Happy Halloween, and welcome to this week’s webinar and event roundup! We’ve got several multi-day events, both in-person and online, to tell you about, starting with ICAM 2021, and then plenty of webinars about topics ranging from cybersecurity and cardiac 3D reconstruction to software, 3D printing for animals, and more. Read on for all the details!

ASTM’s ICAM 2021

The first event this week is a hybrid one: the International Conference on Additive Manufacturing (ICAM) 2021, hosted by ASTM International’s Additive Manufactured Center of Excellence (AMCoE) from November 1-5. The conference will be held in-person at the JW Marriot, Anaheim Resort in California, with the option to attend virtually as well, and whichever option you’re more comfortable with, you don’t want to miss it, as the event will include nearly 600 presentations covering 26 symposia, four certificate courses, and an Awards Ceremony for the Student Presentation Competition winners and recipients of the ASTM International Young Professional in AM Award and the Awards of Excellence. Keynote speakers include Tracy Frost with the Department of Defense, Tom Kurfess with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Terry Wohlers from Wohlers Associates, and more. Plus, I will be attending this event in-person, and I’m excited to see everyone and check out some really interesting presentations.

“This is ASTM International’s sixth annual flagship event related to standardization, qualification and certification with an emphasis on industry specific requirements addressing the entire AM process chain. ICAM 2021 will involve numerous ASTM committees and external stakeholders, setting the stage to bring experts from all around the world to exchange the latest developments in the field of additive manufacturing with emphasis on transition of research to application.“

You can register for ICAM here, and don’t forget to come say hello!

Kornit Fashion Week Los Angeles + Industry 4.0 Event

Also in California, just a little north in Los Angeles, Kornit Digital is holding its Fashion Week Los Angeles + Industry 4.0 Event, celebrating fashion technology innovation and sustainability. From Tuesday the 2nd through Friday the 5th, technology innovators, visionaries, fashion designers, influencers, celebrities, and major brands will gather to showcase and view digitally-created, environmentally-responsible designer collections. There will be 17 individual shows during the event, where designers like threeASFOUR will debut their latest collections produced with digital means, such as 3D printing, and reflecting diversity in all its forms. Attendees will learn tips for effective e-commerce to increase margins and revenue, strategies for shortening production cycles, quickly taking concepts from inspiration to repeatable, finished pieces, and more.

“We’re writing the operating system for sustainable fashion on demand, and those who join us in L.A. will witness firsthand that environmentally and socially responsible production is here, offering superior quality, profitability due to a waste-free approach, and more creative freedom than ever. They’ll see how Kornit’s customers succeed and grow by putting these digital production strategies into practice, eliminating supply chain vulnerability and inventory limitations to provide a frictionless experience that’s more efficient, more responsive to a dynamic marketplace, better suited to today’s web-driven consumer, and more adaptable to meet unforeseen challenges,” said Omer Kulka, Kornit Digital Chief Marketing Officer. “Sustainable, unbridled inspiration is ready to wear—not fast fashion, but extraordinary fashion, quickly.”

You can register for the free event here.

DMC at Advanced Engineering Show

The 12th edition of the Advanced Engineering Show, held from November 3-4, will welcome manufacturing innovators to Birmingham’s NEC for industry insight and networking. The event is the UK’s top annual gathering of OEMs and engineering supply chain professionals, and digital manufacturing production and engineering facility Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC) will be there, attending as part of Silverstone Technology Cluster’s VIP Lounge and Innovation Zone.

“We are looking forward to this year’s Advanced Engineering Show and connecting with industry partners and customers alike. It is a privilege to be attending as part of the Silverstone Park cohort alongside many members of the Silverstone Technology Cluster,” said Kieron Salter, CEO of the DMC. “I would like to encourage everyone to stop by and talk to us about the future of advanced manufacturing and the DMC’s role within it.”

You can register for the show here.

ASME’s Digital Twin Summit

Also from November 3-4, ASME will be holding its Digital Twin Summit, “Gateway to the Future of Manufacturing.” The online event welcomes operations managers, data scientists, engineers, manufacturers, and other industry leaders that want to identify, implement, and scale predictive, analytics-driven business operations by deploying digital twins that can help deliver ROI. Event features include daily keynotes, product presentations, exhibitor showcases, and more.

“This cross-industry virtual event is designed to provide you with the critical insights needed to successfully build intelligent operations that function with the speed and resilience required by today’s challenging market conditions.”

You can register for the event here.

