Interview Martín Sáez (Materialise Spain): the great possibilities of 3D printing
In dentistry, 3D printing, together with the evolution of intraoral scanner or laboratory, has been essential to perfect replicas of the patients mouth. This directly affects the final or temporary part because the printed reference model will serve as a dimensional and so the pieces would be perfect placed the patient. A exact replica of the mouth, best fit of the part or parts to rehabilitate. 3D printing is also the basis of the new guided surgery system, enabling you to print custom splints were placed in patient's mouth for further surgery.
Can we talk about new applications in the field of maxillofacial prosthetics, cell prints, food and many of the applications being developed and will arrive in the near future. Therefore it is important to know the possibilities and the market in general, know the materials they are made, industry trends.
For a general real and first-hand view, it is necessary to know the experience of a company who lives the market daily. Martín Sáez Materialise is representative of Spain, industry leader internationally with over 25 years experience in rapid manufacturing and rapid prototypipng, lead developer of new applications and research of new business models within the system. We have been fortunate to receive at our facility.
For landing this article without knowing the 3D printing sector. What is the current business model?
We see 3D printing as an alternative to traditional methods. Currently, rapid prototyping or rapid manufacturing of objects (which are not always prototypes) and low-volume manufacturing is the main activity. A third business model, where we do not, that is the 3D printers for home use. It is interesting, but we have 3D printers that have a dimensional rigor: we want a glass manufactured today, in a year or two exactly alike. If not, for us it is not 3D printing.
Is the activity related to rapid manufacturing focuses on a particular sector?
Right now there is some saturation in the manufacture of simple machines. But in terms of important possibilities we must consider the materials to facilitate the rapid manufacturing, first. In environments of components less than 5 x 5 cm and 3,000 units, digital printing is still lame. Studies in universities in the UK, Germany, or Materialise own to improve this. We do not want to compete with the tools, it's absurd. We compete in a really interesting for us, it is the lowest volume (3,000-5,000 units) focus. The radical change is getting in logical environments investment (about one million euros), to make faster. That's where I would invest my money.
The second point to consider is the materials that we use the standard used in the industry the last 25 years, must be metal or plastic.
Then all the new materials that appear have not been a good investment, is not the ideal material still exists?
In my opinion, that is not the official Materialise, has made ??a mistake: losing a lot of time developing new materials (digital) for current machines. And it has not done the most important thing, which is to seek machines with standard materials can be manufactured quickly. This is a 'gap' for which has not yet found a solution. And the solution may be is not optimized for production.
Still, there is a wide range of possibilities: customized products, prototypes ...
In the manufacturing context, it is. In Materialise, which are manufacturing are low volume productions. We do not make a production of 50,000 units. Any type of geometry that has a rating or worthwhile function, produce by the digital printing why produce it by traditional methods can be very difficult or very costly.
You move beyond the products or "typical" applications of 3D printing What would you highlight as the most interesting projects?
We are working on two very interesting areas. One is the biomedical, for example to improve the functionality of some type of instrumentation. Or sometimes versions of a product manufactured economically. In another area we are working on is manufacturing components for drones (unmanned aircraft), for civil use (forest service), manufacturing parts as rigorously geometric but weigh much less. Having an aircraft is far more expensive than having a drone flying 24hrs. The aviation industry also allows us subministrar parts for manned aircraft by the appearance of new "standard" materials that had not before. They related to what we were talking about earlier, are standardized material, thereby certifying a little "expensive" but achieved relatively quickly. Such flame retardant materials.
So I can print me a drone? What about files that can be found online? What happens if a guy a gun at home is printed?
This is like if I print an implant and I wear it. And then I complain why I've copied the implant of your web. You have done nothing wrong. There is a parallel to the music industry, this file should be free for anyone to dispose of it legally and then can print the object. If you're not committing a crime or a violation. This is what is now starting to regulate.
The interesting thing about this new business sector that appears, the positive side. Designers. We work for New York artists to create a sculpture that can be played to the extent desired. We make and create proportional performing from that source. This sculpture has your exact measurements and it is licensed by the sculptor. We sell and who receives some royalties is the sculptor. It's a new business model for 3D printing.
In fact, dentistry works with "works of art" products each patient, but these have a definition specifications and very high precision, is a handicap for you?
It is a consideration and a positive differentiator. But it is also a complication. It depends on the job you get, if for prototyping or manufacturing is usually the 3D client. We take the file and inform the customer of tolerance and manufacture. If the part is within these tolerances machine, workpiece, or yes, is correct. Instead manufacturing customers who send us the file and want to hire our services have to send the 3D and 2D, in which are all tolerances and dimensions that define a piece as acceptable. In these cases of 1,000 units, it may happen that the pieces correctly to have to do 1,200. So from an economic point of view, they lack something in 3D printers, because that costs money. This is not an error at the company level but at the level of user technology itself. We have things to improve.
The dental industry is experiencing a revolution in the use of 3D replica of the patient's mouth and make completely digital process.
Does the dental sector is particularly relevant in the market? How do you see from the inside?
Materialise developed a specific company in the industry, Materialise Dental, which sold two years ago to use those resources for other areas we are developing. We also have a link with a company of your sector of the same city as Materialise, a department focused on titanium prosthesis. There is an increase in the visible and very sharp dentistry.
Another thing that is used in dentistry hand print is the scanner, what does it matter?
Today technology is present, but you must pay for it. And with all due respect, any tool is called 3D scanner, and this must be careful. If we parallelism, for us a 3D printer is one that is worth less than 150,000 to 200,000 €. The others are other solutions, very respectable, but not for manufacturing.
Speaking of the persistent increase in customized product, is a clear example of the success of 3D printing?
Yes, for example in the leg prosthesis, customization is total. Dentures are made ??for each patient But we never thought that there is no pretense of fashion. Formerly, the man who lost a leg to what was generally hides: preferred to say "I'm lame" to "I'm missing a leg." Today, and is something that I welcome, there is a change. People who have had the misfortune, not hiding: see the beach a man who not only wears shorts, but also takes the prosthesis without the established characteristic that gives the natural geometry We are in an intermediate portion. between costumización by measure and geometric own. I mean, there are people with a particular geometry of the name recordings and other requests. In this case there is an advantage for 3D printing. [...]
There are many anecdotes. A colleague has a personalized phone case, and it cost 40 euros. Some people are amazed and give importance to this issue. Turning to more technical fields, we are doing much on the issue of guidelines for prosthesis. With a sister company and we directly implant titanium implant. They are unique and custom parts.
Finally, what is your vision, from an insider's perspective of where we are going?
All we want is to launch a message of prudence. We took a few years in this area and have seen things move very quickly and safely. But we have also seen major failures. This sector calls to investors, or our own company, and the only way to get a lot of capital investment is by listing or capitalizing. What is wrong? The need for rapid return on investment appears. Seeing a quarterly result. This is what really disturbs us, we believe that the business opportunity is based on the improvement of the common good, ie the prosthesis bearing either a man for life, so you only need surgery. In these cases we work in a different way, we try to link the awareness of some of our projects, modestly, being part of "something."
I could mention several projects in our territory (Barcelona), such as a method of locating mines, a "drone tractor" that analyzes the ground quickly and can locate such devices. O eye surgery for children: Barcelona is a company working on a solution that allows the first surgery is final. Print this sector can bring great news.
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