#12 A sweet drop in the ocean of needs

Hey, it’s been a really good week in the AM industry! Of course, if we dig a bit, we could find some negatives, but truly good news has dominated the headlines of the top AM industry portals. It’s been a while since that happened…

英伟达 , one of the largest tech companies in the world, announced a close collaboration with nTop (formerly nTopology) and plans to integrate nTop’s software with Nvidia technologies like the Omniverse platform and the OptiX rendering tool. Additionally, Nvidia's venture capital arm, Nventures, decided to invest several million dollars in nTop to show everyone they are taking this partnership seriously.

Canadian Mosaic Manufacturing announced the completion of a CAD 28 million financing round led by Idealist Capital. These funds will be used to accelerate global expansion and operational growth, as well as to increase adoption of the company’s automated production platforms, such as the Array system.

Velo3D , which has been struggling to stay afloat, unexpectedly received a helping hand from its key customer – SpaceX. Elon Musk’s company purchased a license for Velo3D’s 3D printing technology as well as a service option, totaling $8 million. Although this transaction may seem a bit controversial in the grand scheme of things, the fact is that it gave Velo3D some much-needed breathing room.

On the medical front, companies utilizing additive manufacturing for specialized applications have announced major milestones. Belgian Amnovis (the spiritual successor to LayerWise) has produced and delivered 50,000 titanium implants, while Keystone, in collaboration with Carbon , has 3D printed 1 million dental applications from light-curable resins.

This shows that 3D printing is truly being used for large-scale production, finding applications where traditional manufacturing methods fall short – whether in terms of cost, production time, or the complexity of part creation.

But this is just a small part of what’s happening. I can’t go into detail yet, but truly extraordinary things are unfolding in large-format 3D printing with plastics. I’m, of course, talking about LFAM – large-format additive manufacturing using pellets. This could literally be a “big thing” in the near future, as every week I hear how this technology is solving significant problems for the manufacturing industry.

When we move from 20-30 cm on the axes to 1-2 meters while maintaining reasonable production times, it turns out that low surface quality stops being such a big issue (since the rough, imprecise surfaces can be milled to a perfectly finished net dimension).

I truly say to you – large-format 3D printing with polymer pellets will be the dominant trend in AM over the next few years.

And I could wrap up my intro here if it weren’t for one thing... the so-called “fly in the ointment.”

Everything I’ve written about is great, but it’s only a small fraction of what’s happening in China.

We celebrate our successes in building gliders, while in China they’re building a fleet of intercontinental jet planes.

A few days ago, Matt Karesh posted on LinkedIn:

As a fun fact, I’ll tell you that some time ago, I started looking at the headquarters of top companies in the Western AM industry, comparing them to companies operating in traditional business sectors.

You know, my problem is that before I entered the 3D printing industry 12 years ago, I worked for 10 years in "normal" industries, collaborating with some of the biggest companies in the world (if you're curious, you can read about it on my LinkedIn profile). So, I have a comparison scale. I don’t look at AM in a tunnel-visioned way. I see it from a broad perspective.

For example, in 2005-2006, I worked in a large sheet-fed printing house in central Poland. It wasn’t by any means the biggest in the country, just large. About 200 people worked there. The company’s headquarters and production spaces were about twice the size of what Desktop Metal – a company recently worth a few billion dollars – has. I think my former company, which none of you have heard of, had a comparable facility to the headquarters of 3D Systems or EOS.

Why am I writing about all this? Because the headquarters of BLT, which Matt Karesh showed, is “typical” for industrial companies, while the headquarters of the largest Western AM companies are just small.

They are like this because there’s no need for them to be bigger. In this business, a medium-sized industrial building is enough to be a world-leading company.

Honestly, you’d be really surprised if you saw the “factories” of the biggest filament manufacturers in Europe…

Currently, China is surpassing us – the Western world. I’m not sure if we have a chance to catch up with them. Something bad would have to happen to speed that up.