AM Solutions Continues Live Event Series

On Wednesday the 3rd, AM Solutions will continue its interactive “Inside AM” live event series at 9 am EST. Featuring representatives from companies in different industrial sectors discussing their AM applications, experience, obstacles, and visions, the first guest was Christoph Hansen, the Director of Technology & Innovation at Sauber Engineering AG, followed by Andreas Knöchel, Head of Program Management Additive Manufacturing Lattice for Oechsler AG, and the third was Jan Hötter, GKN Additive‘s Global Operations Manager for Additive Manufacturing. The fourth guest was Sebastian Piegert, Technology Field Lead Additive Manufacturing for Siemens Energy, and this week, AM Solutions will welcome Jan Philippe Grage, Business Manager 3D Printing for Dunlee, a brand of the Philips Company group.

“‘Additive Manufacturing is changing the world! Vision or already real?’ Our interactive and live series “inside AM” will discuss this with leading industry experts.”

You can register for the livestream here.

AM Coalition on Cybersecurity & the Supply Chain

Also on the 3rd, at 3 pm EST, the Additive Manufacturing Coalition is holding its latest forum, called “‘Cyber’ Securing the Additive Manufacturing Supply Chain.” Several experts will discuss cyber threats to AM, the regulatory framework companies should follow to avoid these threats, and what technologies are coming to protect us from future threats. A member of Congress has been invited to speak, and other speakers include Landscape panelists Jennifer Tisdale, Principal at forum sponsor GRIMM, and Brian Finch, Partner at Pillsbury Law, in addition to AM panelists Jonathan Faia, Director of Quality/Cybersecurity at Laboratory Testing Inc., Dr. Vyas Sekar, CyLab Security and Privacy Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and Dr. Howard Grimes, with the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“The Additive Manufacturing Coalition will be hosting a discussion about the importance of cybersecurity for additive, and have a discussion of some of the ways companies and government are working to address it.”

You can RSVP for the Zoom forum here.

3DQue’s CR-10 Livestream

In technology startup 3DQue‘s latest livestream, Mateo and Steven will discuss “How to Slice for Mass Production on CR-10.” At 7:30 pm EST on Wednesday, November 3rd, 3DQue will show off its Quinly “virtual operator,” and how it can be used for more efficient slicing with the Creality CR-10. Attendees will also learn some helpful tips about slicing large parts.

“Get the most out of your CR-10! With Quinly automation and efficient slicing, you can print more with less work!”

You can set your notifications for Wednesday’s livestream here.

Nano-Micro-Lithography Symposium

Moving on to Thursday, November 4th, BICO company Nanoscribe, a 3D laser lithography innovator, will present the third Nano-Micro-Lithography (NML) Symposium, hosted on gather.town and co-hosted by Raith Nanofabrication, Heidelberg Instruments, GenISys, and microresist technology. The symposium focuses on direct write, optical, ion, and electron beam lithography, welcoming customers, users, and technical experts to learn more about the latest products and technologies for NMLS, and will also feature a new dedicated job fair, student project pitch, presentations, and online networking opportunities. The first session will start 2:40 am EST, with the undergraduate student project pitch taking place at 7 am EST; the second and final session will begin at 8 am EST.

“We especially invite you to the talk of our technical expert Dr. Benjamin Richter on “Rapid prototyping and production of 3D mechanical microparts”. In addition, Antoine Barbot from the FEMTO-ST Institute in France will proceed with a presentation on “Two-Photon 3D-printed structure on capillary tip for micromanipulation and fluid manipulation” to show how Nanoscribe systems and solutions are advancing research on sophisticated microfluidic devices.”

You can register for the symposium here.

Materialise Mimics & Cardiac 3D Reconstruction

At 9 am EST on the 4th, Materialise will hold a Mimics Innovation Course on “Cardiac 3D Reconstruction: Making the Complex Simple in Conjunction with King’s College London.” Cardiac surgery experts from King’s College London, University of Bristol and Imperial College London, East Midlands Heart Centre, Sheffield 3D imaging Lab, and Guys & St Thomas’s Hospital Trust will present their cases, and Materialise Application Engineers will show optimized workflows so that attendees can learn how to most efficiently prepare for complex cases. Attendees will hear about the latest 3D technology advancements for surgical planning, participate in a live Q&A, learn about segmentation challenges and how to overcome them, see how to get the most out of the Mimics Innovation Suite for even the toughest adult and pediatric cases, and more.

“Agenda:

1. ‘Setting up a 3D lab & researching the use of clinical models in communication’. – Mr Giovanni Biglino

2. ‘How does 3D planning add value to complex DORV clinical cases?’ – Dr Greg Skinner & Mr Saravanan Durairaj 

3. ‘Using 3D planning for complex cardiac reconstruction’ – Mr Peter Metherall 

4. ‘Fundamentals of setting up a 3D planning service for congenital heart disease in a hospital – Dr Kuberan and Mr Nick Byrne

You can register for the webinar here.

