3D Printing News Briefs: January 12, 2018

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We’ve got some 3D printing business and medical news to start things off in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, followed by some interesting projects featuring 3D printing. Additive Industries has appointed a new member to its management team, and Carbon announced that Johnson & Johnson Innovation has joined its latest funding round. axial3D established a scientific advisory board for automated medical 3D printing software, while ULab Systems has achieved FDA clearance for its dental software platform and 4WEB Medical announced record sales growth in 2017. 3D design software and a new Reebok material were used to make a mask with 3D printed parts, and the next Burning Man temple will feature a 3D printed mandala.

Additive Industries Appoints New Member of Management Team

Paul Simons

Netherlands-based Additive Industries is working to speed up the industrial 3D printing of functional metal parts with its modular end-to-end 3D metal printing system, MetalFAB1. The company is growing fast, and recently announced a Top 3 position ambition in industrial additive manufacturing. To prepare for further growth in the market, Additive Industries has appointed Paul Simons, a Philips Healthcare veteran, to its management team, effective January 1st. Simons has plenty of experience in scaling supply chains and professionalizing manufacturing operations, and in his newly created position of Director Operations & Supply Chain, he will be responsible for all internal operations at Additive Industries, including overseeing the company’s complete supply chain and customer support.

Simons said, “I am looking forward to build the Operations, Supply chain and Customer Support footprint to be able to manage the planned, steep growth of the volume, and I’m excited to join the entrepreneurial team of Additive Industries.”

Johnson & Johnson Innovation Joins Carbon Funding Round

This week, Carbon announced that Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC) has joined several other investors in a $200 million Series D funding round. The original investors were announced by Carbon last month, while the remaining ones should be disclosed soon. This investment builds on a strategic two-year collaboration between the two companies, for JJDC to leverage Carbon’s proprietary Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology to develop surgical orthopedic instruments and other medical devices. Carbon will use the funding from this round to increase its momentum in using its connected, digitally-enabled design and 3D printing capabilities to disrupt the traditional analog injection molding production methods.

“This funding is vital to the work we’re doing with leading healthcare companies to improve lives using next-gen technology, and will enable Carbon to accelerate its momentum in delivering a true, scalable digital 3D Manufacturing platform across the globe,” said Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Carbon’s CEO and Co-Founder.

axial3D Establishes Scientific Advisory Board

Daniel Crawford, Founder and CEO of axial3D

Belfast medical technology firm axial3D, which specializes in medical 3D printing to advance the standards and efficiency of surgical intervention, has established its own Scientific Advisory Board. The impressive board will offer strategic guidance and solution strategy, and guide the development of automated medical 3D printing software. Appointed members include Dr. William (Pepper) Denman of Massachusetts General Hospital; Dr. Anish Ghodadra, Interventional Radiology at Yale New Haven Hospital; Chief Technology Officer of TravelNest Dr. Alistair Hann; and Simon Fleming, Orthopedics, PhD Candidate in Medical Education at Barts and The London.

“The search for a specialized Advisory Board to impact the current strategic aims of axial3D has been a fantastic experience, and we have been fortunate to attract such an experienced and diverse group to support our growth in the coming years. As we expand the scope of axial3D’s 3D printing software and service portfolio we have established an advisory team with extensive experience in the medical device industry, radiology, surgery and IT development,” said Daniel Crawford, Founder and CEO of axial3D. “This expertise coupled with the existing support from the board of directors in finance, sales, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and new infrastructure technologies ensures the company is positioned to embark on the next phase of growth. We look forward to working with these individuals and leveraging their guidance to further axial3D’s execution of our vision – making 3D printing routine in hospitals.”

ULab Systems Receives 510(K) Clearance from FDA

Privately held digital dental company ULab Systems, which developed a patented automated orthodontic treatment planning software, has announced that the next generation software has received 510(K) clearance from the FDA. The company’s system consists of a breakthrough orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning platform, and the software seamlessly imports patients’ 3D digital scans so dental professionals can diagnose treatment needs and set up a treatment plan with the patient in less than five minutes. The patented software also exports standard STL files for 3D printed dental models, so doctors can create aligner trays and retainers right in the office.

