Additive manufacturing service provider and software developer Materialise (NASDAQ:MTLS) has announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020. Total revenue for Q1 2020 decreased 1.8 percent to €46.2 million, from €47.1 million in Q1 2019. Despite the slight decrease in revenue, the company has experienced continued revenue growth in its Software and […]
Volunteers develop 3D printable ventilator based on 1965 U.S. Army design
With ventilators in short supply in light of the coronavirus pandemic, makers in the 3D printing community continue to combat the shortage through the use of their machines. The latest piece of 3D printable medical kit in development is the timing mechanism of an emergency ventilator based on a U.S. Army design from 1965. The […]
3D Printing and COVID-19, April 6, 2020 Update
Companies, organizations, and individuals continue to attempt to lend support to the COVID-19 pandemic supply effort. We will be providing regular updates about these initiatives where necessary in an attempt to ensure that the 3D printing community is aware of what is being done, what can be done, and what shouldn’t be done to provide coronavirus aid.
Individuals globally are lending their 3D printing support to produce the face shields we are now all familiar with. Made up of a 3D printed headband and piece of transparent plastic film, doctors from hospitals are requesting these wherever possible according to users in online 3D printing communities, such as the Facebook groups “3D Printing” and “3D Printing Club”.
Hospitals in Michigan, Ohio and the U.K. are relying on some of these club members to print an endless supply of shields for their staff. Some users have been printing so many face shields that they are quickly running out of filament, while in South Africa, one user was unable to donate their face shields because they weren’t a licensed medical device manufacturer, which would require about $1,300 for a license application.
Based on regulatory classification and the guidance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, some products must be limited to facilities with a Quality Management System in place. However, because face shields do not meet this threshold, they are deemed acceptable for hobbyists to print. If hobbyists, small business owners, and educational institutions are hoping to print face shields, there are designs that have been approved by the National Institute of Health (NIH) available on the NIH 3D Print Exchange. Please note that just because a file is available on that website, it doesn’t automatically mean that this file has been approved. Read the comments below the file to find out the status and method of approval.
Outside of hobbyists, large companies continue to support supply efforts. Materialise has already developed a hands-free door opener for medical staff, a hands-free shopping cart handle and a connector to adapt Scuba masks to allow for air filtration and oxygen supply. Now, the Belgian firm has developed a device for converting standard positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) machines into breathing masks that can be connected to oxygen supply. This frees up mechanical ventilators for other patients in critical need.
The company, which has a long history of making certified medical devices, is obtaining fast track approval in Europe and the U.S. and aims to have the device widely available by mid-April. Materialise is also supporting a clinical trial to test the clinical efficacy of the device with results expected within two weeks. Anticipating its approval, the firm is now 3D printing the parts in its ISO 13485 certified facilities in Belgium and Michigan.
Since Medtronic put out the design documents for its respirator, engineers are presumably working on building their own versions. Medical professionals who have seen some of the first attempts at creating ventilator devices may be appalled at their operation, which often don’t include methods for regulating airflow in response to patient breathing but instead regularly pump oxygen in a brute force manner. Real Engineering has put out a video (embedded below) describing how dangerous some of these machines would be if used in a medical setting, while also discussing some guidelines that make respirators function properly.
MIT has also published documentation related to the fabrication and sterilization of Covid-19 personal protection equipment (PPE). MIT is continuing to maintain a list of resources to learn more about respirators, their decontamination, and reuse. Because the institution is expecting PPE supplies to be replenished in the coming weeks, it is focusing primarily on organizing and distributing donations.
The school also believes that the focus of the 3D printing community on 3D printing masks is diverting energy and attention away from other issues such as the need for more filter media for existing, medically approved respirators and surgical masks. For that reason, MIT staff conclude “3D printing at MIT is best applied in the way it always has been, to rapidly convert good ideas into proof of concepts.”
We are continuing to compile information about what the 3D printing industry and community can do and should not do in response to the coronavirus pandemic and will have input from medical professionals shortly.
The post 3D Printing and COVID-19, April 6, 2020 Update appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.
3D Printing Community responds to COVID-19 and Coronavirus resources
How is the 3D printing community responding to COVID-19? As the now pandemic Coronavirus takes hold over the globe, we see countries implementing travel restrictions, social distancing measures, and work from home policies. Even the more developed countries are seeing their healthcare systems overloaded and fatigued by COVID-19. In the more severe cases of the […]
3D Printing News Briefs: March 10, 2020
The big story in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs is the postponing of the Materialise World Summit. Then we’ll finish with a little business news, as 3D PRINT UK is moving to expanded premises. Finally, starting this week, you can get QUANT-U’s 3D printed silicone midsoles at ECCO’s flagship Zürich store for a limited time.