Sivó’s Hybrid Manufacturing Workflow powered by ESPRIT and Meltio

Recently, laser metal deposition manufacturer Meltio added ESPRIT TNG hybrid manufacturing CAM software to its technology ecosystem, which will make its Direct Energy Deposition (DED) technology accessible to any machine shop through a single interface. This collaboration will streamline both additive and subtractive manufacturing workflows for Meltio Engine CNC Integration system users in a hybrid workflow. To learn more about how operations can advance through this hybrid solution, Meltio and Hexagon will jointly present a webinar at 10 am EST on November 4th about the hybrid manufacturing process that combines its own technology with ESPRIT’s CAM system. Spanish industrial machine shop Sivó will discuss how its hybrid manufacturing applications are powered by ESPRIT TNG and Meltio.

“Join Clément Girard, Product Manager Additive & AI/ML at Hexagon, Francesc Martinez Mirón, Director of R&D Integrations at Sivó, and Gerard Garcia, Head of Marketing and Sales at Meltio as they present the perfect synergy to advance your operations.”

You can register for the webinar here.

Stratasys GrabCAD AM Platform Launch

Also at 10 am EST on the 4th, Stratasys is holding a virtual launch event, “Experience Stratasys: Software,” to unveil the “super-charged” GrabCAD Additive Manufacturing platform. When combined with Stratasys 3D printers, this new software should offer supply chain flexibility, majorly reduced production costs, SKU reduction through part consolidation and geometric freedom, and more—all helping users change how they manufacture production parts. The changes to GrabCAD should enable better connectivity and production at scale.

“Additive manufacturing continues to evolve at a rapid pace! Stratasys technologies are at the forefront of the transformation of using 3D printers exclusively for prototyping applications to leveraging them to produce componentry for production use cases. Through a combination of cutting-edge 3D printers, materials and operating software, Stratasys smashed the glass ceiling into the production arena long ago; but we didn’t stop there! We can’t wait to share our latest production-enabling innovations with you.”

You can register for the live launch event here.

AM Post-Printing 2021 Survey Results

PostProcess Technologies will present the results of its third annual Additive Manufacturing Post-Printing 2021 survey during a brief webinar at 12 pm EST, and discuss what’s on the horizon for post-printing processes. Attendees will hear what respondents had to say during the industry’s only in-depth look into the end-user perspective of 3D post-processing, as well as hear some expert insights and enjoy a time for Q&A with post-printing experts.

“Post-printing is becoming an even more critical step in the Additive Manufacturing workflow as users look to reduce costs and lead times and increase throughput. Join this webinar to learn what trends, opportunities, and challenges users are facing and what it might mean for the future of industrial 3D printing.”

You can register for the webinar here.

3D Printing for Animals with 3DHEALS

Finally, at 2 pm EST on Thursday the 4th, 3DHEALS will discuss “3D Printing for Animals” with a group of international speakers who use 3D printing and other innovative technologies to take care of our furry family members and other animals. Sponsored by HP, the speakers for this webinar are Matteo Zanfabro, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and R&D member for PlayCast and PlayVet; veterinarian Dr. Johnny Uday, a 3D biomodeler and researcher and owner of AXIS 3D Medical Printing; Mateusz Pawlik, co-founder of CABIOMEDE and CEO of Pets Analytics; and Alexander Tholl, Co-Founder of DiveDesign.

“According to American Pet Product Association (APPA), the current pet-related product industry is worth more than 100 billion dollars, where one-third is veterinary-related products based on 2020 data. There is a steady growth of this remarkable industry, but there are definitely more pet owners now than ever after the pandemic. Some interesting veterinary-related data can be found here.

“According to AVMA, Vets experienced a 50% increase in new pets per week Mar-Aug. 2020. Similar to human society, the pet market experiences similar supply chain and manufacturing challenges. Can 3D printing provide better, more efficient veterinary care and a more robust supply chain than the traditional way of things?”

You can register for the webinar here.

Do you have news to share about any future webinars or virtual and live events? Please let us know!

Today’s 3D Printing News Briefs is a little bit of everything, starting with a research paper on 3D printing tungsten carbide surfaces with extreme wear resistivity. Moving on, a runner partnered with CRP Technology to 3D print customized athletic track shoes, and Optomec delivered a $1 million metal 3D printer for use in turbine repair. Finally, Sinterit published a case study showing how its Lisa PRO was used to help a company called Nabson produce small run parts and prototypes with better accuracy.

3D Printing Tungsten Carbide-Coated Steel Surfaces

Images of a printed WC/Co specimen: top view (top left) and side view (bottom left). The right panel depicts the cross-section where the three zones of growth can be identified.