At the moment, all these successes I’ve described above are nice, but they’re just a drop in the ocean of real needs.

It’s still not enough... We need much, much more...

So much for the introduction. And now, without further ado...

I'm afraid I don't have anything interesting to add from my side this week...

I'm working on a few larger projects, but it'll be a while before I can share them. However, once I do, I'm sure many of you will be pleasantly (and very) surprised. But for now—lots of work in progress...

That's all from me – for now, I invite you to read:

• 2 articles on Substack
• TOP 7 news of the week
• TOP 7 historic events in the 3D print world.

#7. 3D Lab secures patents for Metal Powder Atomization in the USA and China

3D Lab – AM & ATOmization – one of the oldest companies operating in the Polish AM industry – has been developing proprietary metal powder atomization machines under the ATO Lab brand for several years. Last week, 3D Lab announced two major achievements in this area. The company successfully obtained patent protection for selected areas of its technology in the USA and China.

The ATO Lab ultrasonic metal atomizer is designed for lab-scale production of metal powders used in additive manufacturing, as well as in other fields of industrial production such as powder metallurgy, thermal spray coatings, hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and metal injection molding (MIM). Ideal for research and production environments, it enables efficient and cost-effective production of reactive and non-reactive metal powders. Typically, powder atomization systems are large industrial installations, but in the case of ATO Lab, their size is significantly smaller, resembling a small metal 3D printer in terms of dimensions.

Two weeks ago, 3D Lab announced the granting of a Chinese Patent for the innovative technology incorporated into its ATO atomizers, titled "A method for evacuation of powder produced by ultrasonic atomization and a device for implementing this method." Now, the company has added a U.S. patent to the list: "Method and device for producing heavy metal powders by ultrasonic atomization."

#6. Stratasys authorised $50 million share repurchase program

Stratasys announced share repurchase program, which allows the company to buy back up to $50 million worth of its own shares. This move is often used by companies to increase the value of remaining shares by reducing the overall number in circulation. It can make the shares more attractive to investors and indicate that the company believes its stock is undervalued.

Company will buy back shares to return cash to shareholders and make the remaining shares more valuable by reducing supply. This is intended to increase shareholder value and boost investor confidence.

Stratasys is planning to buy back shares in various ways, including market purchases or negotiated deals, using cash from their balance sheet or ongoing cash flow generation. They aim to fund the buybacks through cost-saving measures.

In short, Stratasys is not committing to buying 50 million shares directly. Instead, they are authorizing a buyback program worth up to $50 million in total, depending on various conditions such as their cash position, market trends, and financial results. The repurchase plan gives them flexibility in how and when they buy back shares.

#5. SpaceX signs $8 million licensing and service agreement with Velo3D

Financially struggling Velo3D has signed an agreement with its biggest – or at least most important client, SpaceX. Elon Musk's company will pay Velo3D $5 million to license its innovative metal 3D printing technology, and the two companies will collaborate further in the field of metal additive manufacturing.

The agreement allows SpaceX to license and integrate Velo3D’s proprietary technology for internal use, while providing Velo3D with financial compensation and a degree of control over the usage of its intellectual property.

As reported by Davide Sher from VoxelMatters :

The heart of the agreement revolves around Velo3D’s granting of a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to SpaceX. Specifically, SpaceX can make, reproduce, and modify Velo3D’s technology for use in its operations. The company can create derivative works based on Velo3D’s technology and distribute the technology internally within its organization. Importantly, SpaceX’s use of the licensed technology is restricted to its own internal operations related to rocket and spacecraft manufacturing, ensuring that Velo3D maintains control over the external distribution of its technology.

This is a very strange and confusing deal. It seems that Velo3D, cornered by the threat of bankruptcy, handed over its crown jewels to its main client for a relatively small amount. Everyone was expecting that SpaceX (or another Musk company) would simply acquire Velo3D, but instead, they got all the most important assets for a fraction of the cost...