“Based on my experience, ULab is positioned to revolutionize how orthodontists practice, by providing control over how clear aligner cases are treated,” said Dr. Tim Dumore, the lead investigator on the clinical study completed in field. “ULab decreases the burden of aligner treatment planning by allowing orthodontists to design treatment plans in just minutes. At the same time, ULab expands the range of cases that can be treated with aligners by allowing orthodontists to precisely control how many aligners they require, along with making integrated hybrid aligner-braces treatment simple.”

ULab Systems will begin US commercialization of its software before the American Association of Orthodontics conference this May.

4WEB Medical Has Record Sales Growth in 2017

3D printed implant technology leader 4WEB Medical announced this week that for the 2017 fiscal year, it had posted 57% year-over-year growth; additionally, the company’s record-breaking fourth quarter results exceeded the largest quarter in its history for case volume, revenue, surgeon users, and units sold. 4WEB’s proprietary truss implant technology, produced through 3D printing to create surface roughness, is an open architecture scaffold, and uses the design mechanics to stimulate bone growth in bordering cellular material. The company, which plans to further increase its commercial expansion strategy with upcoming product launches, expects sustained growth in 2018 through the continued adoption of its recent products – the Lateral Spine Truss System and a line of Hyperlordotic ALIF implants.

“4WEB continues to drive growth with portfolio enhancements and new surgeon adoption of its truss implant technology,” said Geoffrey Bigos, 4WEB Medical’s Vice President of Spine Sales. “In 2017 we achieved an 84% increase in surgeon users with over 300 surgeons having used our implants nationwide. This accomplishment was attributed to an expansion of our sales management team, the growth of our existing product offering, and significant investments in new product development.”

London Designers Make 3D Printed Mask Parts

Reebok has introduced a new material, called Flexweave, that the company believes could be the future of athletic footwear and apparel. The chenille yarn fabric uses a unique method of construction to create a figure-eight, which Reebok says can be interlaced with innumerable fibers to create one lightweight, breathable, but durable surface. While the fabric won’t be used in Reebok shoes until this spring, the company gave three leading global designers free reign to see what they could make with Flexweave now. For their project, designers from the Modla design house in London used special 3D design software and 3D printed parts to create a mask out of Flexweave.

“Once the final model was determined, we laser cut the Flexweave material and pieced the mask together using a special mechanism that clicks each piece into place without the use of glue,” a Modla designer said. “Aside from its lightweight and breathable qualities, the design also allows athletes the chance to control the oxygen level by rotating the delta symbol on the front of the mask.”

3D Printed Mandala Featured In 2018 Burning Man Temple

Aerial View of Galaxia [Image courtesy of Arthur Mamou-Mani]

The popular festival Burning Man, which takes over the Black Rock Desert in Nevada every summer, is always home to dozens of temporary sculptural forms and artistic displays; previous temples have included Wicker Man-like towers and structures inspired by pagodas. The main temple for the 2018 festival was recently revealed – Galaxia, which was designed by University of Westminster professor, owner of FabPub, and frequent Black Rock City installation designer Arthur Mamou-Mani. We enjoy following the London-based architect’s 3D printed work, and his Galaxia temple, constructed of 20 spiraling timber trusses, will be crowned with a 3D printed mandala.The temple will mostly be built off-site by several artists using tools like laser cutters, 3D printers, and robotic drill arms. The distance between the interior trusses will be wide enough to facilitate movement to the structure’s core, so festival attendees can congregate inside. According to the structure’s description, it will celebrate “hope in the unknown, stars, planets, black holes, the movement uniting us in the swirling galaxies of dreams,” and as custom dictates, it will go up in flames on the last night of Burning Man 2018.

Discuss these, and other 3D printing topics, at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

 

 

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