The huge 3D-printed lamp factory we knew about—but only now get to see...
The Atomic Layers: S5E2 (00118)
Atomic Layer of the Day:
Yesterday, Brad Koerner—former Creative Director at Philips Lighting and currently Marketing Manager at Koerner Design and Megapixel—posted a photo on LinkedIn that quickly went viral within the AM industry community.
The image you see shows the interior of one of Signify's 3D printing factories, packed with 3D printers. These 3D printers are none other than Ultimaker machines, most likely the second-generation models. While this is evident at first glance, I confirmed it by watching several videos released by Signify, where there are numerous close-ups of the 3D printer. By the way, I would like to point out the custom made, extended nozzle.
In case you’re not familiar, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) is a global leader in lighting solutions. It became an independent company in 2016 when Royal Philips spun off its lighting division. Signify focuses on LED products, connected lighting systems, and IoT-enabled solutions. Headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands, it is also one of the leaders in utilizing 3D printing technology for manufacturing lampshades and other lighting accessories.
Returning to the photo—depending on how you count (including assumptions about unseen areas), there are between 150 and 180 3D printers. Erik de Bruijn, co-founder of Ultimaker, commented that company policy is to never boast about such investments. He hinted there are many more such a installations.
I don’t fully understand their restraint in not publicizing such clear successes, but I trust him regarding the scalability.
I remember that in 2016, during the AM Europe trade show in Amsterdam and the subsequent Ultimaker reseller party—which I had the pleasure of attending—many similar projects were already discussed in private conversations. This is why Ultimaker's first cloud solutions were developed: to manage such large 3D printer farms, with their native Philips being one of the initial and natural customers.
If you want to read more about Signify’s 3D printing projects for lamps and lighting accessories, I recommend
’s article on VoxelMatters. It’s long, but interesting…Atomic Layer from the Past:
12-02-2013: Adrian Bowyer introduced a new open-source 3D printer model through his company RepRapPro: the Ormerod.
News & Gossips:
Just a reminder... The formal acquisition of Desktop Metal and Markforged by Nano Dimension was supposed to take place in the fourth quarter of this year. It's December 2nd. Christmas is just three weeks away. Historically, official mergers and acquisitions have occurred even on December 30th or 31st, but I’m just saying... Just in case...
Meanwhile, two weeks ago, BICO announced they were selling NanoScribe, and today—there you go: “BICO Group AB, a leader in bio-convergence solutions, has completed the divestment of Nanoscribe, a micro-scale 3D printing technology developer, to LAB14 GmbH.” See? It can be done...
DigiFabster has launched an AI Quote Agent to handle request for quotations in minutes. The company’s AI-powered quoting agent is designed to help manufacturing shops deliver quotes to customers in much faster time.