There’s something poetic about writing a virtual ‘through the doors’ piece about a business that really gained momentum making thousands of PPE items for NHS staff in the depths of 2020. And while, mercifully, it was the UK’s unreliable rail system rather than a pandemic that switched an in-person meeting at Batch.Works’ London-based microfactory to a remote one over Teams, the ability to adapt and react to a need, is very much part of this story.
The London Borough of Hackney isn’t exactly where you might expect to find a manufacturing facility. But then, Batch.Works, a product design and manufacturing company with its own in-house additive manufacturing (AM) platform, doesn’t look like your typical manufacturing facility either. Nor is it a 3D printing company, as CEO Julien Vaissieres tells me.
“We’ve always wanted to be outside the 3D printing world because our intention was always to work with the customer and the customer need, and then tweak and use the technology to make that work for them,” Vaissieres says.
From an unassuming street, through the glass double doors, the realisation of that vision is clear.
