At the 2018 Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) conference in St. Louis, HP has made a statement about the future of 3D printing and its role in series production. A topic previously discussed at length in a guest article by Ramon Pastor, vice president and general manager of HP Multi Jet Fusion, Stephen Nigro, President of 3D Printing at HP, has presented details of how end-use production is transforming business within the company.
“Our mission is to change the way the world designs and manufacturers with 3D printing,” comments Nigro. Moreover,
“We are seeing an increase in high-volume 3D production as the industry accelerates its journey towards a digital future.”
Scaling to meet demand
According to Nigro, 50% of Multi Jet Fusion parts 3D printed at HP in the last year were for end-use applications. That’s 1.5 million 3D printed functional parts in total – within one year alone. Going forward, this figure is only expected to increase, and repeat orders from key HP clients are evident of this.
Expecting the production of over one million objects for a leading medical client, U.S. 3D manufacturer Forecast 3D is upgrading its fleet of 12 HP 3D printers with the HP Jet Fusion 3D 4210 model. Rapid prototyping specialist GoProto has installed 6 new HP 4200 3D printers. And Stem, a manufacturer for automotive and medical industries, is launching the Stem 3D bureau with 10 HP 4200 systems.
Reinventing HP
Additionally, the company has launched the Reinventing HP With Multi Jet Fusion program to, according to the official press release, “lower costs, speed time to market, increase customer satisfaction, and improve sustainability” through 3D printing.
The program tackles 3D printing for series production by examining all parts of the supply chain, from design, engineer and procurement, to operations, manufacturing and logistics.
Within the initiative, HP is driving a digital parts archive and on-demand production. As a proof of concept, at present 50% of custom plastic parts inside the Jet Fusion 4200 can be 3D printed using Multi Jet Fusion technology. A further 140 parts in the new full-color 300-500 series can be made using MJF.
HP has also saved millions of dollars in tooling expenses by applying MJF 3D printing to the production of complex components.
A full portfolio of the latest 3D printer products and innovations at HP can be viewed at the company’s booth, Demo Suite D5.
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Featured image shows the HP Jet Fusion 300/500 series full-color 3D printer. Image via HP
