HP eyes custom orthotics market to push 3D printing systems Watch Now

HP Inc has launched a new industrial 3D printer and extended its additive manufacturing alliances with Siemens and BASF.

The company has unveiled its HP Jet Fusion 5200 Series 3D printer, which it said will deliver high-quality parts at industrial levels of efficiency and accuracy. Some of the components of the printer are themselves 3D-printed, such as the part below, which uses vibration to fluidise powder: 3D printing allowed it to be redesigned to reduce the assembly from 30 parts to just six.

SEE: Sensor'd enterprise: IoT, ML, and big data (ZDNet special report) | Download the report as a PDF (TechRepublic)

HP Inc said that companies in the automotive, industrial, consumer goods and manufacturing sectors are testing out applications for the printer, including Jaguar Land Rover and wind turbine maker Vestas.

Image: HP Inc

Jaguar Land Rover said it will use the printer "to better understand opportunities to unlock new application areas whilst supporting investigations to advance the productivity, efficiency and reliability of the technology", while Jeremy Haight, senior principal engineer of emerging technologies at Vestas, said: "The combination of new 3D printing materials and technology breakthroughs is a significant step toward unlocking new design possibilities, streamlining our manufacturing, and improving environmental sustainability."

HP Inc and Siemens are also expanding their alliance, integrating HP's 3D printing and data intelligence platform with Siemens' Digital Enterprise software portfolio. The aim is to allow customers to bring 3D-printed parts to market faster, and set up digital factory environments.

The expanded offering integrates hardware, software, data intelligence, and services to optimise the efficiency of the manufacturing process, from design and simulation through production planning, execution, quality, and control, HP Inc said.

Image: HP Inc

Martin Goede, head of technology planning and development at Volkswagen, which works with both companies, said: "As one of the world's largest auto groups, we see enormous opportunities for digital manufacturing technologies to speed our innovation cycle, bring new products to market faster, and improve our manufacturing efficiency and sustainability."

HP and Siemens said they will align their future technology roadmaps around ongoing digital manufacturing, and will explore new applications in areas such as personalisation, fluid dynamics optimisation, and energy absorption.

HP is also extending its relationship with BASF to deliver materials certified by the chemical company for HP's new 3D printing system.