News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
EOS has acquired Vulcan Labs to further expand its bench of additive manufacturing experts in powder bed fusion technology. The new Vulcan Labs team members bring decades of industry experience into both EOS’ technical center in Pflugerville, Texas, and its ALM materials research and production facility in Temple, Texas, further strengthening its ability to ensure customer success in industrial 3D printing.
GoEngineer acquired Advanced RP, Inc.’s Stratasys 3D Printing Sales and Support business. The operation was finalized on January 1st, 2019. GoEngineer is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, where it maintains a branch office and call center providing expanded hours of toll-free, centralized technical support and customer service to all customers.
UrbanAlps AG and its Stealth Key startup closed a CHF 2.5M (Swiss Francs), equivalent to $2.5 M, series A financing round to finally move into full-scale production for its high-security 3D printed key and lock system. The financing round allowed the 3D metal printing start-up to overcome the death-valley between prototyping and serial production. With high-security products shipped to 4 continents, thousands of Stealth Keys 3D metal printed and close to a hundred customers, the Stealth Key targets its expansion to the German security market.
G.W.Consultancy is ready to strengthen its presence in Europe. The Germany-based consultancy specializes in carbon composite production, additive manufacturing, Kaizen, and offers extended consultancy services to support research and development of customer projects as well as benchmarking with Somos PerFORM Reflect and Somos Next with an in-house Viper Si². Now, G.W. Consultancy has established a partnership with UK-based AT 3D-SQUARED.
When David Bowie asked “is there life on Mars?” in 1971 you can bet he wasn’t thinking of humans. As it happens, we could very well be bringing life to Mars in the near future thanks to efforts being undertaken by NASA and 3D printing companies. One of those companies, NY-based AI SpaceFactory, is hoping it will be the one to provide homes for when humans do eventually step foot onto the Red Planet.
In the realm of construction 3D printing, bigger always seems to be better, as companies scale up their concrete 3D printing systems to build houses on the spot. Andrey Rudenko, the inventor of the 3D Concrete House 3D printer, however, is showing that there is value in scaling the technology down.
Airbus and Dassault Systèmes have signed a five-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to cooperate on the implementation of collaborative 3D design, engineering, manufacturing, simulation and intelligence applications. This will enable Airbus to take a major step forward in its digital transformation and lay the foundation for a new European industrial ecosystem in aviation.
Thermwood has produced what could very well be the largest 3D printed autoclave tool for a helicopter ever made. The project, realized through a partnership with aircraft manufacturer Bell, utilized Thermwood’s LSAM 60 mm melt core technology and reinforces AM’s applications in mold production.
Milan has become something of a 3D printing design hub in recent years, largely thanks to the occurrence of prestigious events such as the Salone del Mobile, a furniture expo held every Spring in Italy’s capital of fashion and design. Last year, for instance, the Salone del Mobile’s showstopper was a 3D printed house located in Milan’s central square, Piazza Cesare Beccaria—which 3DPBM founder Davide Sher had the chance to see firsthand.
Italian 3D printer manufacturer Roboze is undeniably on the rise. In December, the company reported the securing of a €3M investment and its expectations to see growth of up to 500% in 2019. Today, the company is signalling its commitment to this growth by announcing its entry into the Japanese 3D printing market through a collaboration with K.K. IRISU, a Tokyo-based industrial equipment supplier.