A team of researchers from Aalen University in Germany published a paper, “Additive Manufacturing of Tungsten Carbide Surfaces with Extreme Wear Resistivity,” which is focused on their additive manufacturing process to produce wear-resistive tungsten carbide (WC) coatings. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology creates solid metal components by selectively exposing successive powder layers to a laser beam, but the high energy input from a laser on a very small area, paired with rapid cooling, can cause high temperature gradients, which then lead to residual stress and major deformations; that’s why LPBF technology uses support structures during printing and heat treatment post-print, the latter of which helps meet the demands of wear resistance. When processing conventional sintered materials, like WC, using LPBF, local under-carbonization can take place, and most coating processes, like vacuum deposition and electroplating, take a long time and only achieve small thicknesses of less than 10 microns. That’s why the Aalen team wanted to come up with a better solution, which is detailed in their study.

The abstract states, “Steel surfaces have been coated with Co-based tungsten carbide (WC) in an additive printing process. This process leads to compact and extremely mechanically stable surfaces. We performed tribological measurements using WC counter bodies under dry conditions and severe mechanical load. Low coefficients of friction, even for rough surfaces, were found and the resulting wear rates were extraordinarily small, even when compared to high-quality PVD film with a similar composition. These findings suggest a wide field of application for this novel preparation process for wear-resistive surfaces.”

3D Printed Carbon Fiber Spike Shoes

Customized Pleko spike shoes. Photo Credit: CRP Technology.

Venetian middle-distance runner Miro Buroni created a customized athletic track shoe, also called a spike shoe, called the Pleko, and worked with Italian sportswear and footwear manufacturing Diadora and CRP Technology to 3D print the midsole, outsole, pins, and ribbing of the shoe—in a single unit—in order to enhance the shoe’s performance. Diadora took a 3D scan of an athlete’s foot, and then performed a biomechanical analysis of running and footing, while CRP Technology offered its Windform SP carbon fiber-filled composite material and PBF process to build the shoe’s supporting structure. The material offers strong mechanical properties, like flexibility and resistance to deformation, which are very important for track shoes.

“Windform SP guarantees excellent resistance even in very thin thicknesses; this feature allowed me to create spike shoes with a perfect foot envelopment that facilitates an increase in comfort and enhanced performance,” Buroni said.

“Thanks to the pins under the outsole, the ‘cage’ in Windform SP allows the athlete to develop as much strength as possible, without losing energy. I positioned the deepest pins in the points of superior pressure of the feet against the ground. I also put smaller studs in other parts of the outsole: these studs are on a equal basis essential for the stability of the track shoes.

“The design and manufacturing technologies, combined with the Windform SP and its mechanical characteristics, made the Pleko track shoes highly innovative, taking the whole project to the highest level of customization and specialization.”

Optomec Delivers Metal AM Systems for Turbine Production Repair

Gas engine undergoing overhaul at an MRO facility.

Moving on, Optomec has announced the delivery of a $1 million multifunctional metal 3D printer to one of its long-standing customers—a top supplier in the worldwide aviation engine Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) market, which already has more than five other Optomec metal AM systems it’s using to repair a range of aircraft engine turbine components, in addition to industrial gas turbines. Optomec’s proprietary process uses adaptive software, advanced machine vision, automation, and on-the-fly laser power adjustment to repair and add metal to worn engine components, which restores them to their original geometric specifications. The company’s printers use Directed Energy Deposition (DED) technology, and the machine that was just delivered combines two turbine repair operations that are normally performed manually, which will improve the consistency and quality of the flight-critical procedures and lower the cost of engine overhauls.

“There are really three advantages to using the Optomec AM process for repairing turbine components. First of all, it saves time and cost relative to manual repairs. Secondly, it requires far less heat input, so the base metal is far less affected by the repair,” explained Jamie Hanson, Optomec’s VP of Business Development. “Finally, because the adaptive AM process adds less repair metal, the downstream machining costs are drastically reduced.”

Sinterit & Nabson Case Study

Finally, NABSON Inc., which manufactures products for the power, transportation, communication, and defense industries, purchased a dual extruder FDM 3D printer two years ago to speed up new product R&D and develop one of its product lines. The endeavor was successful, and NABSON decided to expand its AM capability with the addition of an SLS 3D printer that could more accurately produce prototypes and small run parts; after plenty of market research, the company chose Sinterit’s LISA PRO. As the case study details, NABSON was asked to install a series of thermal switches in one product line, which would shut down power to the aircraft if the connector overheated, and the switches had to be encased in epoxy for their protection. The LISA Pro was used to create an epoxy-filled housing unit for the switches, and because NABSON manufactured the part in-house, the company estimates it saved nearly 50% of the cost per sleeve, and also had the option to modify the design as much as necessary. Additionally, the unit’s thinnest wall measurement at the corners was 0.6 mm, so NABSON definitely got the accuracy it was looking for.

