HP Inc. is opening more than a dozen 3D Printing Reference and Experience Centers across North America and Europe to promote its Jet Fusion 3D Printing technology.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP is working with several partners on the centers, officials said in a news release issued May 8 at the start of the Rapid + TCT 3D printing trade show in Pittsburgh. Testing and qualification of new 3D printing projects will take place in controlled environments, officials said. Doing so will help customers advance from prototyping to full scale 3D production, they added.
In the United States, HP is adding 3D centers in Allentown, Pa.; Atlanta; Corvallis, Ore.; Livonia, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; Manchester, Conn.; Vancouver, Wash.; and Carlsbad, Milpitas, Palo Alto and San Diego, Calif.
European centers will be located in Raon-l'Étape, France; Leonberg, Germany; Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Barcelona, Spain; and Birmingham, England.
HP also announced that it has added Henkel AG & Co. as a global materials supplier for its 3D printing open platform. HP already works with several materials firms, including Arkema, BASF, Evonik, and Lehmann & Voss.
Henkel, based in Düsseldorf, Germany, is focusing development on providing novel powder materials for use with HP Jet Fusion 3D printers. Henkel researchers will work with HP at the firm's applications lab in Corvallis.
“With our broad material portfolio and customer base across diverse industries, Henkel is able to champion custom 3D solutions through various functional applications,” Henkel executive Michael Todd said in the release. Todd serves as global vice president and head of innovation and new business development for Henkel's adhesives unit.
HP's open 3D printing platform model helps expand the availability of new materials and address a broader set of applications, officials said. The platform also lowers materials and development costs and drives speed and performance improvements, they added.
Also at Rapid + TCT, HP announced the formation of a 3D printing global reseller program. The program will have more than 30 selected, trained and certified partners to expand availability and delivery of its 3D printing solutions.
