Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[chipboarder]

In the manufacturing world, the Holy Grail is achieving an economic order quantity of one...in other words, there is no cost penalty associated with a production order of 1 verses a production order of 10,000. That said, current processing of BMG parts requires extensive tooling with associated costs and lead times. This brings me to the next point..

3D printing of parts avoids the tooling issue and reduces everything to software. Change the program and change the part. This opens up opportunities for "one of a kind manufacturing" in applications like dental or joint replacement or whatever. Scan the need, translate it to the software and print the part that exactly fits the need.

I know there are patents in CIP that detail 3D printing of parts from BMG but I haven't read them yet. Is there a fusion step after 3d printing to strengthen the part? Tricky part to fuse without creating crystalline areas in the finished part.

This seems like a tremendous opportunity.