After a more than difficult year, Formnext 2021 is back (and in-person)! The event, which kicked off in Frankfurt, Germany yesterday, is hosting over 600 exhibitors (55% of which are international companies) and is seeing strong attendance. Key to the event being hosted in person? Every person in attendance has been vaccinated or has recovered from COVID-19.
The event brings with it a tangible excitement across the AM industry: companies are announcing new products and applications and entering into influential partnerships that promise to push the AM industry ahead. Already on its first day, Formnext provided an environment ripe for networking and collaborations, as well as enabled companies to showcase industrial AM applications in architecture, automotive, aviation, mechanical engineering, medical, homeware, sportswear and energy.
This year, two of the event’s primary focuses—both incredibly timely and urgent—are decentralized manufacturing to build more agile supply chains, and sustainability. If you’re not there in person this year be sure to watch out for news coming out of Formnext 2021 as the event continues this week. You don’t have to go far: we are keeping tight coverage of the event!
So far we’ve seen announcements from 3D Systems, Additive Industries, Desktop Metal, Stratasys, Optomec, XJet, HP and many, many more. Formnext 2021 itself highlights a number of innovative applications on display: “BASF Printing Solutions has developed a customizable bike saddle in cooperation with Atum3D, Hyperganic, and Innovationlab; Austrian company Lithoz is showcasing how multiple materials such as ceramics, copper, and more can be efficiently combined in one 3D printed part; US-based Markforged’s new FX20 3D printer enables significantly faster production of composites; while Wayland Additive of the UK promises more efficient additive manufacturing of metal parts with its Neubeam process. Ricoh is also presenting a new binder jetting technology.”
This year, Formnext is also proud to present its first European partner country, Italy. Through this official partnership, Formnext is providing a stage for a number of Italian 3D printing companies, including Prima Additive, WASP, Roboze and Lincotek. Be sure to watch this space for more Formnext 2021 updates and check out the official Formnext program to see what’s still on the agenda.