Sean Higgins, Manager of Organizational Effectiveness, Nabson USA, said, “In a three-week period, we were able to print, test, and modify over 20 designs.

“In order to keep up with our production demand, we have been operating the Lisa PRO almost 7 days a week for the past couple of months, without incident, and produced over 1500 sleeves.”

In an evolving, dynamic world shifting towards powerful digital tools and innovative ecosystems, 3D printing companies are regaining momentum and performing better financially. That seems to be the case for 3D printing software and service provider Materialise (NASDAQ: MTLS). The Belgium-based business reported better-than-expected revenue and net profit for its third quarter of the year, driven by solid operational performances and strong double-digit growth from all three segments: software, medical, and manufacturing. Furthermore, it revealed several aspects of an ongoing project with Lift Aircraft, a Texas-based vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer.

Revenue for the three months ending September 30, 2021, was €52.2 million ($61 million), up 28% year-over-year from €40.8 million ($47.7 million) in the third quarter of last year. Materialise also reported a consolidated net profit of €8.7 million ($10 million), or 15 Euro cents per share—a whopping change against the previous year’s third-quarter loss of €282 ($330), or 1 Euro cent per share.

Materialise’s software segment is critical to the company’s growth. Image courtesy of Materialise.

With revenue from its manufacturing segment hiking 61.2% in just a year to €22.8 million ($26.6 million), Materialise’s Executive Chairman Peter Leys expects consolidated revenues for the entire year to be near the higher end of his €197 million to €200 million range estimate from previous months. Additionally, the company saw increases of 10.4% and 10.2% year-on-year from the software and medical segments, respectively.

Particularly in the medical sector, Materialise recorded a 15% increase in medical software sales, which accounted for 31% of the entire segment’s revenue. During the earnings call, Leys said this “is not pent-up demand” but a continued solid growth that this medical subsegment has been showing over the last four to eight quarters.

Materialise Q3 2021 results. Image courtesy of Materialise.

After such a strong earnings season, Materialise shares opened up around 6% on October 28, following the release of the quarter’s earnings report. By 10:30 AM, the stock had peaked at $25.62 before easing back a bit and closing at $25.14. According to expert analysts at Simply Wall Street, Materialise stock underperformed in the US market, which returned 33.4% over the past year. However, with profits and earnings gaining momentum, experts forecast earnings will grow 52.45% per year. As investors continue to bet on the 3D printing industry, we can expect the sector to pick up business, especially now that the US and European economies are reopening.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Materialise continued to invest in its workforce, existing software platforms, such as Magics and Mimics, 3D printing manufacturing activities, and growth initiatives, which is already paying off in the short term, Leys explained during the company’s earnings call. Overall, the strong revenue growth and improved gross margin were triggered by increased in-sourcing and continuous productivity improvements, and disciplined spending, in particular with respect to overhead.

As for the future, CEO Fried Vancraen suggested that “in coming years, more and more meaningful applications we invest in today are likely to scale in the markets. We feel confident that this will help ensure our long-term success.”

Lift Aircraft’s Hexa eVTOL single-passenger wingless multicopter. Image courtesy of Lift Aircraft.

A great example of this forward motion is a project with Lift Aircraft, the startup behind Hexa, an eVTOL single-passenger wingless multicopter for short-distance travel. According to the management team, Materialise is designing and producing 89 different 3D printed end parts for the aircraft, such as the Y brackets, a structural component made with titanium.

Now in serial production, the topology-optimized part was flying just six weeks after Lift Aircraft made the request to Materialise. Moreover, the part weighs 150 grams, a major weight reduction compared to traditionally manufactured Y brackets that weigh 250 grams. In a plane estimated at under 115 kilograms, this 40% weight reduction is critical. The optimization also reduced costs by decreasing the build time and eliminating support structures, thus enabling Lift Aircraft to reach its target pricing.

Lift Aircraft’s Hexa eVTOL single-passenger wingless multicopter. Image courtesy of Lift Aircraft.

This story is another proof point that AM can make entirely “new types of value creation” and possible business concepts, highlighted Vancraen during the call. Even though these types of applications take time to develop, he considers them truly meaningful, especially if they will be sustainable in the future.

Finally, Leys said the company intends to gradually increase its operational expenses to boost growth initiatives, but expects these accelerated efforts to impact the 2022 results much more than this year. Therefore, for 2021, management is increasing its adjusted EBITDA guidance by €3 million ($3.5 million) to up to €28 million ($32.7 million).

