Evolve's additive manufacturing system could augment injection molding

A proprietary additive manufacturing technology backed by big-name brands could complement injection molding on factory floors in the near future.

Evolve Additive Solutions Inc.'s selective thermoplastics electrophotographic process (Step) technology allows manufacturers to use thermoplastics and composites for volume production across industries such as automotive, consumer products, industrial and medical, and has steadily garnered attention since its development in 2009.

The technology was part of an incubation project at 3D printer and additive manufacturing machinery maker Stratasys Ltd. before breaking out on its own in 2017. In April, Stratasys officially revealed it was spinning off the technology to form Evolve as an independent company. Stratasys remains a minority shareholder.

On Sept. 17, the Minnetonka, Minn.-based company announced a $19 million equity investment led by the Lego Brand Group — the think-tank arm of the Danish toy maker and the lead investor in Evolve — along with industrial tool and household hardware maker Stanley Black & Decker Inc. and a third undisclosed investor that has been referred to as an "iconic brand" by leadership at Evolve.

"This [investment] really is critical for us to accelerate the development and also commercialize it, getting it ready for production," CEO Steve Chillscyzn, a co-inventor of the Step technology, said in a phone interview.

"Our investors are also very keen on this, as we're strategically aligned, not just to get the technology further down the road, but they would like to use the technology inside of their own organizations," he said. "So, this investment isn't just an investment into the company; it's also an investment to get the technology to commercial [use]."

Earlier this month, Evolve announced it had shipped the first Step system, which is in the alpha development stage, to an undisclosed strategic partner — what the company referred to as a large manufacturer and, again, one with an "iconic brand name," according to the news release.

Evolve will test the system in the alpha stage for 12 months before going into beta testing for an additional 12 months. Chillscyzn said the company is aiming for full commercial development by late 2020.

The Step technology combines the advantages of additive manufacturing with the material, quality and cost advantages of traditional production processes, such as injection molding. Specifically, the process relies on 2D imaging technology along with proprietary intellectual property to align layers and bonding techniques that create fully dense finished parts.

According to the company, the technology touts features such as the ability to use engineering-grade thermoplastics that are amorphous and semi-crystalline; a lower cost per part for short- to medium-batch sizes compared with traditional manufacturing; surface quality with isotropic properties in X, Y and Z directions that are on par with injection molding; and multiple material and full-color printing capabilities.

The system can also be integrated with Industry 4.0 technology and automation equipment.

Bruce Bradshaw, chief business and marketing officer at Evolve, said you could consider it as low-volume injection molding, but high-volume additive manufacturing, with project or print runs averaging between 5,000-20,000.

"In a day or two, I might do 20,000 parts if it's a real small geometry. If it's a larger geometry, I might do 5,000," he said in a phone interview. "Again, it depends: Am I an electronic clip manufacturer or am I an automotive company?"

Unlike competitors in the additive manufacturing space, such as HP Inc., Evolve has no interest in selling machines for prototyping.

"We are 100 percent in manufacturing," Bradshaw said. "This is not taking anything away from HP or anyone else in the space, but we're the only ones right now in this marketplace that is 100 percent set on manufacturing."

In that regard, the company said it wants its machines to sit right alongside injection molding presses, giving manufacturers the ability to do smaller production runs with more flexibility in product design.

But Chillscyzn doesn't want the Step technology to compete with injection molding, but rather to augment the traditional manufacturing process.

"Injection molding is a wonderful technology. It's been around a long time, and it's not going to stop," he said. "It's really, really good for parts at very high volume that are the same part over and over again … but the one thing it doesn't offer is flexibility."

He added: "Changes, part consolidation, lightweighting — there are definitely rules around injection molding that are prohibitive in many ways to the new way of looking at part design."

Chillscyzn said Step technology can give manufacturers the quality level and competitive cost of injection molding with all the flexible attributes of additive manufacturing.

While the future is still unknown, Bradshaw added, the company's vision is clear: to fit into an existing manufacturing facility, right alongside injection molding machines, in a fully automated production cell.

"We're kind of charting new waters," he said. "There are a lot of people who talk about this, but there really hasn't been a technology that can augment injection molding and allow manufacturers to choose what makes the most sense financially for them or speed to market.

"They're never going to get rid of their injection molding machines. They're just going to choose which jobs go on a Step system and which jobs go into the injection molding."