First International Installations of the Studio System to Include BMW Group, Weir Group, Soprofame, Edalis, Additive Italia, Jade Groupe and More

BURLINGTON, Mass. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 20, 2019 — Desktop Metal, the company committed to making metal 3D printing accessible to manufacturers and engineers, today announced it has begun shipping its Studio System™ to customers and resellers throughout Europe. The world’s first office-friendly metal 3D printing system for functional prototyping and low volume production, has met with strong adoption in North America among leading companies, including Ford, Stanley Black and Decker, Google’s ATAP, Goodyear, Owens Corning, and John Zink Hamworthy Combustion. Building on that momentum, the Studio System is now CE certified for international compatibility and being installed at customers throughout Europe, including France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

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Desktop Metal is now shipping the Studio System, the world’s first office-friendly metal 3D printing system, to companies throughout Europe. (Photo: Business Wire)

“When Desktop Metal first launched, we set forth a mission to fundamentally change how the world designs and produces metal additively manufactured parts, from functional prototyping to mass manufacturing,” said Ric Fulop, CEO and co-founder of Desktop Metal. “We have been delivering on that vision throughout the U.S. and Canada, and are now ready to step onto the global stage to further accelerate our business expansion and answer the impressive demand of the European market.”

In anticipation of the international expansion, Desktop Metal has been working for more than a year with a select group of strategic customers as early stage evaluators of its technologies. These strategic partners have been a source of key user feedback on benchmark parts, materials, training and system usage. International customers of the Studio System span multiple industries, including automotive, education and defense, as well as service providers of luxury brands and consumer products. Leading companies, including BMW Group in Germany; Politecnico Di Milano, one of the largest technical universities in Europe and Additive Italia srl (Add+It) in Italy; EGIBIDE and Centro Avanzado de Fabricación (IMH) in Spain; Edalis, Soprofame and MSA in France; Weir Group and the city of Sheffield in the UK; Jade Groupe of Portugal, which specializes in metal parts production for the luxury fashion world; and BAZIGOS of Greece, a manufacturing firm specializing in high precision components, are among the first customers to benefit from the ease of use and accessibility provided by the Studio System.

Studio System for Metal Prototyping and Low Volume Production
The Studio System is designed to make metal 3D printing more accessible, enabling design and engineering teams to print metal parts faster, without the need for special facilities, dedicated operators, or expensive tooling. The three-part solution, including printer, debinder and furnace, automates metal 3D printing by tightly integrating through Desktop Metal’s cloud-based software to deliver a seamless workflow for printing complex metal parts in-house—from digital file to sintered part.

To date, Studio Systems worldwide have fabricated more than 10,000 parts, with applications ranging from functional prototyping of extruder nozzles and shock absorber pistons; to jigs & fixtures, including robotic end effectors and smartphone fixtures; to manufacturing tooling of zipper molds inserts and extrusion dies; and low volume production of gears and motor mounts. Each of these benchmark parts has shown drastic cost reduction – some by as much as 90 percent relative to machining and selective laser melting (SLM) – as well as speed in fabrication, producing parts in days instead of weeks or months.

Early Customer Applications and Highlights
Customer feedback on benefits companies can now achieve include:

• Built to Scale: The Studio System offers a 10 times larger sintering volume than competitive systems, which enables cost-effective, low-volume production of metal parts. One Studio furnace supports up to five printers, allowing for batch processing for high throughput.
• Superior Parts: Mechanical properties, material properties, surface quality, feature fidelity, geometry, size, dimensional accuracy – the Studio System considers each of these critical factors with expertly engineered features to ensure great parts.
• Safe for the Office: A key differentiator of the Studio System is that it prevents exposure of solvents to users and does not require external ventilation. The system is designed for use in a range of environments — office, lab, shop — making it easy for any engineer to make metal parts in-house.

France:

• “ Edalis, a unique kind of industrial concierge, is a major player of 3D printing services in France, from project study to production,” said Nicolas Blanchard, Managing Director at Edalis. “Our design office and workshops allow us to deliver final end-use parts. Our choice to invest in the Desktop Metal Studio System is based on our willingness to continue innovating for our customers, complement our quality equipment installed base and be very agile thanks to the easiness and flexibility of this tool.”

• Soprofame is a machining, precision engineering and additive manufacturing expert, for plastic and metal. “We decided to invest in the Desktop Metal Studio System in order to provide our customers a complementary solution to our machining expertise,” said Jean-Baptiste Frenel, Director at Soprofame. “This innovative technology will allow us to answer our customer needs with more effectivity and reactivity, bringing a real value added to our know-how and a differentiating offer in an ever-changing market.”

• Founded in 1985, MSA is a recognized expert of boilerwork, welding and public lighting. “MSA chose to invest in Additive Manufacturing technologies to diversify these offerings and better answer customer solutions,” said Martial Champion, CEO of MSA. “The Studio System will allow us to produce in-house metal parts with a variety of complexities, with more speed and flexibility. Among other AM solutions, the Studio System was the easiest to implement and safer for our operators.”

Greece

• “As a leading molds manufacturing company servicing the largest Greek and multinational customers worldwide that rely on high precision parts, the adoption of the Studio System is a dynamic complement to our expanding plastic and metallic parts production center,” said Mr. Manos Bazigos – Managing Director, N. Bazigos SA. “In addition to rapid metal prototyping for customer products that range from domestic appliances, refrigerators, electric cookers, to lighting and locks, we also see tremendous opportunity for creating molds, jigs and fixtures as well as opening up the avenue of low volume replacement parts for our customers.”

Italy

• Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) is among the largest and leading technical universities in Europe. In the specific area of Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering, POLIMI is ranked 1st in Italy, 3rd in Europe and 7th worldwide. “The Studio System completes the range of metal Additive Manufacturing solutions in our state-of-the-art AddMe lab,” said Bianca Maria Colosimo, Ph.D. Professor, Deputy Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering for Research. “With the Studio System, we will be carrying out several types of research to explore novel solutions for additive manufacturing, including process modeling and optimization, benchmarking with other existing or newly-developed processes, in-situ monitoring and more.”
• Additive Italia is a company specialized in simulation driven engineering and generative design focused on Additive Manufacturing for metals. “Add-it offers a unique complete consultancy for the analysis, development, prototyping and industrialization of metal components, based on Additive Manufacturing,” said Marco Preziosa, CEO. “We selected Desktop Metal technology as we see in this indirect metal 3D printing process the future of manufacturing, bringing speed, flexibility, cost-effectiveness and wide potential of materials choice. Also, Desktop Metal’s huge competencies on the software side will be a key asset to expand Add-it digital solutions.”

Spain

• The Machine Tool Institute (IMH) is an Advanced Manufacturing Center that offers specialized training in Advanced Manufacturing (AM) and Technological / Organizational Innovation services for companies. "At IMH, we are constantly seeking new advanced manufacturing technologies to foster increased innovation among our students and business professionals in the Basque country," said Xabier Cearsolo, AM Department Manager, Centro Avanzado De Fabricacion - IMH . "The Desktop Metal Studio System should quickly become a key educational and training tool for those in the IMH community who are looking to expand their metal 3D printing knowledge and remain ahead of the curve."
• EGIBIDE is a recognized school and training center with 75 years of experience. “Our goal at EGIBIDE is to connect our students with the most advanced tools and know-how of the society of the 21 ^st  century,” said Jon Uriarte, Educator. “We chose to invest in the Desktop Metal Studio System to be at the forefront of metal AM technology. Also, the cost per part and easiness to install and operate – no laser, no powder – will allow improved technology transfer to our region’s companies.”