News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
German auto manufacturer BMW recently launched a fashion collection through its BMW i sub-brand, which is focused primarily on developing innovative vehicles using sustainable materials. The new BMW i Collection, consisting of shirts, jackets, bags and other accessories, brings this principle beyond just car making and into fashion.
French 3D printing service Sculpteo has announced it is now operating the largest HP production center in France since the recent acquisition of a new HP Multi Jet Fusion unit. The new addition is the third Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer to be installed at Sculpteo’s French factory.
To fully reap the benefits of additive manufacturing technologies for part production, it is often necessary to go back to the drawing board to reengineer the part in question and optimize its structure for AM. Fortunately, with state-of-the-art software programs such as ParaMatters’ CogniCAD, redesigning a part for AM doesn’t necessarily entail going back to the literal drawing board.
Within the automotive industry, there are countless ways that 3D printing has been adopted, from 3D printed metal replacement parts, to full-colour prototypes, to custom detailing. Recently, Corona, California-based Design Infini highlighted another automotive application for additive manufacturing: wheel design.
Aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin reported that it has doubled its venture capital fund to $200 million. The sizeable increase in funding will be used by the company to invest in startups and early-stage companies pursuing innovation in autonomy, advanced manufacturing, sensor technologies, artificial intelligence and cyber.
Dutch designer Matthijs Kok is no stranger to 3D printing. With experience working as a product designer and 3D modeler for 3D Systems and as the creative director at innovative design agency Freshfiber (a position he still holds), the young designer knows better than most how additive manufacturing can revolutionize design.
Dubai-based AM company Immensa Technology Labs has become the first UAE company to submit a patent related to additive manufacturing. Founded in 2016, the company was also the UAE’s first privately owned company to specialize in AM technologies.
German auto manufacturer Audi has announced that its Pre-Series Center and Plastics 3D Printing Center in Ingolstadt, Germany have adopted Stratasys’ J750 full-colour, multi-material 3D printer for producing faithful prototypes and accelerating the design verification process.
John Briscella is a former Autodesk Pier 9 resident designer (like Anouk Wipprecht and other 3D printing celebs) who has been experimenting with some advanced generative design capabilities for a growing range of consumer products. He has since launched Aminimal, his and his design partner’s Lana Blum’s online shop for parametrically designed 3D printed jewelry, and his own design studio for generatively designed 3D printed furniture. This generatively designed shoe, built using nTopology software, is one of John Briscella’s latest concepts and shows the direction that his design style is taking for a growing range of consumer products.
ParaMatters, one of the newest players in design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) software, might also be one of the most exciting. Founded by Michael Bogomolny, the two-year-old company promises to revolutionize design-to-manufacturing processes with its advanced design and topology optimization software.