Sheffield manufacturer makes six-figure investment in “cutting-edge” 3D printing tech

As part of Bdaily’s latest feature, Innovation Week, we hear from a Sheffield design and additive manufacturing business that has invested £100k in new technology to keep it at the “cutting edge” of industrial 3D printing.

Addition Design, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park Technology Centre in Sheffield, has welcomed a new Stratasys F370®CR FDM® Composite Printer as part of its investment package.

Tom Fripp, director at Addition Design, commented: “This new innovative 3D printer is a welcome addition to our business. The investment will improve the quality of change parts and format parts that we are able to produce.

“It will open up new opportunities for us to be able to deliver higher performance parts with reduced lead times. Customers will also benefit from the unique combination of Addition Design’s additive design capabilities with very high performing materials.”

Addition Design is one of the first businesses in the country to invest in this new technology. Tom added: “During 2022 we saw strong demand from pharmaceutical clients and subcontract packers for our fast turnaround change parts.

“The existing 3D print systems at Addition are very good for volume and precision work but the change parts and format parts tend to be large, robust components on low volume. The new printer is better suited to this application.

“However, it also takes things a step further by allowing us to print carbon fibre reinforced components, hugely increasing the performance of the parts that we can produce at Addition.

“It also extends our offering into new markets including forming tools and high performance automotive. Industrial 3D print technology is at the forefront of enabling businesses to minimise downtime and improve profitability, what’s not to love about that!”

The new printer supplements traditional fabrication technologies, allowing industrial manufacturers to replace metal components with high-strength 3D printed composite parts. This accelerates throughput while avoiding the opportunity cost of using production resources or the lead time of outsourcing.

Tom concluded: “We are really excited to be taking this step up in industrial 3D printing and branching out into printing in Carbon Fibre. By using this robust technology, we will be able to overcome some of the challenges in the industry at the moment by meeting the demand for fast turnaround change parts, reducing costly downtime for organisations.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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