If you still think 3D printing is only for prototyping, think again!

3D printed products can no longer be considered a means to an end. The growing number of use-cases and proven business benefits, such as faster lead-time and greater design freedom, are pillaring its stature as a mainstream manufacturing technology today.

However, the technology is still in its syndication stage, where the early adopters are increasingly looking for ways to commercialize the technology and create more value from it. On that front, a few 3D printing solution providers are playing a prominent role in democratizing the technology for enterprises and manufacturers worldwide. And a name worth mentioning among them is Desktop Metal.

Desktop Metal is founded by some of the world-renowned experts in advanced manufacturing, metallurgy, and robotics to address the unmet challenges of speed, cost, and quality in the domain. To facilitate it, the company has introduced several ingenious 3D printing systems: Fiber™—the world’s first desktop 3D printer to fabricate high-resolution parts with industrial-grade continuous fiber composite materials, Studio System™—a leading-edge office-friendly metal 3D printing system, Production System™—the world’s fastest mass-production printer, and Shop System™—a metal binder jetting system designed for machine shops and metal job shops. Leaning on such inventive 3D solutions, Desktop Metal is continually reinventing how manufacturing and engineering teams create metal and composite parts today.

“We are at a major inflection point in the adoption of additive manufacturing, and Desktop Metal is leading the way in this transformation,” says Ric Fulop, the founder and CEO of Desktop Metal.

How It All Began…

Desktop Metal was launched in 2015 by Fulop while bringing together thought leaders in the sector like him to accelerate the transformation of manufacturing with 3D printing technology. And at the core of Desktop Metal’s technology are multiple groundbreaking inventions made by its founding personnel. For instance, Dr. Ely Sachs, co-founder and technical fellow at Desktop Metal, is a visionary in rapid prototyping who co-invented binder jetting, a 3D printing process to print a variety of materials.

Desktop Metal provides 3D printing solutions for every stage and scale of production across a wide range of applications and industries

Similarly, another co-founder Dr. Christopher A. Schuh, is a metallurgist who has made advanced developments in the R&D of nanocrystalline and amorphous metals. Myerberg, Rick Chin, Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, and Dr. A. John Hart, the other co-founders of Desktop Metal, are all experts in their respective fields. With such know-how entrenched in the DNA of Desktop Metal’s offerings, the company is making great strides in the domain today.

From Composites to Metals; Prototyping to Mass Production

Desktop Metal provides 3D printing solutions for every stage and scale of production across a wide range of applications and industries. On that front, Desktop Metal’s Fiber™ combines the exceptional performance of continuous carbon fiber with the functionalities of fused filament fabrication (FFF) to produce numerous aerospace and industrial-grade composite materials, enabling a broad set of applications from automotive parts to consumer goods. The printer offers high-quality composite 3D printing at affordable costs at the comfort of a desktop. The composite materials produced by Fiber™ are stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and can operate in adverse environments up to 250-degree Celsius.

Meanwhile, Desktop Metal has a 3D printing system to print metal parts at scale — Production System™. Its high-resolution 3D printing combined with a uniform print bed allows the production of dense, high-quality parts capable of performing in the most demanding applications. The system offers different features, such as excellent part quality, best-in-class repeatability, and wide material compatibility. Likewise, Desktop Metal also has a one-of-its-kind metal binder jetting system designed to bring metal 3D printing to modern machine shops. Built from the ground up by keeping the modern machine shops in mind, it offers parts with superior surface finish and resolution than the laser-based 3D printing systems at a fraction of their cost.

Besides offering such a range of leading-edge hardware, Desktop Metal has also launched a 3D printing software - Live Parts™, the first growth-based generative design tool. Based on artificial intelligence (AI), Live Parts combines dynamic simulation with live finite element analysis to enable the creation of highly optimized parts that can withstand both expected and unexpected conditions. As the geometry of parts is enhanced through the generation process, it allows the production of stable, customized, and ready-to-build models in a matter of minutes. Moreover, Live Parts™ lets users take control of the modeling process. The users can refine design changes in real-time using CAD software.

Desktop Health: Leveraging these Competencies in Healthcare

Interestingly, Desktop Metal has launched Desktop Health, an initiative to develop additive manufacturing solutions for dental, orthodontic, and otolaryngology applications. “Today, the world manufactures more than $85 billion in medical and dental implants each year,” states Fulop. We think a large percentage of these parts could be printed and made patient-specific before the end of the decade, making this market a key opportunity for Desktop Metal,” adds Fulop.

While reinventing manufacturing across these industries, Desktop Metal has also raised over $438 million in funding from leaders in the strategic and venture capital investor communities, including Google, BMW, Ford Motor Company, Lowe’s, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). It marks the largest total funding of any private 3D printing company to date. The company has been awarded two seminal separable support patents for its metal 3D printing technology. Also, Desktop Metal was selected as one of the world’s 30 most promising technology pioneers by the World Economic Forum and made it to the list of 50 smartest companies by MIT Technology Review.

Today, at this critical juncture in the advancement of metal 3D printing and additive manufacturing, Desktop Metal’s 3D printing solutions are redefining the prototyping and mass production of metal and composite parts. As a result, it is creating profound disruptive implications in the manufacturing sector. Desktop Metal is also marking an inflection point in the manufacturing sector as 3D printing has begun to disrupt the traditional manufacturing processes.