Materialise World Summit Postponed
Every two years, Materialise holds its Materialise World Summit (MWS) in Brussels, Belgium, gathering together the industry’s thought leaders and decision makers so they can share ideas about the additive manufacturing industry. This event typically takes place in the spring, which was the original plan for this year’s MWS…but not anymore. MWS 2020, originally scheduled for May 14-15, has been postponed, due to, as the company’s Kristof Sehmke tells us, “the coronavirus and its impact on international traffic.”
MWS 2020 will now take place November 5-6, which makes it a busy month considering that will just one week before formnext in Germany. This isn’t the only major industry event that’s had to change its plans due to the COVID-19 outbreak – JEC World, originally scheduled for last week, has been pushed back to May, and after several big companies originally planning to attend the upcoming SXSW dropped out, including Apple, Facebook, Amazon Studios, TikTok, Intel, and Warner Music, the Texas-based conference was called off. With California Governor Gavin Newsome declaring a state of emergency in California over the coronavirus, should we all cancel our plans for RAPID + TCT next month? Time will only tell.
3D PRINT UK Moves to Bigger Facility
Moving on to some better news, 3DPRINTUK has just finished the move to its new purpose-designed facility in North London’s Leyton Industrial Village. The service provider of polymer SLS 3D printing solutions for manufacturing applications was seeing increased demand for low volume production, and determined that a move was needed to accommodate the company’s current, and future, plans for expansion. 3DPRINTUK’s new home is larger, with nearly 10,000 square feet of space, and was custom-designed to hold the company’s EOS polymer SLS 3D printers, as well as offer a space for post-processing operations and a break down room that’s sealed to avoid powder contamination.
“At 3DPRINTUK we are able to work with our customers — and potential new customers — to illustrate when and why the SLS process will work for them. But we are not afraid to tell them when it won’t, either. This is really important to us, and something the industry at large is not very good at confronting,” stated Nick Allen, 3DPRINTUK’s Founder and Managing Director. “I think this approach has contributed to our growth, which has been organic year on year, and the new premises are testament to that. We are still settling in, but the printers have been working non-stop since we got here and we are looking to further expand our capacity in the near future.”
QUANT-U’s In-store Experience at ECCO
In 2018, the Innovation Lab at Danish heritage footwear brand and manufacturer ECCO introduced an experimental footwear customization project called QUANT-U, which uses real-time analysis, data-driven design, and in-store 3D printing to create custom, personalized midsoles out of a heat cured two-component silicone in just two hours. The QUANT-U experience is now coming to ECCO’s flagship Zürich store as an exclusive pop-up event from now until April 15, with a “unique limited collection” available to both men and women, along with the full customization service.
The process is simple – 3D scanners determine your orthotic fit in 30 seconds, so your midsoles have the correct shoe size and arch height. Then, during a walking analysis, wearable sensors will create an accurate representation of how you move around. The anatomical scan and the sensor data will help QUANT-U build a unique digital footprint just for you, which leads to customized, 3D printed midsoles within two hours. You can use the cloud-based service to print your own midsoles from any location and have them shipped to you, but at the upcoming ECCO pop-up event, you can just pick them up in the store. Book your fitting now!
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Sigma Labs signs new contracts with Northwestern University, Materialise
Two pieces of news show how Sigma Labs’ PrintRite3D software will be used by Materialise and Northwestern University. Santa Fe-based Sigma Labs has signed a contract to implement its quality assurance software for metal additive manufacturing at Northwestern University for the first time. Furthermore, Sigma Labs has signed a joint sales agreement with Belgium headquartered Materialise, advancing an earlier MoU to develop an integrated in-situ […]
Materialise reports Q4 & FY 2019 financial results with medical and software growth
Additive manufacturing service provider and software developer Materialise (NASDAQ:MTLS) has announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2019. Consolidated revenue for FY2019 increased 6.5 percent to €196.7 million for 2019, from €184.7 million for 2018. Total deferred revenue from annual software sales and maintenance contracts increased by 22.3 percent to […]
Materialise and Sigma Labs to Combine Technologies for QA and 3D Printer Development
Known in the additive manufacturing (AM) industry for its quality assurance software and hardware products, Sigma Labs has made steady progress in proliferating its QA technology across AM. The latest development in this trend comes in the form of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between Sigma Labs and Materialise, an AM software developer and 3D printing services provider.
