AddiFab and Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials are excited to announce their strategic partnership. Starting in the later half of 2020, Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials will offer services based on Freeform Injection Molding from three locations.
AddiFab is a Danish 3-D printing pioneer, who has invented a new technology called Freeform Injection Molding. Freeform Injection Molding (FIM) is based on 3D-printed injection mold inserts. This is an emerging new tool for injection molders, who want to offer the same design capabilities as 3D printing, but the same strength in finished parts as traditional injection molding.
“Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials is leading the field of metal replacement polymers”, says Randy White, Chief Innovations Officer. “We quickly realized that Freeform Injection Molding would allow us to offer entirely new levels of light-weighting, and we have been working with AddiFab to bring our KyronMAX™ materials onto the FIM platform. When we were able to drive an 8,000-pound pick-up truck onto a KyronMAX™ lattice weighing only 70 grams, we knew we were onto something”.
“AddiFab has built Freeform Injection Molding to break key injection molding constraints”, says Lasse Staal, AddiFab CEO. “FIM lets the injection molder create injection-molded objects with the same design freedom offered by conventional 3D-printing. At the same time, we have brought 3D-printing lead-times and start-up costs to the injection molding industry, without compromising on the choice of materials”.
The partnership between Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials and AddiFab is the natural next step in the collaboration that was established in 2019 and demonstrates the commitment of the parties to lead the field of high-end low-volume manufacturing. Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials will be offering Freeform Injection Molding to select customers from its Mesa, Arizona plant starting early Q3, and facilities in Tielt (Belgium) and Nagoya (Japan) will follow later in 2020.
“At AddiFab, we are thrilled to be teaming up with the world’s NO. 1 in metal replacement materials”, says Lasse Staal. “We look forward to working with Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials on adding entirely new dimensions to the fields of generative design and topology optimization, and to redefining the way metal replacement materials are used in weight reductions.
About Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials:
Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials is a leading global manufacturer of high-performance thermoplastic materials in the form of semi-finished products and finished parts. The company has locations in 20 countries and more than 2,800 employees. Its specialty engineering thermoplastics and composites are superior in performance to metals and other materials and are used in a wide range of applications, primarily in the capital goods industry. The company is continuously developing new areas of applications in close cooperation with industry leaders in a broad variety of customer markets. The Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Group is well prepared to further expand its market leadership position.
About AddiFab:
AddiFab is an emerging leader in the additive manufacturing industry and manufactures 3D-printers, post-processing equipment, software and materials to the manufacturing industry. Freeform Injection Molding – the company’s flagship platform – combines the short lead-times, low start-up costs and design freedom from additive manufacturing with the scalability and wide range of materials from injection molding. This enables customers to dramatically shorten times-to-launch, increase customization levels and reduce supply chain complexity. AddiFab has offices in both Jyllinge, Denmark and in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley in the United States. For more information about AddiFab, visit www.addifab.com
For further info please feel free to contact:
Lasse Staal, AddiFab co-founding CEO (lgs@addifab.com, (+45) 2680.3210)
Randy White, Chief Innovations Officer (randyw@mcam.com, (+1) 480.926.8100)