Evolve Additive Solutions has shipped the company’s first SVP system, which was sold to a customer in Europe. This past week, crating was completed and the massive production machine was loaded on the truck for delivery to the client.

The company’s proprietary STEP (Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process) technology is a scaled volume production-ready manufacturing platform. The sale of the machine was finalized in late 2020. Due to confidentiality the client’s name and terms of the sale were not disclosed.

It is known that Evolve has received $19 million in funding through an equity investment round led by the LEGO Brand Group. The news of the investment round, which also saw participation from Stanley Black & Decker Investments and one other investor (undisclosed), followed Evolve’s recent announcement that it had shipped its first STEP additive manufacturing system to a client for Alpha development.

Evolve Additive Solutions also partnered with Evonik to formulate Evonik’s thermoplastic materials to be used in Evolve’s STEP additive manufacturing solutions. The initial development efforts focus on polyamide 12, PEBA, transparent polyamide, and polymer of the polyamide 6 series. In the future, the combined efforts will result in a wider range of materials for STEP users with more 3D printing material choices for production that are commonly used in traditionally manufactured products.

The undisclosed first commercial customer purchased the SVP (Scalable Volume Production) system aiming for factory flexibility, improved time to market, supply chain resiliency, and the ability to produce products that otherwise could not be manufactured with traditional injection molding methods.

The customer’s application includes the use of multicolor capabilities and a wide range of materials. “This global system sale marks a significant milestone in our commercialization” stated Steve Chillscyzn, CEO and Founder of Evolve. “Not only did our first customer purchase the SVP platform but the sale also included software and materials. We are very excited to work with this organization and start to see how the use of our technology will streamline their efficiencies, increase profits and provide them with visibility into the utilization across their network.”

The SVP platform was released in Q3 of 2020 and the company is currently accepting new orders.