3D Printing This Week: Rolls-Royce Goes Additive, Sculpteo Changes Hands, and a Hospital Print Studio

The first week of July delivered news on three fronts: aerospace giants pulling additive manufacturing in-house, consolidation among 3D printing services, and a hospital opening its own FDA-cleared print studio. Here is what mattered this week — and why.

Rolls-Royce opens an AM cell for defence engines

Rolls-Royce has opened an additive manufacturing development cell at its Defence Assembly and Operations facility in Bristol, UK. The cell will use AM to produce critical components for next-generation aircraft engines, as reported in Aerospace Manufacturing and Design’s July additive roundup. The signal here is bigger than one facility: engine makers are no longer outsourcing their most demanding printed parts — they are building the capability next to the assembly line.

3D Prod acquires Sculpteo

French manufacturer 3D Prod has acquired Sculpteo, one of the best-known online 3D printing services. The deal combines 3D Prod’s industrial production capacity with Sculpteo’s digital ordering platform, covering the full chain from rapid prototyping to serial production. For anyone who uploads an STL and expects parts in the mail, expect fewer, bigger players — the print-on-demand market is consolidating into companies that own both the website and the factory.

A hospital print studio — with FDA clearance

Indiana University Health has opened a dedicated 3D print studio at the 16 Tech Innovation District in Indianapolis, making it one of the first hospital-based, FDA-cleared 3D printing programs in the United States, per 3DPrint.com’s July 1 news briefs. Point-of-care printing — surgical guides and anatomical models made inside the hospital rather than ordered from outside vendors — has been discussed for a decade. Regulatory-cleared studios are how it becomes routine.

Quick hits

• UltiMaker launched the Factor 4 Plus, an industrial platform aimed at continuous factory production of jigs, fixtures and spare parts in high-performance materials.
• Velo3D is opening a new production facility in Livermore, California, citing demand growth from aerospace and defense customers.
• Australia’s AMCRC launched a AUD $3.25 million funding initiative on July 1 to help small and medium manufacturers adopt additive manufacturing.
• IBM published a patent application describing an AI decision engine for managing 3D printer fleets — a hint at where print-farm software is heading.
• Researchers demonstrated horizontal FFF overhangs printed without supports — one of those lab tricks that, if it reaches slicers, saves everyone plastic and sanding time.

That’s the week. We publish a roundup like this every Friday — for deeper dives, see the ongoing coverage at VoxelMatters and Fabbaloo, and stick with M3Dstore for what it means for makers.