HP puts sustainability at centre of Formnext 3D printing announcements

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The number of 3D printing launches and announcements from HP ahead of, and during, this year’s Formnext has been almost impossible to keep up with, but as the company is claiming boldly on its booth in Frankfurt this week, sustainability is the biggest of all.

On the opening day of the event, the company laid out its three-point approach to greener manufacturing, which includes ‘reducing carbon footprint, enabling circularity, and sharing knowledge for more impactful results.’

To achieve those goals, HP explained how it is working with materials partners like Arkema and Evonik to develop more sustainable, high-reusability materials. With Evonik, HP says it is replacing its current PA12 material with the development of a 3D High Reusability PA12 made using renewable energy. The company says the material can help reduce the carbon footprint of commonly used PA12 material by 49% without altering its properties. It's a responsibility, François Minec, HP’s Global Head of 3D Polymers explained, that the company is choosing to take on itself rather than placing onto customers. 

In a bid to make provide more transparency around sustainability in 3D printing, HP also announced the launch of its Carbon Footprint Calculator tool, a software tool that will allow users to get calculate of the carbon footprint of specific printed parts. At Formnext, HP clarified that the calculator will determine a part’s carbon footprint with regards to the printing process, rather than it’s end-to-end lifecycle.

As is now tradition at Formnext, HP company held a briefing yesterday with its key additive manufacturing personnel and partners to provide more details on its latest product introductions. There, Minec shared how sustainability is now a commonplace factor in the majority of customer conversations.

Minec commented: “From high-reusability materials to help brands reduce net zero waste and minimise carbon footprint to offering take-back programs and new tools to calculate carbon footprint we want to help our customers make choices that help our planet and our people.”

This week HP has also introduced two new machines as part of its HP Jet Fusion polymer family. As explained in more detail on this week's Additive Insight podcast, the HP Jet Fusion 5600 Series, which has already been installed by Prototal and Protolabs, is said to offer ‘greater repeatability, reliability, and customisation to help reduce development and validation costs,’ while the lower-cost HP 5000 Solution is designed to lower the entry barrier for smaller and new customers.

"HP is pushing the boundaries of 3D printing with new innovation, expanded capabilities, and a relentless drive to help our partners and customers develop and grow opportunities for more sustainable manufacturing,” stated Savi Baveja, President of Personalization & 3D Printing and Chief Incubation Officer, HP Inc. “We are proud to empower industries to create a greener, more agile future. Our commitment to sustainability is at the core of our vision.”

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Finally HP also unveiled a number of industry partnerships including software collaborations with Materialise to integrate HP’s Multi Jet Fusion and Metal Jet technology into its Materialise CO-AM software platform, and Autodesk which will see Autodesk Fusion bundled with HP Multi Jet Fusion and Metal Jet printers. It also announced new metals partnerships with INDO-MIM, Sandvik, Elnik, and long standing partner GKN Additive.