An industry highlight for the world of AM
From 15-18 November 2022 the Ricoh 3D team, in collaboration with Ricoh Futures and HQ R&D section, ventured to Frankfurt, Germany, for the annual Formnext exhibition.
Formnext is the international exhibition and industry highlight for the worldwide Additive Manufacturing community.
For four days, Formnext turned host city Frankfurt into the global capital of industrial 3D printing, or additive manufacturing. And according to the event team, “this year’s exhibition was very much in tune with the times.”
They commented on their website: “As the coronavirus pandemic continues and new political and economic challenges emerge as a result, additive manufacturing can play a key role in decentralizing manufacturing processes and production, making supply chains more resilient, and facilitating resource and energy efficient production in order to get innovative new products onto the market faster.
“A glance at the figures shows just how important Formnext has become. More exhibitors, more visitors, once again many new topics and an innovation-laden atmosphere. We are impressed by the agility of the AM community, which simply won’t stand still.”
Ricoh 3D at Formnext 2022
Ricoh was proud to exhibit its current print service offerings, in addition to news and insights into Ricoh’s new Metal Binder Jetting technology, including a number of parts on display.
A particular highlight for visitors, customers, partners and fellow AM enthusiasts was Ricoh’s customised ‘table football’ centrepiece, with 3D printed figurines, footballs, scoring system and more, designed to demonstrate some of Ricoh’s materials and technologies, not limited to Polypropylene, Nylon 12, ASA and Aluminium, in a variety of ‘finishes’.
RPL’s Additive Manufacturing and Moulding Engineering Manager, Mark Dickin said: “Ricoh have been an ever-present exhibitor at Formnext; this year’s event, for us, was primarily focused on the new Metal Binder Jetting technology.
“The event was extremely successful in terms of lead generation, with the Ricoh team inundated with interested customers.
“Formnext is the largest AM related show on earth, focusing on the latest state of the art within the AM industry, and I am very proud and thankful to who all at Ricoh who helped organise this year’s showcase.”
Myles Jarman, Technical Engineer, added: “Formnext this year had magnitudes more innovation compared to previous years, and in areas that are often overlooked in the AM world; software and materials. It was great to see people heavily investing in the areas surrounding the machinery, like in softwares that optimised part structure to make a part flexible in one direction, and then rigid in the other, and from a materials perspective, a personal highlight, seeing a whole guitar body printed in wood.
“It’s always a good time when you see familiar faces and have a catch up, even if you are in competing companies. We are stronger together.”