3D Printing News Briefs, February 2, 2023: Expansions & Construction & More

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re getting business out of the way first, as Xometry Europe announced an expansion and 3DPRINTUK is increasing its MJF capacity. Holo added an AM industry executive to its Board of Directors, while MELD announced the President and CEO of its PrintWorks spinoff company, and CEMEX Ventures released its list of the top 50 most promising ConTech startups. Speaking of construction, students at The Ohio State University will have the chance to develop their 3D concrete printing skills with the addition of a BOD2 3D printer.

Xometry Europe Expands into the UK

Global marketplace Xometry Inc. connects enterprise buyers with suppliers of manufacturing services, and its European division announced the expansion of its footprint in Europe, with the launch of a localized marketplace for its UK customers. The UK marketplace offers manufacturing capabilities for high-volume batches and prototyping with 15 technologies, including 3D printing, CNC machining, and injection molding, in addition to 120 materials and multiple finishing options. Xometry UK will also offer certifications and quality control reports for end parts to customers. With this new launch, Xometry Europe now has localized marketplaces in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, and Polish, all of which are powered by Xometry’s proprietary, AI-driven Instant Quoting Engine. This enables regional customers to get quotes and purchase parts directly in their local currency.

“Our continued expansion across Europe reflects our commitment to becoming the global marketplace for the large and growing industrial market. Our localised marketplaces help entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses as well as large enterprise organisations connect with manufacturers to create locally resilient supply chains so that they can bring goods to market faster and operate with higher efficiency. We are proud of our track record in Europe, where we now have nine localised marketplaces,” said Dmitry Kafidov, the Managing Director of Xometry Europe.

3DPRINTUK Increases MJF and SLS 3D Printer Capacity

Polymer powder bed fusion (PBF) service provider 3DPRINTUK, specialists in low volume production, announced that it’s continuing the pattern of year-on-year growth and expansion—according to a planned internal investment strategy—by adding new machines to its 3D printing portfolio. Continuing its growth trajectory into 2023, 3DPRINTUK is managing its clients’ lead times by adding a third HP MultiJet Fusion printer, which increases its current MJF capacity by 50%. Additionally, the company, which first began its AM service in 2011 with a single EOS printer, also brought the total amount of EOS selective laser sintering (SLS) printers at its London facility to 13 with the purchase of an additional EOS Formiga machine.

“It really is so gratifying that 3DPRINTUK continues to grow organically year on year. We have huge expansion plans for 2023 – these new machines are just the beginning, and are a testament to the dedication of the entire 3DPRINTUK team and the commitment of our customers with existing and new applications,” said 3DPRINT UK Managing Director Nick Allen. “There is much more to come in the near future, including new technologies, new finishes and new materials — so watch this space!”

Holo Welcomes Markforged Co-Founder to Board of Directors

David Benhaim joins the Holo Inc. Board of Directors. (Image Source: Holo)

Metal AM company Holo has expanded its Board of Directors with the addition of successful AM entrepreneur David Benhaim, the Co-Founder of Markforged (NYSE: MKFG). As a focused, vertical supplier, Holo 3D prints very precise metal parts in prototype to production volumes using its repeatable and scalable PureForm AM technology, which can produce parts with MIM-like surface finish and features smaller than 50 microns. This addition to its Board of Directors shows that Holo is invested in future growth, and the choice of Benhaim, who has high-profile leadership experience in the industry, seems a smart one. Benhaim has a background in software, and co-founded composite and metal AM company Markforged in 2013, which went public in 2021. He also advises early-stage deep tech companies that use AI, connected hardware, and cloud-based software to disrupt fields like accessible robotics and life sciences, and seems to understand Holo’s value proposition.

“We’re very excited to have David join our board as we enter this growth phase for Holo. He is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in this industry and he’s been through this before,” said Hal Zarem, the CEO of Holo.

