POLYMER POWDERS
PHOTOPOLYMER RESINS
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As the VP and Global Head of Polymers at HP’s Personalization and 3D Printing Business, I lead the polymer teams and portfolio development.
Having studied chemical engineering and Polymer engineering, I have over 20 years of experience in the polymer industry. I am the father of two children. I have worked in Spain, the UK, France, and Germany and am now back in Spain.
I spent over 20 years in business development for specialty chemicals, plastics, and additive manufacturing. Before my current role at HP, I spent 10 years as the CEO of VELOX, a Hamburg-based European distribution company for specialty plastics and chemicals. While working there, one of our suppliers, who manufactures polymer powders for coatings and composites applications, asked if we could develop a 3D printing business for them. This experience was unsuccessful, but it allowed me to understand the 3D printing market dynamics.
Shortly after, a business partner explained that he had developed knowledge in manufacturing powders for powder bed fusion technology. That’s when we decided to create the company Advanc3D Materials in 2014. Arkema gave us the distribution rights of 3D printing powder, allowing us to start selling immediately. It was not an easy ride, but certainly a great experience. This company was acquired by BASF in 2018, and I spent 3 years working there, as CEO of BASF Forward AM, acquiring a wealth of experience and knowledge of the industry before transferring to HP. So, all together I can say that I have spent 10 years in the 3D printing industry.
The industry could grow 10 fold if every design engineer used all the potential offered by 3D printing.
If you compare it to traditional manufacturing, 3D printing is still a small industry, representing less than 1% of it. As I see it, at this moment two main brakes slow the growth: 1) the DfAM (Design for Additive Manufacturing) know-how and 2) the cost per part (TCO – total cost of ownership).
The biggest block we see today is a need for more knowledge of DfAM. Still, most engineering departments only design with some of AM’s possibilities in mind. At current TCO, the industry could grow 10 fold if every design engineer used all the potential offered by 3D printing (parts consolidation, lightweight, material usage reduction, …).
Concerning TCO, a study we did with AM Power shows that a decrease in TCO by an average of 50% could drive a 10-fold growth of the Total Addressable Market. This does seem to be achievable, as scale will also drive costs down.
I am optimistic, I think we will see progress on both sides. The 3D printing industry is at an inflection point. Advancements in 3D hardware, firmware, and software—bolstered by integrating advanced data analytics, KPI monitoring, AI, and automation—are making cutting-edge 3D printing technology scalable and attainable for even more manufacturers across industries. For example, applications like lumalabs.ai convert text to 3D models in seconds. The engineering version of these concepts will come soon and accelerate AM adoption.
On TCO, we see machines with higher yields, higher productivity, and more desirable features. The industry is making big progress yearly, and I see this trend continuing.
Take the new HP Jet Fusion 5600 Series, announced in November 2023, as an example. Designed specifically to speed up the manufacturing process from application development to serial production, the 5600 offers greater repeatability, reliability, and customization to help reduce development and validation costs across an entire fleet.
These benefits represent a significant industry improvement. Together, they shorten the time to market for applications and open a world of possibilities for business beyond existing industry verticals.
In particular, industries specializing in mass-personalized goods stand to gain significant value from this enhanced level of repeatability and reliability. Whether it’s patient-specific devices like prosthetics and orthotics or everyday consumer products like running shoes and sports equipment, tailoring the experience to the individual customer is becoming standard practice for elevating performance, treatment, and loyalty.
We work in 4 main axes:
The most exciting 3D printing applications enable users to live, work, and perform better thanks to uniquely personalized and customized solutions. For example, we are seeing more customers in the healthcare industry leverage 3D printing solutions to develop hyper-patient-specific parts such as prosthetics and orthotics, completely transforming treatment, care, and patient outcomes, ultimately allowing people to live more comfortably and have active lives. Two examples that come to mind are Invent Medical and Chabloz Orthopédie. These two customers specialize in custom-made prosthetics and orthotics, especially for children with cranial deformities.
Similarly, additive manufacturing is being used to enhance athletic performance and experience, with companies like Brooks Running and Smith Optics leveraging HP’s Multi Jet Fusion solution to achieve high performance and custom gear fit impossible to accomplish with traditional manufacturing methods. I am proud to be part of an industry opening the door to new possibilities across various industries.
It is also great to see growing adoption in the automotive industry, with customers such as BMW Mini, who used our technology to personalize a limited edition series of keycaps.
