Interview with HP | Building 3D Printing Industry Ecosystem, Unlocking New Kinetic Energy of Digital Manufacturing

During the epidemic, HP’s 3D Printing business and partners in the medical field jointly printed more than 4 million medical application parts. 4 million is an amazing number. How does HP get into the medical 3D printing field? In fields other than medical care, what achievements have HP made? How will these achievements promote the digital transformation of Chinese manufacturing companies?

“3D Printing World” had the honor to interview Mr. Alex Lalumiere, general manager of HP’s 3D printing and digital manufacturing business in Asia Pacific and Japan, and Mr. Huang Hua, general manager of HP’s 3D printing and digital manufacturing in Greater China. Through their introductions, everyone should be familiar with HP Learn more about 3D printing strategy and digital manufacturing. Alex Lalumiere, general manager of HP 3D printing and digital manufacturing business in Asia Pacific and Japan, Huang Hua, general manager of HP 3D printing and digital manufacturing in Greater China

Flexible, precise, and customizable, 3D printing technology empowers medical applications in multiple fields

Nowadays, in the traditional medical market, the materials produced in batches in factories can no longer meet the needs of patients. Individual patients have obvious differences and complex body tissues. Material-assisted treatments that are more suitable for the pathological characteristics of patients are required. 3D printing technology relies on its individualization. The advantages of, small batch and high precision can easily solve the contradiction between the individual needs of the health industry and the scale of production. HP’s 3D printing products have mature applications in the fields of dentistry, rehabilitation, and orthopedics, and provide key components for medical equipment worldwide. The valve produced by HP’s 3D printing technology looks small, but it plays an indispensable role in the entire ventilator. Through its efficient distribution of oxygen, the breathing ability of critically ill patients can be further strengthened. At the same time, HP has also cooperated with some large American dental appliance manufacturers to provide them with 3D printed orthodontic appliances.

Looking at the development of 3D printing in China, HP also plays an important leading role. In 2019, HP and Haig Technology, a leading domestic 3D printing and digital application solution provider, reached a strategic partnership in the orthopedics and rehabilitation industry. The personalized custom orthotics and rehabilitation aids designed and developed by Haig Technology use HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology to provide customers with a one-stop solution for the design and manufacture of customized orthopedics and rehabilitation products. Combining Haig Technology’s research on the rehabilitation and orthopedic industry, product development and design capabilities and the technical advantages of the HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing system, it provides patients with highly customized rehabilitation orthoses for stroke orthopedic rehabilitation and arm muscle atrophy rehabilitation And finger rehabilitation exercises, etc. to bring help. Thanks to the strengths of 3D printing technology, HP gives medical products design freedom and depth of production scale, and emphasizes product functionality and comfort. During the epidemic, HP not only printed more than 4 million key medical parts worldwide; it also cooperated with the local company Peak to send mask adjusters to doctors and nurses in many hospitals in Hubei Province to ease wearing The discomfort caused by the mask for too long. These fully reflect the wide application and scale of HP’s 3D printing products in the medical field.

Expand the application scenarios of the underlying technology to promote the digital transformation of China’s manufacturing industry

In China and the world, the manufacturing industry is facing a wave of digitization, and the trend of traditional manufacturing being gradually replaced by digital manufacturing and additive manufacturing has emerged. Under this wave, what role does HP play in promoting the digital transformation of Chinese manufacturing enterprises? Mr. Alex Lalumiere believes that China is the world’s largest manufacturing center. Chinese companies have unparalleled competitiveness in the field of traditional manufacturing. Although traditional manufacturing cannot be completely replaced by 3D printing, 3D printing can be used as a supplementary technology to help traditions. The manufacturing industry expands more applications and finds more application scenarios, allowing Chinese manufacturing companies to find more advantages in a better environment. “China has been at the forefront of global technology in the field of big data and the Internet of Things, regardless of whether it is commercial interconnection, industrial interconnection, or 5G. These underlying technologies can be combined with 3D printing technology to allow 3D printing technology to be used in more scenarios. It has landed.” Mr. Huang Hua added. He believes that Hewlett-Packard’s technology and products can promote the digitalization of China’s manufacturing in many ways. As a company with a global perspective, HP is well versed in the development of the global 3D printing market and can provide targeted solutions for Chinese manufacturing companies. At the same time, HP is also willing to work with other partners in the industry to apply 3D printing to more terminal products to promote the transformation and upgrading of China’s traditional manufacturing industry.

HP 3D printing technology can not only help the traditional manufacturing industry better solve the existing bottlenecks, but also promote the transformation and upgrading of other related industries. HP focuses on the popularization and promotion of 3D printing technology, so that the market has a better understanding of the technical capabilities and application prospects of 3D printing. Mr. Alex Lalumiere said that HP hopes to provide customers with accurate and reliable 3D printing solutions to promote the real landing of digital production in the manufacturing industry. This goal is not only in China, but HP hopes to become a global driver and driver of the digitalization of traditional manufacturing industries. Practitioner. Digital manufacturing is a brand new market. In order to break through and create this new market, HP will communicate and coordinate on a global scale on the basis of full cooperation with existing partners, explore broader and deeper cooperation, and continue to innovate on the basis of existing advanced technologies. , To provide the market with diverse and comprehensive innovative solutions.

Cooperate to build an industry ecosystem and accelerate the global digital manufacturing process. HP will continue to expand the frequency and scale of digital manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region. Through new technologies, materials, services, software and other aspects, HP’s 3D printing solution HP MultiJet Fusion will be applied to The customer’s specific production practices. At present, HP’s 3D printing technology is mainly used in medical and health, automotive, industrial applications and other fields. In the future, it will continue to promote the implementation of this technology in more scenarios and industries. In addition, HP is carrying out a series of quality management practices to help customers integrate 3D printing technology with existing manufacturing processes, promote business cooperation with various industries in China, Asia-Pacific and even the world, build an industry ecosystem, and accelerate the global digital manufacturing process. 3D printing technology is still in the development stage, and digital manufacturing is a huge incremental market. From this perspective, whether it is upstream and downstream of the industry, or between different industry ecology, it is necessary to work together to realize the new development of the industry. Therefore, HP China is working hard to do three things well:

• First, let more people understand the advantages of 3D printing technology;
• Second, promote technology so that more people can use HP’s solutions;
• Third, help more people make good use of 3D printing technology, and promote the in-depth application of 3D printing in several vertical industries such as medical care, consumer products, and automobiles. To this end, HP is actively building an industry ecosystem and accelerating the process of digital manufacturing in China. On the one hand, HP’s global partnership with Siemens, BASF and other companies will land in China; on the other hand, HP is also actively promoting cooperation with local partners such as JD.com to promote industry progress through comprehensive domestic and foreign partnerships. In addition, HP has also established education-related cooperation mechanisms with many domestic universities to train professional design talents and equipment operators to lay a talent foundation for the development of the industry.

Written at the end, as far as the current situation is concerned, 3D printing technology and traditional manufacturing technology have their own strengths and weaknesses, and each plays an important role in the macro-industry structure. Under the great changes in manufacturing technology, how will the relationship between 3D printing and traditional manufacturing develop in the future? In the incremental market of manufacturing, we expect HP to continue to make breakthroughs in technology to unlock more digital manufacturing capabilities. “3D Printing World”-a professional reading material for China’s 3D printing industry (click to read online) search for the official WeChat account: “3D Printing World”, fresh, informative and in-depth 3D printing information, all in the 3D printing world!