News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Over one hundred years ago, the Ford Motor Company reinvented manufacturing with the introduction of the assembly line. Today, the company has continued to show its propensity for innovation, exploring and utilizing new technologies to reinvigorate vehicle production.
Nanoscribe, a German company specializing in micrometer 3D printing, has introduced the successor model Photonic Professional GT2, a microfabrication 3D printer capable of larger print volumes.
CECIMO, the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries, has announced the establishment of a new additive manufacturing committee. The newly formed committee, which will be chaired by Stewart Lane, the corporate manager at Renishaw, will become the primary platform for discussing the challenges and opportunities for AM in relation to EU policy.
AMFG, a UK-based specialist in automation software for additive manufacturing, has announced a partnership with LEO Lane, a provider of security and IP protection solutions for the AM industry. Through their agreement, the companies will integrate their respective software solutions to offer a more secure, end-to-end workflow management platform for additive manufacturing.
As one might expect, creating a virtual 3D world is a laborious process that requires not only time and effort but also a high level of skill. Look at any video game, and the graphics will have required thousands and thousands of hours of work on the part of developers specialized in 3D rendering, lighting, textures and more.
Rapid Application Group (RAG), an Oklahoma-based additive manufacturing company, has significantly increased its production capacity with the installation of a 3D Systems’ Figure 4 Standalone 3D printer. The recently added polymer AM platform will enable RAG to improve its services and turnaround times for clients in the aerospace, defense, healthcare, motor sports and oil and gas sectors.
One of the biggest players in industrial additive manufacturing, GE Additive was certainly a big draw for Formnext 2018 attendees. Though the company did not unveil a brand new technology as others did, it did show off the new M LINE Factory systems and made headlines for a range of announcements, including a partnership with Autodesk and innovative applications for its AM technology.
3D printing company Carbon is welcoming Dara Treseder onto its team as its first Chief Marketing Officer. Treseder joins Carbon after having served as Chief Marketing Officer at GE Ventures and GE Business Innovations. She will bring her expertise in marketing to Carbon to help it realize its goals of transforming the manufacturing industry with additive.
Dutch designer and technologist Rein van der Mast has been disrupting how fountain pens are made. Instead of relying on proven technology, in 2013 he was the first to 3D print a titanium fountain pen, followed, in 2016, by the nibs. Some amazing models followed: the very unique Spica Virginis (also available in solid gold) and, progressively more widely available models, such as the Type One. The latest addition to van der Mast’s collection is Meteor, an exclusive multi-metal fountain pen in which arts and crafts of the past go hand in hand with manufacturing technologies of the future.
If anyone has any objections to 3D printing a wedding, speak now or forever hold your peace.