“It speaks highly of the technology and business that we have built that David has chosen to join Holo. We’re looking forward to adding his experienced perspective and industry knowledge as we enter our next stage.”

MELD PrintWorks Spin-Off Announces President and CEO

Early last month, MELD Manufacturing Corporation announced that it had spun off its metal 3D printing service bureau into MELD PrintWorks Corporation. Now it has appointed experience manufacturing leader Robb Hudson as the CEO and President of PrintWorks. Having spent most of his career in the machine tool and manufacturing industries learning both conventional and non-conventional machining processes, Hudson was primarily focused on the aerospace and turbine industries, and previously held executive positions within several companies, including CEO of Aerodyn Engineering, CEO of Mitsui Seiki USA, and Vice President of Winbro Group Technologies. MELD’s solid state metal manufacturing process can 3D print large-scale metal parts in a variety of materials, and the technology has been chosen by the US Navy and US Army for 3D printing repairs and military vehicles, respectively. In his new role, Hudson will lead the PrintWorks team to ensure that clients receive excellent metal 3D printed parts, and meet the needs of customers who have a hard time getting castings, forgings, and other metal parts because of supply chain issues and time constraints.

“The opportunity to stand at the intersection of MELD’s transformative technology and the current supply chain shortage in castings and forgings is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Hudson said. “I am thrilled to have been chosen to lead this amazing team of professionals and offer the MELD process as a service to industries struggling to meet their raw material needs.”

CEMEX Ventures Releases List of Top 50 ConTech Startups of 2023

The corporate VC and open innovation unit of global building materials leader CEMEX, CEMEX Ventures, recently launched its fourth annual Top 50 list of the most promising construction technology, or ConTech, startups of 2023. ConTech is a promising investment sector this year, having reached $5.38 billion in 2022 despite a worldwide decline in VC funding, and almost 230 deals were closed last year, which means the current startup ecosystem is, as CEMEX Ventures puts it, “ripe for disruption.” As such, the company also released a comprehensive industry report that reviews key investment figures and trends from 2022 and forecasts future VC activities in addition to the list.

The startups in the Top 50 list are from all over the world, but what unites them are the solutions they offer with a unified objective: revolutionizing the construction industry. In terms of CEMEX Ventures’ four strategic focus areas, 13 of the startups are in Green Construction, while 13 are in the area of Enhanced Productivity. 12 of the startups are with Construction Supply Chain, and the final 12 are with Future of Construction. None of the startups are specifically 3D printing-focused that I’m aware of, but it’s certainly an adjacent technology to what some of them offer; for instance, Civils.ai is an SaaS solution that uses data and AI to make construction projects easier to design, and Conox, LLC developed processes to use waste concrete as a raw material for production of glass products.

Ohio State Students Working with 3D Construction Printing at CDME

COBOD 3D construction printer has been delivered to The Ohio State University

Students at The Ohio State University will get to work on skills development with 3D construction printing, and hopefully help overcome the housing crisis, at the university’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), which is one of the country’s largest additive research groups. Youngstown-based Pantheon 3D collaborates with the CDME in a multidisciplinary research cooperation to help improve Ohio’s portfolio of affordable housing, and received a BOD2 3D construction printer from COBOD International, which CDME students and future professionals can use for testing, experiments, print demonstrations, curriculum development, and more. The center works with researchers and companies to bring new technologies into real, market-ready manufactured products, and its initiatives also give students practical, hands-on experience in integrating new technologies, as well as the chance to interact with professionals outside of their own technical specialities.

“We are extremely excited for the opportunity to work with two amazing organizations like CDME and COBOD. The impact they both continue to on the additive manufacturing industry worldwide is amazing,” said Ryan Kelly, a CEO of Pantheon 3D. “This partnership will help us create a model to reimagine, retrain and recruit the future construction workforce. We believe that is essential to Ohio’s growing housing portfolio and, also further establishing Ohio as the home of innovation in the United States.”