SPEE3D’s Takes Cold Spray 3D Printing to New Jersey Innovation Institute

SPEE3D, the Australian original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of cold spray additive manufacturing (AM) systems, has sold a WarpSPEE3D printer to the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), part of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark. The metal 3D printer is installed at NJII’s Advanced Manufacturing Center, and will be used for the institute’s Collaborative Operationalized Manufacturing Engineering Training (COMET) Initiative.

The COMET initiative trains undergraduates to use advanced manufacturing equipment through a 10-week intensive workforce development program, held in collaboration with public and private partners including the Department of Defense (DoD). In particular, COMET interns evaluate hardware used in “Point of Need Manufacturing and Contested Logistics,” two specialties for SPEE3D.

In a press release about NJII’s acquisition of a WarpSPEE3D printer from SPEE3D, Sam Gatley, Director of Operations at NJII Comet Initiative, said, “NJII’s Advanced Manufacturing facility was established to build a strong manufacturing workforce by providing hands-on experience with the latest equipment — including [AM] technologies. We are evaluating the newest equipment for its potential capabilities in ideal settings such as NJII and remote locations where the military has pressing demands. The addition of the WarpSPEE3D printer will help accelerate these goals.”

The CEO of SPEE3D, Byron Kennedy, said, “SPEE3D has been fortunate to partner with some of the leading academic institutions worldwide, and we’re excited to partner with the New Jersey Innovation Institute and their COMET Initiative to bring our [CSAM] technology to both students and the local military. The partnership will allow them to bolster their manufacturing needs with the ability to print large-scale parts quickly that would otherwise not be available.”

Referring to Kennedy’s quote above, in the last year, in addition to NJII, SPEE3D has sold printers to the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and the Naval Postgraduate School, among other customers. This is especially significant given that these programs aren’t “just” educational but rather all surround career development programs.

This means that a growing percentage of the future AM workforce are training on SPEE3D machines, suggesting that the company’s success last year was just the beginning. This is especially significant insofar as SPEE3D is positioned in precisely the area of the market that looks like it will see the most growth over the next decade.

Additionally, CSAM’s focus on maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO), specifically, means that SPEE3D’s ecosystem can also deliver the sorts of parts likely to be in the highest demand for the foreseeable future. There are likely many other companies out there that are/will be trying to emulate the business model that SPEE3D has cultivated.