This week at Formnext, the world’s largest additive manufacturing event, HP is showcasing its new commercial Jet Fusion and Metal Jet 3D printing solutions, new post processing capabilities, expanded Digital Manufacturing Network (DMN), new materials and recycling program, and a variety of industrial production applications. The show marks the first time HP is publicly exhibiting its new HP Jet Fusion 5420W Solution including white applications, and the full modular HP Metal Jet S100 Solution including a new John Deere production application.
“Additive manufacturing delivers on today’s most urgent market demands including sustainable innovation, hyper-personalization, and business resiliency,” said Didier Deltort, President of Personalization & 3D Printing, HP Inc. “Together, with our global network of partners and customers, we are scaling additive manufacturing to meet these needs.”
New Metal Jet S100 Production Application
Launched in September, HP’s Metal Jet S100 Solution is enabling industrial customers such as Domin Digital Motion, Lumenium, and Schneider Electric, to achieve better productivity, low part cost, and outstanding quality. John Deere, the global manufacturing leader of agricultural and construction equipment, is using Metal Jet technology for the production of a valve in the tractor fuel system.
Together with GKN, John Deere is now manufacturing Metal Jet-printed valves in its agricultural machinery. In addition to significant productivity gains and environmental benefits, the high-quality part is functional in extreme weather conditions. John Deere is also leveraging HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology to optimize its production process, using 3D printed prototypes to test and fine tune components and parts such as windshield holders, reducing pre-assembly from 30 days to ten, delivery times by up to ten weeks, and overall production costs by between 20 to 25 percent.
“Our focus on innovation and sustainability is at the core of everything we do for our customers,” said Dr. Jochen Müller, Manager Global Digital Engineering at John Deere. “We are proud to be among the first in the agricultural industry to leverage the benefits 3D printing for both prototyping and final parts production. Leveraging industrial 3D printing platforms for polymers and metals, we are discovering opportunities to deliver more efficient, reliable, and sustainable equipment.”
HP Unveils New Jet Fusion 5400 Series
To enable entirely new production applications, HP is adding the new HP Jet Fusion 5400 Series to its existing Jet Fusion portfolio, and unveiled the first product in the series, the HP Jet Fusion 5420W Solution. The new solution enables consistent, high-quality production of white parts, and provides the benefits of HP’s robust, manufacturing-ready Multi Jet Fusion platform, including industrial-grade reliability, low cost per part, and enhanced manufacturing predictability. Ideal for the automotive, consumer goods, healthcare, and industrial markets, early customers using the new solution to produce innovative white applications include DI Labs, Prototal Industries, and Weerg.
“HP continues to provide us with the advancements we need to push the boundaries of additive manufacturing and produce the final parts our customers need,” said Jan Löfving, CEO, Prototal Industries. “Beyond the industrial grade production HP delivers, we are seeing immediate interest in the new white applications made possible by the latest addition to HP’s Multi Jet Fusion family. As a proud Digital Manufacturing Partner in HP’s DMN, we are equipped to take on bold, innovative projects and help companies get the most value out of AM production.”
HP’s commitment to providing customers with new innovation, technological advancements, professional services, and flexible business models is yielding significant growth of parts production. Since announcing its cumulative 100 million Multi Jet Fusion parts milestone at Formnext last year, more than 70 million additional parts have been printed in the past twelve months.
In addition to the new white applications, HP is showcasing a variety of production parts across industries, including award-winning applications from General Motors and Smith:
• Using their HP Jet Fusion fleet, GKN Forecast 3D produced 60,000 spoiler closeout seals with BASF ULTRASINT® TPU01 (thermoplastic polyurethane) for General Motors. Innovative vapor polishing and drying processes enabled by AMT cleared a bottleneck, halved production time, and were used to finish parts, eliminating the need for post-print dyeing. The seals close out gaps on the left and right sides of the rear spoiler, improving finish and fuel efficiency, and the spoiler closeout seal recently earned top prize in the additive manufacturing category at the 51st annual SPE Automotive Innovation Awards.
• Demonstrating the power of hyper-personalization, Smith I/O MAG Imprint 3D Goggles are produced with Multi Jet Fusion technology and offer a truly custom fit based on the individualized features of a person’s face. Named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2022, these first-of-their-kind goggles eliminate light leaks, air gaps, and hot spots for world class performance on the slopes.
Ecosystem Collaboration – Materials and Post Processing
HP continues to work closely on materials development with partners including Arkema, BASF, Evonik, and Lubrizol. This includes Lubrizol’s announcement of the new ESTANE 3D M88A TPU, a flexible and highly durable material which enables complex geometries and lattice structures.
To advance post processing, HP and AMT announced a new strategic alliance to provide customers with seamless, fully automated post processing support through the entire 3D printing production workflow. Together, the companies are helping customers more efficiently and cost effectively ingrate and apply post processing capabilities such as unpacking, cleaning, surface finishing, coloring, sporting and quality control, for applications produced with HP’s industrial Jet Fusion 3D printing portfolio including HP’s new Jet Fusion 5420W Solution. Oechsler, a leading industrial technology company and a new Digital Manufacturing Partner in HP’s DMN, is the first to take advantage of the joint post processing support to develop a range of applications.
“At Oechsler, we choose to work with companies who have a shared vision of working together to deliver optimal outcomes. HP and AMT building a comprehensive approach from printing to an integrated post processing solution is a critical step in the adoption of additive manufacturing at scale,” said Matthias Weisskopf, General Manager, OECHSLER Motion.
In addition to its partnership with AMT, HP is collaborating across the post processing ecosystem to ensure customers have access to a broad range of alternatives from providers including AM Flow, DyeMansion, and Rösler Group AM Solutions. DyeMansion is offering advanced post processing options for Multi Jet Fusion customers including surface finishing and coloring for white parts produced with the new Jet Fusion 5420W Solution.
HP 3D Printing Commitment to Sustainability
3D printing is increasingly being recognized as a conduit for more sustainable manufacturing. The recent AM Power ‘Sustainability of Metal Additive Manufacturing’ report confirmed that metal binder jetting is one of the most sustainable production methods compared to traditional manufacturing. As an active member of Additive Manufacturing Green Trade Association (AMGTA), HP is committed to accelerating sustainable manufacturing practices internally and across its ecosystem of partners and customers.
Globally, companies of all sizes and across industries, including HP’s network of production partners, have signaled the importance of sustainable production practices. In response, HP is offering its customers using polymer-based technologies a new Virtucycle® recycling and buyback program by Arkema. The program enables interested HP customers to sell used PA11 and PA12 powders, and printed parts, as opposed to disposing materials via costly, environmentally harmful practices such as landfilling or burning.
HP Showcasing New Advancements and Applications at Formnext
Learn more on how to propel your business with the new HP Jet Fusion 5420W 3D Printing Solution and Metal Jet S100 Solution. See the new solutions in action along with industrial production applications at the HP booth at Formnext (Hall 12.1; booth D59).