The $8 million raised doesn't solve any of Velo3D’s problems, but it allows the company to survive for now. The situation is still unfolding.

#4. Amnovis announced delivery of 50,000 3D printed titanium implants

Amnovis - a Belgian company specializing in the production of titanium implants, has announced the delivery of over 50,000 3D-printed implants.

The company has been producing and delivering these implants since 2021, utilizing an innovative titanium 3D printing process that does not require heat treatment. Amnovis supplies implants to sectors such as orthopedics, spine, and cranio-maxillofacial (CMF) surgery.

The company also offers traditional titanium 3D printing services, such as Ti-6Al-4V grade 23 processing with Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), providing clients with flexibility in choosing their preferred production method.

The co-founder and CEO of the company, Ruben Wauthle , worked for the renowned Belgian company LayerWise from 2010 to 2015 – a pioneer in 3D metal printing for implants, which was acquired by 3D Systems. He later held positions at 3D Systems, including Director of Business Development, Healthcare, before founding Amnovis in mid-2020.

#3. Carbon and Keystone mark 1 million 3D printed dental parts

Carbon and Keystone Industries have announced that they have already 3D printed one million dental parts using Carbon's 3D printers and Keystone's materials!

This success is the result of a collaboration combining Carbon's innovative Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology with Keystone's materials, which were specifically developed for producing personalized dental products.

Keystone provides several materials that work perfectly with Carbon’s technology. For instance, KeySplint Soft Clear is used to produce flexible night guards, but they also offer other solutions like KeyGuide for surgical guides or KeyDenture Try-In for temporary dentures. Together, they’ve already printed one million parts, which took over 314,000 hours of work and used 11,200 liters of Keystone materials.

#2. Nvidia made a significant investment in nTop

nTop (formerly nTopology) is the developer of specialized software for designing complex parts with intricate internal geometries, primarily aimed at additive manufacturing (though not limited to this technology). While quite well-known in the 3D market, its offerings are highly specialized and refined. However, this doesn't pose a problem for Nvidia, which sees great potential in nTop and has decided to express this with a multimillion-dollar investment.

NVentures, Nvidia's venture capital arm, has decided to invest several million dollars in nTop to deepen their collaboration and support the development of software that already leverages the computational power of Nvidia's graphics processors (GPUs). The main goal of this collaboration is to integrate nTop's software with Nvidia technologies, such as the Omniverse platform and the OptiX rendering tool.

Omniverse is a platform that enables the development of applications for various industries, from game creation to real-world environment simulations. Through integration with nTop, engineers will gain the ability to visualize their designs in a realistic manner and interact with them in real-time. One of the first outcomes of this collaboration is the introduction of adaptive rendering, which enables fast rendering of complex geometries and designs.

nTop also collaborates with other software developers, such as Autodesk and Materialise. However, Nvidia’s investment and further integration of nTop’s technology with its tools aim to accelerate and simplify engineering design processes while enhancing simulation realism and production capabilities.

#1. Mosaic secures funding, proving that success is possible even in such a tough times!

Mosaic Manufacturing has just announced the completion of a CAD 28 million financing round led by Idealist Capital. These funds will be used to accelerate global expansion and operational growth, as well as to increase the adoption of the company's automated production platforms, such as the Array system.

The Array is an additive FFF production system that integrates 3D printing automation, software, and patented hardware solutions. It consists of several integrated 3D printers, filament banks with different colors and properties that are automatically loaded into the machines, and a system for unloading build plates with finished prints and storing them.

With this technology, companies can produce custom plastic parts on-site, which leads to cost savings and new business opportunities. The system has already attracted attention from companies in logistics, fashion, defense, education, and contract manufacturing.

Aside from the innovation and capabilities of the Array, Mosaic deserves praise for securing such impressive funding in these challenging circumstances for the AM industry.

Summary of the most important events in the history of the 3D printing industry published last week:

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