At the beginning of 2021, the Pentagon released a 20-page document with the characteristically bland name “Department of Defense Additive Manufacturing Strategy.” The gist of the document was the DoD’s announcement of the establishment of a whole host of groups dedicated specifically to working on specialized technical issues related to AM, which would be centrally coordinated by a new sub-agency—the Joint Defense Manufacturing Council (JDMC)— also announced in the report.

In the document, the authors state, “The Joint Defense Manufacturing Council will allow Senior DoD leaders to align resources and share information to maximize the value of manufacturing to maintain DoD’s strategic competitive advantage. The JDMC will align modernization priorities and manufacturing efforts to impact the readiness of the Department today and the future of the Nation’s defense.”

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Johnathan Ellis working on a 3D printer in preparation for Project Convergence at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz. (Image courtesy of DVIDS)

This was followed up by a document released in June, titled “Use of Additive Manufacturing in the DoD.”

The first policy listed in the June document states that “[The DoD will seek] to use AM to support joint force commanders and CCMD theater requirements, transform maintenance operations and supply chains, increase logistics resiliency, and improve self-sustainment and readiness for the Military Services.”

Both of these documents represent major steps in the Pentagon’s implementation of a major 2018 restructuring of how it carries out research, development, and acquisition in high-tech industries, including not only AM but also aerospace, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The release of a heavily-redacted US Navy audit came immediately after the June policy statement, in which the Pentagon drummed up fears of our nation’s vulnerability to infiltration of our military’s AM infrastructure—always an integral part of increasing the budget devoted to a given area.

Now, as part of the military’s Project Convergence, which seems like part war games, part old-fashioned world expo, we’re seeing all the years of study, investment, and logistical restructuring come to fruition: in Yuma, Arizona, the Army has just tested its ability to 3D print a spare part for a tank, which was then delivered to the tank on the “battlefield” by a semi-autonomous robot. The Army refers to its AM operational support capacity as R-FAB, or Rapid Fabrication via Additive Manufacturing on the Battlefield.

Soldiers in New Jersey working on an early version of R-FAB in 2017.

In a video, Melanie Smith, a capabilities director for the US Army, says, “3D printing gives us an ability to print parts forward, whereas we may not have them readily available or may not be able to get them in the supply chain somewhere in combat or far forward.”

This is, obviously, only the beginning. We may wonder if it’s something that should be happening, but the military essentially creates its own reality, and it started doing so on this front years ago. In the electoral political arena, the “debate” over military spending—it’s more like complaints from a few people here and there that we don’t throw as much money at other things as we do at the troops—is finally starting to heat up once again, but it would’ve been nice if this happened 20 trillion dollars ago. The truth is, a supply chain crisis is happening across the planet, no one seems to know what to do about it, and yet somehow the military has been fortuitously preparing for this exact situation for almost a decade. This is obviously pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking talking, but wouldn’t it have been nice if the US military had told someone?

The US Military helpfully depicts its ongoing plans to dominate the universe.

Of course, it did tell people; the military just has its own indirect, convoluted way of communicating, called the Defense Appropriations bill. Anyone who has been studying this even remotely closely has likely been noticing for years that increasing amounts of spending are being devoted to solving explicitly industrial problems rather than explicitly military ones. These “solutions,” as a part of the larger high-tech infrastructure, are now being highlighted by Project Convergence. When people complain about the military budget, though, they complain about the biggest-ticket items, rather than focusing on the nuances: the fact that an F-35 costs astronomically more than a 3D printer obscures the landscape.

Again, it would be nice if public participation actually played a role in these decisions, but that ship seems to have sailed long ago. So what can people who care actually do? It’s hard to say practically, at this point, aside from (sigh) voting with your dollars, so that any societal shift toward 3D printing will at least result in some significant proportion of the industry being devoted to things like creating more sustainable, alternate supply chains relative to the amount spent on defense. But in the meantime, it would probably be helpful if people started focusing on the fact that the military works twenty years in advance, and interpreting the moves it makes seriously, so that hopefully a better-informed public can eventually exist.

(Images courtesy of US Army unless otherwise noted)

The Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association (AMGTA) added six new 3D printing companies to the ranks as part of its ongoing efforts to promote sustainability in additive manufacturing. The additions bring the AMGTA’s membership total to 33. Among the new members, only vehicle manufacturer Divergent Technologies will be joining as a founding board member, and the rest of the companies will become participating members.

Launched in November 2019, the AMGTA is dedicated to educating about the environmental benefits of AM, as well as promoting the technology as an alternative to traditional manufacturing. Open to any additive manufacturer or industry stakeholder that meets certain criteria relating to the sustainability of production or process, the non-commercial organization has been developing industry best practices, helping members grow their businesses, and promoting the adoption of 3D printing.

