Pulisheng Hou Feng: The spirit of craftsmanship in 3D printing is to constantly innovate

Feng Hou, Chairman of Shanghai Prismlab Technology Co., Ltd. (Prismlab), has 25 years of R&D and operation experience in the field of optoelectronics. He invented the world’s first “ultra-large format” photosensitive resin 3D printer, and successfully solved the problem by industrialized methods. The problem of personalized manufacturing has led the development trend in the field of light-curing 3D Printing with technological innovation. Lifelike dolls of various colors, dazzling and gorgeous jewelry, exquisitely crafted miniature palaces, hollowed out and complex lamps…Don’t be confused by the sights before you and think that you have entered the museum. If you take a closer look, you will find that every exquisite baby is made of resin material, and it is a 3D printed model. This is the product exhibition room of Shanghai Pulisheng Electromechanical Technology Co., Ltd. The development of 3D printing to this day is no longer a new term. Simply put, it is based on digital model files, using powdered metal or plastic and other bondable materials to construct objects through layer-by-layer printing and rapid prototyping. Technology.

“No matter how complex the object is, as long as the designer can provide accurate digital model files, we are confident that we can print exactly the same. At present, the company uses advanced surface projection micro-nano 3D printing technology to make the customization of complex parts easier and production The speed is also dozens of times faster than the “two-photon micro-nano 3D printing technology”.” The company’s chairman Hou Feng said that in the past two years in the Songjiang District Cultural and Creative Souvenir Contest, many excellent cultural and creative products were produced by “Pulisheng” 3D printed and processed.

Walking into the 3D printer room is even more breathtaking. A cabinet that is taller than a vertical refrigerator stands side by side. Through the black glass cabinet door, you can clearly see the warm orange light glowing inside, and a few silver pillars circling around in a hurry. Tai Chi. Opening the door, the light poured out, but it was surprisingly discovered that the most dazzling thing was not the busy silver pillar, but the little fluorescent light on the tray below, which became clear little by little in the disillusionment. It turns out that they are all dentures being printed. Feng Hou particularly emphasized that these tooth models are mainly used for dental restorations and orthodontics. They are highly customized and can perfectly match the patient’s oral cavity. The 3D printer produced by the company has now entered the C-end application market from the initial printing display model. The next development goal is to create a real “black light factory” and liberate the front-line labor force.

Obama’s speech made his business start again. As early as 1983, American scientist Charles Hull invented the light-curing forming technology and manufactured the world’s first additive manufacturing component. This should be the prototype of 3D printing. Ten years later, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology was patented. Since then, the concept of 3D printing has been formally proposed. 3D printing entered a period of rapid development in 2013. In this year, US President Obama delivered a State of the Union speech to emphasize the importance of additive manufacturing. Related manufacturing industries around the world have begun to deploy additive manufacturing industries and expand their territory.

Hou Feng also changed careers this year and caught the express train of the 3D printing industry. Before 2013, Hou Feng had led a team of more than 100 people in the photo printing equipment industry for 10 years, and he even ranked among the top three in the world. “But in this era of rapid change, what destroys you often has nothing to do with you.” These words sound arrogant, but they are facts, revealing the basic laws of the advancement and development of the entire human world.

“There is a popular joke on the Internet that vividly ridiculed the fact that the sales of Master Kong and Uni-President instant noodles have fallen sharply, but their rivals are really not their peers, but the food delivery industry; Nikon’s withdrawal from China is not Canon, but smartphones. ; It is not the police who kill the thieves, but WeChat and Alipay. In this era of cross-border robbery and rapid change, you can never imagine the next competitor.” Hou Feng said with emotion. With the decline of the original industry, Hou Feng’s original enterprise also encountered an unprecedented crisis.

It was Obama’s speech that allowed him to keenly capture the business opportunity, and he founded the “Pulisheng Electromechanical Technology Co., Ltd.” and began to lay out the “high-speed 3D printing” territory. Create a “black lamp factory” and liberate front-line labor. Summarizing the current situation of China’s 3D printing market in the past two years, Hou Feng said in five words: “The changes are too great.” He believes that the current situation in the Chinese market cannot be ignored is: 3D printing equipment The production is far ahead, the material research and development is in the second place, and the application is far behind the development of equipment and materials, and it is still in the embryonic stage of exploration. How does 3D printing really open up the application market? Feng Hou believes that since 3D printers are born for personalization, the equipment itself must be personalized. The reason why Plysun has been able to rapidly grow into an industry leader in just a few years is to give full play to its advantages in the simultaneous production of 3D printing equipment and consumables, and to innovate by adhering to the advanced concept of “application traction, material innovation, and equipment support” application. Generally speaking, it means “first discover new applications, then develop personalized materials for this application, and further develop personalized printers for this specific application and material, and finally provide supporting solutions. Let the equipment adapt to users, Instead of letting users adapt to the device.”

For example, the most popular doll ornaments on the market now have the main problems that they are high in printing cost, slow in speed, easy to change color, and the material has no texture. Based on this, Presun has developed a resin material with a plaster-like texture, which solves the problems of discoloration and yellowing. The problems in the medical industry are similar. For example, dentures, because of cost and production efficiency issues, the industry only provided model printing services. After several years of exploration, the 3D printing equipment developed by Plyson has reached C2C, that is, directly facing the production standard of customer service, completing design effects that are difficult to achieve by manual modeling, and is currently building a factory in Wuxi. In the near future, the legendary “Black Light Factory” will be born. At that time, only two technicians will be required to maintain the equipment in the huge workshop. The most important production tasks will be completed by 3D printing robots. “There is no need for three shifts, no lighting, and uninterrupted production 24 hours a day.” Hou Feng said confidently. Father’s craftsmanship is the magic weapon for his life. On the walls of Pulisheng’s open office area, the development goal of “becoming the world’s number one brand of 3D printing business applications” is particularly eye-catching. The following sentence is often used by Hou Feng with employees. In the words of mutual encouragement, “There are no four seasons in life, only two seasons. Working hard is the peak season, and not working hard is the off-season.” Hou Feng is the company’s famous desperate Saburo, “996” and “white plus black” are his normal work patterns. He said that this rigor and devotion to work comes from his father’s words and deeds.

Hou Feng’s father was a professor at East China Textile Institute and an expert on Chinese pattern fabrics. “When I was a child, I used to go to my father’s laboratory to play. I saw the earliest hand loom. The shuttle was thrown over with a snap, and the two warp yarns would cross each other… It is independently controlled, but my father can always weave meticulously and accurately, and almost never makes mistakes.” Hou Feng remembers the scene 40 years ago still fresh: “My father has studied patterned fabrics for a lifetime and has long been familiar with theoretical teaching, but What impressed me most was the scene of his rigorous preparation before each class. Every class was like this and never neglected. I think this is the craftsman spirit of that era.” Today, the technology industry talks about craftsman spirit again, Hou Feng I feel that it is not only embodied in hand-made, but also embodied in innovation. In early 2016, Songjiang initiated and took the lead in launching the construction of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor. At the same time, it proposed to move from “Made in Songjiang” to “Created in Songjiang”. For Hou Feng and his team, this is undoubtedly the best development opportunity. He said: “3D printers will definitely change the world according to everyone’s ideas, but before 3D printing can change the world, 3D printing must first change itself. All our work is to change the 3D printer itself. You are not yourself. Innovate, if you don’t change yourself, you can only wait for others to revolutionize you.”