Finally, we are excited about how Multi Jet Fusion is supporting customers in the drone business and industrial settings. Some examples are Vecros for drones and L’Oreal, which uses 3D-printed parts for their production line.
3D printing is revolutionizing the concept of supply chains by promoting localized, on-demand production.
Additive manufacturing is a key enabler for advancing sustainability and the circular economy within the industrial sector. This innovative technology facilitates the shift towards more sustainable manufacturing practices by prioritizing the reuse of materials and minimizing waste throughout the production process. It plays a crucial role in reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing activities, marking a significant step towards a more sustainable future.
3D printing is revolutionizing the concept of supply chains by promoting localized, on-demand production. This approach reduces material usage and waste and enhances product longevity by ensuring that spare parts are readily available. It decreases the dependence on extensive inventories and physical warehouses, thereby minimizing the environmental footprint associated with traditional manufacturing and storage practices. It also allows manufacturing only the quantities needed and not overproducing.
The concept of a digital warehouse takes this revolution a step further by eliminating the need for physical storage. In a digital warehouse, products and parts are stored virtually as digital files that can be accessed and printed on-demand, close to where they are needed. This means that companies can produce items as required instead of manufacturing and storing large quantities of items in anticipation of future demand, leading to significant reductions in material waste and energy consumption. The shift towards digital warehousing and localized manufacturing underscores additive manufacturing’s pivotal role in achieving environmental sustainability goals. It enables the industrial sector to maintain high productivity levels while drastically reducing its ecological footprint, showcasing a forward-thinking approach to resource management and sustainability.
Moreover, due to the design freedom it enables, Additive Manufacturing allows for lower-weighted parts, which contributes to sustainability, especially in mobility applications.
All the above-mentioned AM advantages clearly position AM as a sustainable manufacturing method. However, as an industry we need to continue pushing boundaries and improving the carbon footprint of printed parts with recycling programs, using materials with lower carbon footprint, and openly sharing carbon footprint calculators. For instance, HP’s partnership with Arkema focuses on recycling residual 3D-printed powders and parts, which helps prevent these materials from ending up in landfills or incinerated, significantly reducing production waste. We recently announced that our partner EVONIK supplies us with PA12 material made with 100% renewable energy. These are great steps forward!
With external conditions like supply chain volatility, labor and material shortages, and fluctuating consumer preferences, manufacturers worldwide are continuing to seek flexible, adaptable, and innovative solutions to integrate across their production lines. We’re already seeing this draw companies to additive manufacturing solutions, having observed how 3D printing reduces reliance on manual labor, makes assembly line tasks repeatable, and allows for complex designs to be brought to life.
The key driver behind the growing adoption of additive manufacturing lies in AM providers’ ability to automate numerous aspects of the production process. HP is at the forefront of this automation-first approach, introducing add-on automation services such as the HP Jet Fusion 3D Powder Handling Automation Solution and Automation Accessory that enhance AM scalability and output. These services facilitate efficient operations in complex factory settings with minimal human intervention.
Over the next five years, HP plans to further innovate in 3D printing by integrating emerging technologies like AI and digital twins more deeply into manufacturing processes. We aim to refine our 3D printing solutions to address external challenges and shifting consumer demands. This will enable users to bring innovative applications to market more efficiently, reinforcing HP’s commitment to advancing the capabilities and reach of additive manufacturing.
In the rapidly evolving field of emerging technologies, particularly within Industry 4.0, a constant curiosity and an openness to explore every possibility are indispensable. The 3D printing industry thrives on innovation, continuously seeking new ideas and challenging conventional processes to advance the field. Anyone aspiring to be part of the AM space must embrace continuous experimentation, learn from failures, and consistently look for ways to optimize current practices for potential enhancements. Those who do so will succeed and help propel the industry forward.
The year 2023 presented a series of challenges for the additive manufacturing (AM) industry. Despite these obstacles, the sector demonstrated notable resilience and growth potential, evidenced by a significant increase in the usage of our printers. This upward trend in demand for 3D printed parts, growing at a double-digit rate year over year, is a positive indicator of the industry’s robustness and expansion potential.
Furthermore, we are witnessing a remarkable shift as various industries begin to adopt additive manufacturing on a larger scale. This transition is synergistically linked with the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), which promise to catalyze the AM sector’s growth further. Given these developments, I am exceedingly optimistic about the industry’s future trajectory.
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