writes copy 25 Jan 2025

3D Printing News Briefs January 25 2025: ESG Sustainability Layoffs Furniture More

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We’re starting off with some event news in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, as AMUG has announced the keynote speakers for its 2025 conference, and Dyndrite starts its World Tour 2025 this week. Moving on, Stratasys released its third ESG and Sustainability Report, while additive construction company ICON laid off about 25% of its staff. Finally, Aitiip3D invested in a shot blasting system from AM Solutions, and four designers exhibited an award-winning collection of 3D printed wood furniture.

AMUG Announces 2025 Conference Keynote Speakers

AMUG's 2025 keynote speakers: Joe Scarbo (L), president, CEO, and founder of performance-vehicle-focused Scarbo Performance Corp., and Ryan Watkins, research engineer and technologist for NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference is an annual event designed for both novice and experienced AM users. This year’s conference, March 30-April 3 in Chicago, will welcome two exciting keynote speakers to share inspiring messages about decision-making and what’s possible with additive manufacturing. The first is Ryan Watkins, Research Engineer with NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), who will center his April 1st talk around combining design with AM to create a new class of crushable structures for high-speed impact attenuation applications, and the barriers overcome to finish the job. Watkins, who has a PhD in aerospace engineering, has worked on flight projects as a cognizant engineer and a structural analyst. In NASA JPL’s Materials Development & Additive Manufacturing group, he focuses on integrating advanced materials with computational design and developing the lab’s topology optimization capabilities. In 2024, JPL won the 3D Printing Industry Award in the aerospace, space, and defense category for his work on 3D printed crushable lattices, and his UnitcellHub was named JPL’s Software of the Year and made available to the public.

On April 3rd, ‘gearhead’ and racer Joe Scarbo, the President of design and manufacturing company Scarbo Performance Corp, will discuss how his company created numerous 3D printed parts for its two most recent performance vehicles. After earning his B.S. in mechanical engineering, Scarbo began designing and machining racing components in college for the Arciero Racing family. He then became an in-house mechanical design engineer with the Volkswagen Motorsport off-road race program, and later worked with a couple of firms that leveraged 3D printing. Going back to his passion for motorsports, he founded his company as an engineering consultancy in 2008, first specializing in performance vehicles before moving to low-volume manufacturing of motorsport products and complete vehicles in 2013. Scarbo Performance includes four businesses that offer design and manufacturing for bespoke vehicles and after-market components. The Scarbo Vintage (SV) RSR, which raced in the Pikes Peak International Hill Cimb, and the SV Rover, which ran in the Baja 1000 before transitioning into the first street-legal Hypertruck, both feature many 3D printed parts.

Dyndrite Launching 2025 “You Control the Laser” World Tour

AM software innovator Dyndrite has announced its 2025 “You Control the Laser” World Tour, which is planning to visit several key cities in the U.S. over the year, as well as one stop each in Japan and Germany. The tour will give additive engineers and materials/process scientists a chance to get hands-on experience with Dyndrite’s software capabilities for metal 3D printing. During hands-on sessions, participants will hear about case studies from OEMs, end users, material providers, and international standards organizations, learning comprehensive knowledge of common LPBF workflows. By the end of each workshop, they will know how to create low-angle prints without supports, and how to use Dyndrite software to develop their own IP. This content will be very helpful for AM professionals who work in highly regulated industries, such as energy, aerospace and defense, and space. Plus, LPBF users who work with printers from Aconity3D, Additive Industries, EOS, Nikon SLM Solutions, Renishaw, and Xact Metal will definitely want to attend.

“In-person, hands-on engagements are essential for showcasing the transformative capabilities of Dyndrite's software tools and their impact on advancing additive manufacturing into a reliable, efficient, and repeatable process. By working directly with customers in the field, we address real-world challenges through focused, interactive education that highlights our revolutionary approach to AM software,” said Shawn Hopwood, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Developer Relations at Dyndrite. “These workshops will educate LPBF professionals on how to unlock groundbreaking part printing capabilities, boost workflow and machine productivity, and achieve repeatable, high-quality 3D metal printing results.”

The first stop on the tour is this Tuesday, January 28th, in Tokyo, Japan. The tour will also stop in Tampa, FL; Chicago, IL; Colorado Springs, CO; Long Beach, CA; Pflugerville, TX; Orlando, FL; Pittsburgh, PA; Detroit, MI; Las Vegas, NV; and finally Frankfurt, Germany.

Stratasys Released Third ESG & Sustainability Report

Stratasys recently published its third Mindful Manufacturing ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) and Sustainability Report, solidifying its position as a preferred supplier for sustainable AM solutions. The report, prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and referencing SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) standards, highlights the company’s commitment to ESG excellence and enterprise risk management, and showcases its achievements in environmental, social, and governance initiatives. For instance, Stratasys has introduced carbon reduction initiatives, implemented strong ESG infrastructures, established an Equal Parent Policy, reports an 11.7% reduction in water intensity and 15.5% reduction in GHG emissions intensity, launched a Strategic Industrial Customer Advisory Board, unveiled products that underscore its commitment to Mindful Manufacturing (like the SAF ReLife solution for repurposing waste PA12 powder), and appointed company Co-Founder, Director, Board of Directors member, and inventor of FDM technology S. Scott Crump as its ESG & Climate Champion.