AMGTA’s executive director Sherry Handel said she “looks forward to working with each of our members as we expand the AMGTA as the key industry resource committed to advancing sustainability in the AM industry.” She also highlighted that the additions are part of the AMGTA’s growth objectives and will support strategic investments in sustainability research projects in 3D printing.

The 3D printed Blade. Image courtesy of Divergent 3D.

Joining the AMGTA as a new founding member, California company Divergent Technologies designs, prints, and assembles optimized and sustainable vehicle structures using a fully adaptive end-to-end production system. Its proprietary manufacturing platform, known as the Divergent Adaptive Production Systems (DAPS), is a complete software-hardware solution designed to replace traditional vehicle manufacturing. Given a set of digital requirements as input, the modular digital factory will automatically and computationally engineer, 3D print, and assemble any complex structure.

In October 2021, Divergent doubled its car 3D printing capabilities after purchasing three more NXG XII 600 metal printers from SLM Solutions. Once they’re delivered in early 2022, Divergent will become the most prolific user of NXG XII 600 systems in the US. Divergent and SLM Solutions have had a joint development partnership since 2017, having also purchased seven SLM 500 systems, three SLM 280 systems, and one SLM 125 system.

With so many printers available on-site, Divergent can build thousands of tons of vehicle parts, expected to be on the road within the next two years. Then, Divergent plans to scale its advanced facilities, designed using DAPS for sustainable production, starting with “fab-less” vehicle manufacturing. This second step will begin with the officially approved Czinger 21C hypercar, a two million dollar 3D printed car containing hundreds of generatively-designed AM components that promises an 8.1-second quarter mile.

Divergent Technologies founder and CEO Kevin Czinger with an additively manufactured component for the Czinger hypercar. Image courtesy of Divergent Technologies via LinkedIn.

Divergent will serve alongside existing founding members ExOne, a pioneer and global leader in industrial 3D printing systems using binder jet 3D printing technology, now part of Desktop Metal; QC Laboratories, an advanced non-destructive testing laboratory focused on AM components; Sintavia, a designer and 3D printer of a new generation of flight and launch components; global polymer 3D printing leader Stratasys, and Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, a supplier of stable industrial gases to a wide variety of industries.

As founding members, these companies determine the strategic direction of the AMGTA, provide governance oversight, and consider future research projects that members may vote to commission. Moreover, now that Divergent has become a founding member, its CTO and vice president of AM and materials, Michael Kenworthy, will also serve on the AMGTA’s board of directors.

Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing (ACAM) in Germany. Image courtesy of ACAM.

Additionally, joining the AMGTA as participating members are five companies. From Germany, the Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing (ACAM), located on the RWTH Aachen University campus, has the resources and facilities to develop know-how, processes, software, and systems engineering, as well as customized services covering all aspects of AM technologies. Another German company, Kurtz Ersa, has also joined the ranks. The technology corporation recently debuted on the metal 3D printing market with the Alpha 140 laser beam powder bed fusion machine, created in collaboration with Laser Melting Innovations, which is coincidentally an ACAM spin-off.

Nexa3D’s NXE400 printer. Image courtesy of Nexa3D.

Ultrafast polymer 3D printer manufacturer Nexa3D is the third company joining AMGTA this week. Founded by industry pioneer and X-Prize board member Avi Reichental, Nexa3D is on 3DPrint.com’s potential unicorn list, with a valuation that has already surpassed $100 million. In addition, the company’s innovative technologies and sustainable supply chain management make it an ideal partner for AMGTA.

Also becoming part of the organization are Tekna Advanced Materials, a world-leading provider of high-purity metal powders for applications such as 3D printing in the aerospace, medical, and automotive sectors, and Trane Technologies, a global climate innovator bringing efficient and sustainable solutions to buildings, homes, and transportation through an environmentally responsible portfolio of products and services.

California 3D printing startup SprintRay Inc. is well-known for its DLP SLA 3D printers, as well as it’s Pro Desktop 3D printer for digital dentistry applications. The MedTech company just announced a multi-year dental-focused partnership with eight-time Olympic medalist Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, in order to make high-quality digital dental care more globally accessible, particularly in his home country of Jamaica. 35-year-old Bolt, the only Sprinter to win Olympic 100 meter and 200 meter titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016), will now be a SprintRay Global Brand Ambassador for the next five years.

“I am proud to represent and partner with SprintRay and fellow “Sprinters,” as we call ourselves,” Bolt said about the partnership. “This is a company that is poised to transform the digital dental industry on a global scale. This initiative is intended to accelerate a very critical and unmet need for improvements in dental care access across the world, starting with Jamaica, where there is less than one dentist for every 100,000 residents. I look forward to working with SprintRay to give confidence and the best possible smile to every citizen of this planet.”

