HP's 3D printing platform begins ambitious plans to transform mass-manufacturing all over again

HP’s 3D printing platform begins ambitious plans to transform mass-manufacturing all over again
all images and videos courtesy of HP

just like they revolutionized the paper printing industry in 1984 with both inkjet and laser printers for the desktop, hewlett-packard (HP) plans to disrupt the $12 trillion manufacturing industry by unveiling one of the world’s first production-ready 3D printing systems – ‘jet fusion 3D printing solutions’. the platform intends to transform design, prototyping and manufacturing to deliver superior quality physical parts up to 10 times faster and at half the cost of current 3D print systems. 

‘our 3D printing platform is unique in its ability to address over 340 million voxels per second, versus one point at a time, giving our prototyping and manufacturing partners radically faster build speeds, functional parts and breakthrough economics,’ said stephen nigro, president of HP’s 3D printing business. ‘the new HP jet fusion 3D printing solution delivers a combination of speed, quality, and cost never seen in the industry. businesses and manufacturers can completely rethink how they design and deliver solutions to their customers.’

leveraging decades of research in precision mechanics and materials sciences, HP is one of the few companies with the expertise that can transform the global manufacturing industry alone. to help with full implementation HP co-developed the system with NIKE, BMW, autodesk, proto labs and siemens.

‘at NIKE we innovate for the world’s best athletes,’ said tom clarke, president of innovation at NIKE. ‘we’ve been using 3D printing to create new performance innovations for footwear for the past several years. now we are excited to partner with HP to accelerate and scale our existing capabilities as we continue to explore new ways to manufacture performance products to help athletes reach their full potential.’ HP will offer two 3D printers with a synchronized set of tools to meet same-day demands at the lowest cost per part. 

‘BMW is a pioneer and early adopter of innovative technologies in the field of additive manufacturing, especially for prototyping in concept cars and series-like approval builds,’ explains jens ertel, head of BMW group additive manufacturing center. ‘for our future roadmap toward serial part production and personal customization, we see major potential in our partnership with HP to investigate this new kind of 3D printing technology at an early stage. as one of the first partners, we had the chance to see the constant evolution of the machines over time from the first prototype approximately five years ago to the market ready product that is available now.’ in the future HP will expand its palette of materials and colors where customers will benefit from the ability to transform part properties, giving unprecedented control and allowing limitless combinations of applications.