“Stratasys is uniquely positioned to deliver impactful decarbonization solutions at a critical time. As customers face the need to reduce dependency on global supply chains, embrace localized and agile production, and address climate challenges, 3D printing-through our  Mindful Manufacturing strategy-emerges as a game changer. Our deep collaboration with employees, combined with close partnerships with key industry customers and our Customer Advisory Board, enables us to drive sustainable innovation and empower businesses to meet their environmental goals,” said Rosa Coblens, Vice President, Sustainability, Stratasys.

Additive Construction Company ICON Cuts 25% of Staff

ICON Phoenix System

Texas-based ICON Technologies Inc., which builds 3D printed homes, has laid  off 114 people, or about 25% of its staff. This was according to a WARN letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, and a spokesperson for ICON later confirmed the news, noting that the company had “recently made a difficult decision” to re-align its staff “to focus on our highest priorities and continue to invest in our best growth opportunities.” Founded in 2017, ICON was officially launched in 2018 during SWSW with the first permitted 3D printed house in the U.S. Since then, the company has raised over $450 million from its investors, and was last valued at around $2 billion. It introduced a suite of new construction 3D printing products at SXSW 2024, and is said to have delivered over two dozen 3D printed homes and structures across Mexico and the U.S. But, at this same time last year, the company also laid off 20% of its staff. This year’s layoffs are reported to take place on March 8th, and the ICON spokesperson said the company’s current priority is to drive development of its Phoenix line of multi-story 3D printers.

The spokesperson continued, noting “While our mission remains to develop these intelligent machines to build humanity's future, we will continue to design and build a selection of key projects across residential, hospitality, social/affordable and those within the Department of Defense with a more streamlined team.”

Let’s hope ICON doesn’t go the way of fellow AC company Mighty Buildings.

Aitiip Purchases AM Solutions S1 Post-Processing System

Pablo Murillo, Chief Business Development Officer, Aitiip, and Xavier Pardo, Sales Engineer, AM Solutions / Rösler Spain.

Aitiip3D, part of the larger Spanish Aitiip Technology Centre, maintains one of the largest additive manufacturing development labs in Europe. The 3D printing service recently invested in the S1 from AM Solutions – 3D post processing technology to automate its post-processing operations, which helped achieve increased production capacity, higher operational efficiency, and better overall quality. The company is known for its custom-engineered solutions in many AM applications, from prototyping to individual parts, and with production volumes increasing, improving its post-processing skills became necessary. The S1 shot blasting machine is a 2-in-1 system, cleaning and creating the final surface finish for one job with a single processing medium. Constant rotation of the PBF 3D printed parts during the 30-minute blast operation enables consistent surface finishes and gentle processing. Plus, the S1 can be operated in both manual and automatic modes, offering a variety of different blast media for whatever your parts require.

“Before we installed the S1, all post processing operations had to be performed manually. This caused not only exceptionally high labor costs but also limited our operational flexibility. Thanks to the automatic S1 system we were able to significantly increase our production capacity,” said Pablo Murillo, Chief Development Officer at Aitiip.

“Now we can offer the parts contained in various assemblies for products already on the market as 3D printed components. With our manual post processing operation this was unthinkable. Thanks to the excellent and consistent surface finishes created by the S1 our products are now in full compliance with the customer specifications without requiring any additional processing. Overall, the time required for post processing and the associated costs could be drastically reduced. The entire post processing operation has become a lot faster, cleaner and more efficient.”

3D Printed Wood Furniture Showcased in Add Wood Exhibition

Add Wood, an exhibition at  Designblok  in Prague, Czech Republic that explored the vast potential of biodegradable, recyclable 3D printed timber, featured four separate furniture projects made by designers Esmée Willemsen,  Janek Beau,  Friedrich Gerlach  and  Julia Huhnholz. Instead of doing solo projects, they decided to work as a group, and approached Additive Tectonics about a collaboration using its EconitWood. Leftover wood from timber harvesting and sawmills is combined with a natural, flame-retardant, and non-toxic magnesium carbonate binder to create the 3D printable material. Willemsen created a coffin called Finalform.stl, which can be made to order and reduces the environmental impact of burials by leaving out non-wooden elements, like metal screws, found in normal coffins. Beau focused on efficiency with his 3D printed stool, called Sandbox, which can become a modular, multifunctional furniture solution when used in multiples'”two modules create the height of a chair, while three are the height of a table. The modules can also be shipped without packaging, as the dimensions are optimized to comply with most shipping restrictions.

Gerlach also focused on efficiency with his Lumo sofa, featuring an EconitWood shell that is stackable during printing to maximize space on the print bed. This shows that it’s actually possible to 3D print large-scale furniture pieces without issue, and the sofa also features a removable fabric suspended seat, which attaches to a groove along the edge of the shell. The Lumo is biodegradable, as both the filling and the upholstery of the seat are 100% wood. Finally, Huhnholz created a shelving unit called Offset, which was also designed for optimal efficiency. It’s made of three smooth, sculptural 3D printed posts, designed with a conical shape so they can be nested during production, and more can be made in less time. The unit is assembled by stacking the posts and adding laser-cut aluminum plates. The team’s “Add Wood: Perspectives on Printable Timber” won the 2024 Designblok Award for Best Designer Presentation.

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