Let’s start by talking about you. How was 3D4MEC created?
3D4MEC is a young company, established in 2016, as a spin-off of the family business that has been operating in the automation sector – packaging, to be precise – for over forty years.
It was my father’s intuition to look at this new technology as a new business opportunity, a technology that I was familiar with, because in 2013 I had bought myself a 3D printer.
The initial idea was to buy machinery that already existed in the market, but then we decided to focus on the production of 3D printing machines for metals. We were among the first and quickly carved out an important position for our company in the sector, expressly due to our background.
After all, we are in the right place: Emilia, the motor and packaging valley. All this has been playing in our favour, because we are immersed in an environment of driven innovation that requires and encourages us to constantly raise the standard of our solutions.
Printers for the mechanical sector?
Not only that… We have many areas of application. We have to consider that additive manufacturing is an established technology, but what makes the difference, the real innovation, is represented by the materials used and the fields of application: motorsport, aeronautics, but also fashion and design… We will participate as a technical partner of an exhibitor in the Salone Satellite, in the next Salone del Mobile (Furniture Exhibition): this makes us extremely proud of the path that 3D4MEC is taking.
What are the advantages of additive manufacturing?
Additive manufacturing is certainly not an inexpensive technology, but it ensures excellent qualitative performances, savings in the use of materials (which are themselves very expensive) and shortening of the prototyping process time… For this reason, it is also used in prototyping for Formula 1, for dental and biomedical applications and in the fashion industry. This is not bad… of course, if you work well. And that is one of our strengths. We like to say that we help big enterprises understand how to innovate. With our solutions, we directly enter into the Research & Development departments of our customer companies and we bring innovation where it is needed. We are “accelerators” of manufacturing processes.
| “… with our solutions, we directly enter into the R&D departments of our customer companies and we bring innovation where it is needed. We are “accelerators” of manufacturing processes …” |
Please, tell us about your production
In 2017, we made the first prototype to use stainless steel powders and so 3D4STEEL was created. This printer for the treatment of steels enables to produce components with very high quality, material savings and very short production time. Excellent application in industrial automation for packaging and in mechanical manufacturing.
Beside this printer, we propose our 3D4BRASS, which processes brass and is a really innovative product. It is the first 3D printer in the world capable of processing this metal. It is suitable for making prototypes for the valve sector, but it is also perfect for the tapware industry, because it allows the production of high-end products with special designs that are impossible to achieve by using other production technologies. Finally, it also fits very well in the sector of fashion design and accessories to produce exclusive limited-edition items and protect a product from counterfeiting attempts.
You will exhibit this product offering at 34.BI-MU. What do you expect from the exhibition?
We have already participated in BI-MU and we have been very pleased with our presence in the piùAdditive area, sponsored by AITA (Italian Association of Additive Technologies). In this sense, BI-MU is unique for us. There, we meet customers with very concrete requests for turnkey projects. The audience is certainly not amateurish, as is the case of other events in Italy and also abroad. Let’s be clear: we are well aware that innovation must be available to everyone and so we welcome the curious, who are also visiting BI-MU, but these are operators linked to industry or advanced craftsmanship. At BI-MU, we find a knowledgeable and well-informed audience: exhibitors and visitors, to whom we can propose our killer application. This is why, in the two-year period 2023-2024, it is the only event we have decided to attend in Italy and abroad. We are ready, not long to go before the start: see you at BI-MU!
Interview released in March 2024.
