Inside Forecast 3D's new additive manufacturing facility, which features 12 HP Jet Fusion 4200 3D printers. (Image courtesy of Forecast 3D.)

The clash of additive and subtractive manufacturing is far from over, and the outcome is still uncertain. However, ask anyone in the industry and they’ll tell you: 3D printing doesn’t hold a candle to traditional manufacturing methods like milling and turning when it comes to speed.

That may be changing, however, as companies like Desktop Metal move us beyond metal rapid prototyping to metal additive manufacturing. On the plastic side of things, the biggest news in the last few years is undoubtedly HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) platform, which can produce parts up to 10 times faster than selective laser sintering (SLS) and 100 times faster than fused deposition modeling (FDM).

It’s been just over a year since HP revealed MJF, but we’re already seeing 3D printing service providers enthusiastically adopting it. Case in point, Forecast 3D recently announced the opening of a new 3D Manufacturing Center housing a dozen HP Jet Fusion 4200 3D printers. According to Forecast 3D, this will make it possible to produce many parts faster and for a lower cost than traditional injection mold machines.

“We’ve been among the most ardent supporters of Multi Jet Fusion since it launched, and the positive feedback from our clients has been overwhelming,” said Corey Weber, Forecast 3D co-founder and CEO. “That’s why we’re so excited that our new 3D Manufacturing Center makes us the first company to offer clients a complete, one-stop HP 3D printing solution, allowing us to meet the growing demand for Multi Jet Fusion production and make 3D printing available to an even broader spectrum of companies.”

With the launch of its 3D Manufacturing Center, Forecast 3D now offers a full-process HP 3D printing and manufacturing solution capable of producing over 600,000 end-use production parts per week.

“MJF gives us the capability to print an incredible number of high-quality, engineering-grade parts in a very short period of time, which has transformed the way we think about manufacturing,” Weber added. “These 12 HP 3D printing units now allow us to handle all kinds of full-production schedules for any type of vertical, and do it with speed, cost-efficiency and quality that’s just not possible anywhere else. Multi Jet Fusion is shaping the future of manufacturing, and we’re very proud to be a part of it.”

For more information, visit the Forecast 3D website.