and co-founder Demian Gawianski told me is helpful for “customers who find designers’ time very valuable.”
“This can go from converting any 3D model into a 3D printable file to tuning the parameters on how to print those files,” he told me. “Basically, if you have complex geometry that wouldn’t go with our preset parameters, because it may have some bridges or overhangs or something like that, we would create the profile for the user, and our designers will actually print out the part to make sure it works.”
The company was offering a launching offer for its new service at the show – any customer who purchased the Portrait 3D printer at RAPID would also receive a $500 credit for the Design to Print Service.
This valuable service is an easy three-step process: first, share your project on your Kodak 3D Cloud account. Then, interact with the company’s professional designers in order to get a quick quote for the project, in addition to an estimated completion date. Finally, have your part optimized for a guaranteed result, printed, and tested by the Kodak team. You will then receive an STL file from the company that’s been modified for successful 3D printing. The service is available in English and Spanish, from 8 am to 5 pm EST, for a standard rate of $45 an hour; a priority job is available for an hourly rate of $90.
“We want to make sure that the user has a very successful experience, with any level of knowledge they may have about 3D printing,” Gawianski continued. “We want to have a comprehensive approach.”
This includes providing users with the right materials and hardware, empowered by good software, and Gawianski believes that Kodak’s design solution offers this unique, comprehensive approach.
Then we moved over to the Portrait 3D printer, which features a compact 215 x 210 x 235 mm build volume with a magnetic, heated build plate and dual extruders. With an intuitive color touchscreen that supports multiple languages, HEPA filter with activated carbon, automatic bed leveling, and live print monitoring via a built-in camera, I can see why Kodak calls it “the new standard for ‘desktop’ professional printing.”
Gawianski noted the “fully enclosed chamber,” which helps enable a “high level of control,” stability, and accuracy. He also pointed out the dual extrusion system with automatic nozzle lifting. The #2 hotend on the left is Teflon for high temperature materials, while the one on the right is metal for lower temperatures. The part being printed while we were standing there was out of white ABS.
“It would be difficult to achieve this level of quality on another printer with ABS, because it would warp and have all kinds of problems,” he explained.
Then we walked over to a setup in the corner of the booth that had caught my eye when I first arrived. A Portrait 3D printer – which was currently operating and weighs about 35 kg – had been placed on a rather thin-looking wooden platform, which was suspended by ropes that were attached to nylon hooks 3D printed on the Portrait itself.
The nylon hooks were strong enough to keep the platform stable, so the print could continue uninterrupted with “the same level of quality” while it was fabricating a blue part out of strong but flexible Nylon 6.
“The printer comes with two filament cases. You open the back of a filament, and place the filament in the case,” Gawianski said. “It has a silica gel that continues to protect the filament all the way from the manufacturing plant to the printed part.”
This case protects the filament from absorbing dust or humidity. Kodak is open to Portrait customers using third party materials, but these clear cases are only for its own filament.
He then started to show me various parts made out of Kodak’s other materials, such as a blue skull printed out of PLA Tough with water-soluble PVA supports, an engineering part made out of ABS with HIPS supports that dissolve in Limonene, and a large part with a green top that can lift 700 lbs of weight.
Kodak offers 11 different materials, including strong, food-safe PETG and semi-flexible Flex 98 with high abrasive resistance. Gawianski brought out a 3D printed part that was a good example of the Portrait 3D printer’s dual extrusion. The figure, which bore a strong resemblance to the Egyptian god Anubis, was made with PLA+ (green) and PLA Tough (red), which are the two materials that come with the Portrait 3D printer out of the box.
“We also have Nylon 12, which is FDA certified and has high resistance to impact,” Gawianski said, showing me two parts in translucent white.
“We also have some further ABS parts – this is a delamination test,” he continued, scratching the side of a small container. “It’s difficult to achieve this with an open printer, you need an enclosed one.”
Kodak will soon be releasing some new materials to the market, such as acrylic, which I also got the chance to see.
Our conversation ended by discussing Kodak’s 3D printing software.
“We have a desktop solution, which is the Kodak 3D Slicer,” Gawianski explained. “And we have the Kodak 3D Cloud, that is a cloud management system that enables you to manage an unlimited number of printers in unlimited locations from a single data place. So from your computer, phone, whatever, you can manage this fleet of printer.”
I asked if the company had anything new on the horizon, and aside from new filaments, Gawianski also said we can expect to see a new 3D printer model by the end of the year.
Take a look at some more of my pictures from the Kodak booth at RAPID+TCT 2019 below:
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