Together, Bolt and SprintRay are working with the Jamaica Dental Association to invest in an initiative called “Bolt Labs, powered by SprintRay,” which aims to offer accessibility in digital dentistry to Jamaican residents.

“SprintRay is excited to partner with Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man and widely considered to be the greatest Sprinter of all time, to represent our Company and help us expand access to high-quality, digital dental care on a global scale. This initiative marks a pivotal step, as SprintRay continues to act on our mission to improve dental care quality and delivery times through technological innovation. Using our ecosystem of dental 3D printing products, dental work can now be completed in a fraction of the time and cost, and without multiple offices visits,” stated SprintRay CEO and Co-Founder Amir Mansouri, Ph.D.

Both the Bolt Foundation and the SprintRay Foundation plan to launch the Bolt Labs, powered by the SprintRay initiative, and set up dental clinics, such as a mobile unit and 3D dental labs, to address the dental needs of children as well as adults, and also those people who live in more remote parts of Jamaica.

At SprintRay’s inaugural 3D Next Summit last week in Miami, Florida, Bolt attended alongside doctors and industry leaders, and also participated as a keynote speaker, which I’m sure was an amazing presentation to see.

Erich Kreidler, SprintRay’s President, said, “SprintRay’s biggest value proposition is the benefits of time compression afforded to every stakeholder, and there is no one else on this planet like Usain Bolt to inspire us to amplify the impact of speed and time.”

Its super-fast Brand Ambassador isn’t the only thing SprintRay introduced this month—the startup also launched its new ProCure 2, as the latest piece in what SprintRay calls “the world’s fastest dental 3D printing system.” The ProCure 2 is said to enable, for the first time, a one-hour chairside workflow in dental offices, as it can supposedly post-process most parts in less than five minutes, which is up to 15 times faster than the system that came before it.

SprintRay says that its new ProCure 2 has 25 times the amount of power as its predecessor, and also offers easy-to-use pre-programmed cure profiles as well.

In addition, the startup also launched SprintRay OnX, which it calls the first “fully radiopaque restorative 3D printed resin.” With a high condensed ceramic content and a good combination of translucency and opacity in order to replicate a person’s natural dentition, this new resin is said to be extremely aesthetic and easy to characterize.

This year’s “Additive Manufacturing in Dentistry” report by SmarTech Analysis, which is the longest-running dedicated research study for dental industry professionals, explains how in early 2020, the dental industry suffered a majorly negative impact as government restrictions either discouraged and in some cases prohibited, non-emergency dental care. But the sixth edition of this study shows a quick recovery as restrictions began lifting in mid-2021, and SmarTech shows that dental 3D printing market revenues should return to growth in 2022.

A new partnership has formed between one of Germany’s leading makers of gardening equipment and patio furniture, Siena Garden, and Replique, a division of BASF, based on a project to provide what the companies are whimsically referring to as the “Eternal Spare Part”.

The co-founder and CEO of Replique, Dr. Max Siebert, noted in a press release, “Offering spare parts over a longer period of time is currently hardly possible due to high minimum order quantities, storage costs and one-sided procurement strategies.”

Peter Benthues, CDO of H. Gautzsche Firmengruppe, the parent company of Siena Garden, elaborated that, “Product life cycles are thus shorter than they could be. This not only leads to immense costs, but also contradicts the ethical principle of sustainability that Siena Garden has set.”

The way it works is simple: parts are stored digitally on Replique’s platform, and produced on demand. Anyone placing an order with Siena Garden for the part(s) will automatically have the order manufactured and delivered by one of Replique’s in-network producers. Storing the parts digitally means that even if the particular piece of furniture you order gets discontinued, certain parts that comprise the furniture—especially those most likely to become lost or damaged with normal use—can still be replaced. No more buying an entire replacement chair all because you lost one of the scratch-proof caps, or broke an arm rest because you were “sitting wrong” as my parents used to chastise me for doing.

Stories about the supply chain and 3D printing have been multiplying since the very first days of the pandemic, and as the issues have increased, so too has the focus of leaders in the industry on precisely this advantage of 3D printing . In this respect, the greatest potential for upending the old/current way of doing business involves the steps towards creating networks of local hubs for on-demand production. So while this is a small step by a single company related to just one of its product lines, it’s likely that the model Siena Garden is applying here will be watched and replicated by plenty of other companies, sooner rather than later—especially given the involvement of BASF, by way of Replique. It starts with things like replacement parts, but you can easily imagine this spreading to the design model for patio furniture in general, not to mention other, more explicitly “essential” manufactures like cars. I see no reason why, if IKEA, for instance, insists on continuing to exist, it can’t at least eventually make all of its products on-demand, entirely using the eternal spare parts.

(Images courtesy of Incus Media)