3D Printing News Briefs, February 5, 2026: Advisory Board, Virtual Twins, & More

We’re starting with business in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, including a new website launched by Metamorphic AM. Massivit appointed two senior leaders to its advisory board, and Dassault Systèmes and NVIDIA announced a partnership for AI and virtual twins. Finally, Sheffield Forgemasters launched a hybrid 3D printing and milling machine.

Metamorphic AM Launches New Website to Highlight DfAM

UK-based design and engineering consultancy Metamorphic AM, which specializes in advanced Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), recently launched a new website. Since it was founded, Metamorphic AM has led over £8 million in R&D projects, delivering complex, high-value engineering programs to sectors like fusion energy, medical devices, advanced communications, and wearables. The consultancy is continuing this work, using its new website to showcase how accessible its DfAM expertise is now. The website articulates Metamorphic AM’s philosophy—AM succeeds through automation, but also intelligent, intent-driven design. Co-founder Laurence Coles says the new website is “about clarity,” because there is currently “a lot of noise in DfAM.” At the center of this new site is the consultancy’s expanded Rapid Geometry Review service, meant to introduce senior-level DfAM insight earlier in the development process.

“Historically, we’ve been brought in when problems were already very complex. What we’re doing now is opening the door earlier, helping teams avoid dead ends before they’ve invested time and money in the wrong geometry. It’s about smarter decisions, sooner,” explained Manolis Papastavrou, the other co-founder of Metamorphic AM.

Massivit Appoints Two Senior Figures to Advisory Board

Large-format AM leader Massivit 3D Printing Technologies is undergoing a strategic refocus on the aviation, aerospace, and defense industries. The company’s Cast In Motion (CIM) technology enables rapid printing of large molds and tooling for composite parts, which is a key component in developing defense systems, aircraft, and protective solutions. Massivit is working to build a new, very professional management structure, starting with the appointment of former Stratasys COO Yossi Azarzar as CEO last year, and also establishing Service Bureaus that provide an end-to-end solution without requiring CapEx from the customer. Additionally, to help drive its refocus, the company has appointed Daniel Birnbaum and Brigadier General (Reserve) Gabriel Shachor to its advisory board. Birnbaum is the former CEO of SodaStream, where he worked with Azarzar to lead its successful turnaround, resulting in its acquisition by PepsiCo for $3.2 billion. Shachor, a former fighter pilot and commander of Palmachim Airbase, has plenty of expertise with procurement, integration, implementation, and entrepreneurial processes, and successfully founded and sold drone company Sky Sapience.

“The appointments of Daniel Birnbaum and Gabriel Shachor are an important pillar in building our management backbone and executing the company’s new business strategy,” said Azarzar. “We are assembling a team with proven experience and deep expertise that will enable us to pave the way into new markets and deliver breakthrough solutions tailored to the needs of the local and global defense industries.”

Dassault Systèmes and NVIDIA Announce Partnership at 3DEXPERIENCE World

This week at 3DEXPERIENCE World in Texas, Dassault Systèmes and NVIDIA announced a long-term strategic partnership to build a shared industrial AI platform, combining NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure, accelerated software libraries, and open models with Dassault’s Virtual Twin technologies. As part of its sovereign cloud strategy, Dassault’s OUTSCALE brand is deploying AI factories, which will harness NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure on three different continents; this will enable more capabilities to operate AI models in 3DEXPERIENCE, while at the same time guaranteeing IP protection, data privacy, and sovereignty of Dassault customers. At the same time, NVIDIA will adopt Dassault’s model-based systems engineering (MBSE) to design its own AI factories. This AI infrastructure will use NVIDIA open models and libraries to power Dassault’s industrial Virtual Twins, opening up new ways of working with virtual companions on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to build up the largest industries in the world, like packaging, automotive, and aviation. This partnership takes the existing collaboration between Dassault and NVIDIA and expands it, resulting in a shared long-term vision for how to build, validate, and deploy industrial AI at scale.

“We are entering an era where artificial intelligence does not just predict or generate, but understands the real world. When AI is grounded in science, physics and validated industrial knowledge, it becomes a force multiplier for human ingenuity. Together with NVIDIA, we are building industry World Models that unite Virtual Twins and accelerated computing to help industry design, simulate and operate complex systems in biology, materials science, engineering and manufacturing with confidence,” said Pascal Daloz, CEO of Dassault Systèmes. “This partnership establishes a new foundation for industrial AI, one that is trustworthy by design and capable of scaling innovation across the generative economy.”

Sheffield Forgemasters Launches Hybrid 3D Printing and Milling System

UK-based engineering specialist Sheffield Forgemasters recently launched a large-scale hybrid 3D printing and milling system that’s meant to improve the efficiency, flexibility, and speed of its casting production. At the center is a CEAD Flexbot printer in a 14m x 8m x 5m enclosure, using robotic arms to integrate subtractive milling with 3D printing. The system operates across one fixed table and one rotating table, and can print up to 60 kg of fiber-reinforced polymer materials an hour. It’s used to produce a range of complex patterns, which are the solid forms that create molds for molten steel in the casting process. The Flexbot was supplied via CEAD’s UK distributor and maintenance partner CNC Robotics, and should deliver operational and workforce benefits, including reducing costs, lead times, and materials, improving consistency and performance, and help modernize pattern-making skills within the business.

“The launch of our CEAD Flexbot system will bring significant benefits to the manufacture of patterns at Sheffield Forgemasters,” said Michael Howson, senior development engineer for advanced manufacturing capability at Sheffield Forgemasters.

“This system provides our patternmakers with an additional tool that, through autonomous operation, will allow staff to work on complementary activities during shifts and enable production to continue outside standard working hours, improving overall efficiency and capacity. The new facility will reduce costs, shorten lead times for pattern production, and in turn improve delivery times for castings.”