Batch.Works and E3D have signed a strategic commercial partnership to build and run a series of 3D printing farms in the UK and across the world.
The two companies announced earlier this year that they had pooled resources to develop a 3D printer that was made up of 70% fewer components and achieved an 85% reduction in carbon emissions.
Development of this 3D printing system came via the Accelerating
Sustainable Additive Manufacturing Solutions project and following funding from the UK Government’s Smart Grant competition, delivered
by Innovate UK.
Subsequent to the development of the printer, the two companies stated that they were targeting the launch of a Circular Manufacturing-as-a-Service (CMaaS) model. The machine, they said, had been designed for repair, refurbishment, and recycling.
Now, the companies are set to scale this offering internationally, enabling brands, retailers and designers to ‘produce products on-demand, closer to where they are used, with dramatically reduced waste and emissions.’
Through this latest strategic partnership, E3D becomes Batch.Works’ key hardware and farm operations partner in the UK. E3D will build and operate dedicated print farms to produce Batch.Works’ own hardware alongside selected customer products, while Batch.Works will provide ‘circular materials, software and quality standards across the network.’
Users of their CMaaS offering are said to include the likes of Disney, Paul Smith and M&S, with Kibu also tapping the capabilities of the service for the production of its children’s headphones.
“3D printing has always promised local, on-demand manufacturing – this partnership is about making that promise real at scale,” said Julien Vaissieres, CEO of Batch.Works. “By pairing our circular manufacturing platform with E3D’s world-class hardware and operations, we can offer customers an easy way to move away from overproduction and long, fragile supply chains.”
“E3D has spent years pushing the boundaries of extrusion and printer technology,” added Joshua A. Rowley, CEO of E3D-Online. “Working with Batch.Works allows us to apply that expertise to a new generation of circular print farms – enabling customers to manufacture closer to home, with better performance and a much smaller environmental footprint.”
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