Step 1: enter the online store of a clothing brand. Step 2: choose a garment and its fabric, for example, a denim jacket. Step 3: choose the embroidery that we will wear on the back, both the shape and the colors. Step 4: make the payment. Step 5: receive it at home the next day, at the latest. In this scenario – which is not yet possible, but which, predictably, will be – there is a clear protagonist and it is called 3D printing.
Printing an embroidery on a fabric is another of the brand new possibilities of the so-called additive production, which never stops surprising us (from one month to the next, it goes that fast). If until now we had seen hearts and livers printed in 3D for the study of pathologies, mobile phone cases or teeth aligning splints, the latest of the latest is to decorate any fabric with a 3D printer.
“Let’s imagine what such a solution could mean for the textile industry. “It allows us to produce unique and personalized items and achieve embroidery and designs that until now could not be manufactured with traditional methods,” explains Ronen Zioni, CEO and founder of Excelencia Tech Group, a company that distributes cutting-edge Stratasys technology and supports neophyte companies. in 3D for this type of printing.
At their headquarters, in DFactory Barcelona, ??the cluster dedicated to industry 4.0 of the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium, they have almost all the fabric possibilities of 3D printing on display: “Clients are very interested in this peacock. because it is printed on velvet, and above all, these flowers printed on silk. “This is going to be revolutionary.”
In the same exhibition area, there is also a shelf inhabited by false dentures, but they are not like the usual ones. “These are printed in one go, in a monolithic piece that mixes materials to create support for the palate, gums and teeth,” explains Zioni. Simply scan the patient’s mouth, transfer this digital image to the 3D printer and, in a matter of minutes, you obtain the denture that can be delivered to the patient the next day.
Excelencia Tech Group is responsible, among other things, for distributing the printers to be able to manufacture, for example, dentures like these. In the event that the client cannot afford the machine, they will be responsible for printing the products themselves. “Now, one of the important R&D focuses is being placed on printing materials, especially for the medical sector, since some, such as dentures or ‘glass’ eyes, must exceed the legislation set by the EU, much stricter than that contemplated by the FDA, the Federal Government Agency of the United States, which must qualify them as biocompatible, that is, compatible with the human body to be able to insert them into it.
A step beyond 3D printing with polymers – different types of plastics in a liquid state such as resin, or solid, such as filaments or powder – is the printing of metals, something that not long ago sounded like science fiction. Thanks to these new possibilities, very small parts can be 3D printed with great detail. Its applications range from mechanics to the automotive industry (car parts, vehicle parts such as the eMiles electric quadricycle, also produced at DFactory Barcelona), or aerospace (aircraft parts, rockets…) and medical (hip prosthesis…).
Where are the limits for 3D printing objects? “There aren’t any, they are in creativity,” says Ronen. And this is why the 3D printing market is growing by leaps and bounds: expert forecasts say that its value will go from the current $20.24 billion to $56.21 billion in five years. The reason is none other than the tendency of large manufacturers to increasingly use this technology for mass production.
This boom is due to savings in costs and production times, precise and innovative finishes, new materials on which it can be printed, the decrease in the prices of additive manufacturing machines and the lower impact of this on the environment, since it produces less waste, it is printed from scratch and, therefore, only what is desired is manufactured.
This company, which today is one of the standard-bearers of 3D printing, began its journey in a coworking in Sant Cugat in the middle of the pandemic. After being one of the first to settle in this industry 4.0 cluster, in a space of just 30 square meters, it made the leap to its current office, of about 300 square meters, with the capacity to house printing machines and even a showroom. .
Today it has 24 employees in Spain and also has a presence in Portugal and Israel, with plans to expand into Central and South America, since “the automotive industry is very powerful there,” says Ronen. “Having settled here has allowed us to benefit from this ecosystem and establish important synergies with the same DFactory Barcelona companies. We are partners of Stratasys, focused on polymer printing, or for example, the eMiles quadricycle has been printed by us. And with Picvisa, which is dedicated to waste management, we also have another project underway,” he explains.
The DFactory Barcelona project does not end in this building nor in the thirty companies that are located here. “In this first ship we are almost at the capacity limit. That does not mean that more companies cannot set up shop, but we are already scheduling the construction of the second phase on the lot right in front of the door,” explains Pere Navarro, special delegate of the State in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium. .
“There are companies here that are growing a lot year after year and need more spaces and want them close, because the synergies that are created, the capacity of the economies of scale that are produced and the density of activity, make it very interesting to be here. , both in this building and in the future warehouse,” says Navarro. With this second phase, almost 100 thousand square meters will be dedicated to industry 4.0. at DFactory Barcelona. There is still no date to start construction, but “it will be as soon as possible.”