The agreement will see the Materialise MCP Controller integrated with Sigma Labs’ PrintRite3D technology, as well as a joint sales agreement and beta customer commercialization of the combined PrintRite3D and Materialise Control Platform (MCP) product. To understand what this integration might look like, it’s necessary to understand what MCP is.
The MCP eocsystem. Image courtesy of Materialise.
MCP is a software-driven hardware solution meant to provide greater, more user-friendly control over AM systems. The product is embedded within a 3D printer and acts as an interface between the machine and the user so that they can perform actions like optimize print parameters, calibrate optics, write machine scripts, manually control hardware components, and detect errors. So far, the tool can be used for laser-based machines (i.e., stereolithography, laser sintering and laser melting).
The inclusion of PrintRite3D within MCP would mean that machine developers would be able to better understand how the equipment operates from a QA perspective, seeing defects and anomalies within a build from within MCP. The ability to further control hardware within MCP based off of this QA data would mean the possibility of developing new or retrofitting existing machines to include closed-loop quality control.
When Sigma Labs began making news as far back as 2012 or 2013, there was some reason to be skeptical of the company, derived from the fact that it was trading on the over the counter (OTC) markets. Penny stocks can be extremely questionable because the OTC markets are less heavily regulated than the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange. In turn, penny stocks are often used as vehicles for financial impropriety, specifically pump and dump schemes in which very low-cost stocks are increased in value through false press releases and other means and then sold at a profit by insiders.
We’ve actually seen at least one pump-and-dump scheme occur in the 3D printing industry. An Australian inventor, Jason Simpson, was defrauded by his investors who were very likely involved in such practices while also stealing Simpson’s assets. From our In-Q-Tel series, we also learned of one time when the CIA’s venture firm may have (wittingly or unwittingly) been caught up in one.
Because Sigma Labs began trading on the OTC markets at such a low price long before it had begun commercializing a product. Its OTC trading actually dates back to 2000, when the company was called Framewaves, Inc., a firm purportedly aiming to make custom frames. Framewaves was actually established through the acquisition of a different company called Messidor Limited that was involved in defrauding investors. The operations of Framewaves were somewhat suspect, as well, given the fact that its directors went on to launch similarly inactive penny stock companies.
However, when B6 Sigma, a company spun out of research at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the TMC Global Professional Services corporation, performed a reverse acquisition of Framewaves in 2010, all of the former directors stepped down and were replaced by B6 Sigma people. Because it was trading as an OTC stock at such an early stage in the commercial, a tech stock blog called nanalyze raised some red flags and some questions about when it planned to deliver on its market promises.
Meanwhile, Sigma Labs continued to secure important partnerships and Department of Defense grants. This included working with Honeywell to test the use of PrintRite3D for metal 3D printing and 3DSIM (later acquired by ANSYS) to combine Sigma Labs’ quality assurance technology with metal 3D printing simulation software.
The AM QA company has since moved from the OTC market to the less questionable Nasdaq Capital Market. This combined with what appears to be steady improvement of its PrintRite3D software over time and this latest partnership with one of the most established 3D printing companies in the market should help dispel those earlier speculations by nanalyze and other cautious investors.
However, according to the SEC filings from the end of last year, its maintenance on the Nasdaq is on shaky ground due to the low price of the stock and minimum stockholders’ equity. Perhaps the company’s change in management since its founding, which included the taking on of a new CEO in 2017, will ensure that the company continues developing successfully in the industry.
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3D Hubs 3D Printing Trends Report forecasts 24% growth in 3D printing industry over 5 years
Over the next five years, analysts expect the 3D printing market to grow on average at 24%, reaching $35 billion by 2024, according to 3D Hubs’ 2020 3D Printing Trends Report. In the annual report published by the on-demand manufacturing platform, it is noted that more than $1.1 billion was raised by 3D printing start-ups […]
80 additive manufacturing experts predict the 3D printing trends to watch in 2020
Predicting the future is impossible. But that doesn’t stop us at 3D Printing Industry from inviting CEOs, CTOs and other AM experts to give us 3D printing predictions for 2020. If you want to stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, subscribe to our free 3D Printing Industry newsletter. You’ll be among […]