Nexa and Henkel Pursue Expanded Collaboration

Nexa3D is opening its first full-scale additive manufacturing customer center; NEXTFACTORY in Ventura, CA, in partnership with Henkel. Co-located within the Nexa3D global headquarters, NEXTFACTORY provides direct access to the additive polymer manufacturing (AM) process, from design decision support and optimization to full-scale additive manufacturing operations including integrated post-processing technologies, material formulation customization, color matching and various finishing options. Both companies plan to invite additional automation, process and software innovation partners to join NEXTFACTORY and deliver complete additive manufacturing solutions for volume production applications.

NEXTFACTORY will provide production professionals worldwide with access to the collective domain expertise, resources, tools, optimized functional materials and modular production and post-processing equipment of Nexa3D and Henkel to develop their production workflows. The center will serve as a full capability production scaling facility for customer looking to fast-track their production scale up process development, material selection and optimization and production line design and procurement. 

Nexa3D and Henkel teamed up to meet the accelerated demand for additively manufactured parts and assemblies in several key industries, including mobility, footwear, industrial and health products. Henkel and Nexa3D  plan to focus on functional materials, tailoring material properties, and providing color matching and finishing options that suit customer specific requirements.

At the center, production professionals who are ready to move into large scale digital manufacturing, can access and learn about latest design optimization tools including part consolidation, lightweighting, and access proven methods to scale up to mass production. Customers can also experience software tools including manufacturing execution systems, as well as post-processing and finishing automation solutions.  

“The Center is designed to help customers across the entire additive process and accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing in their business, regardless of where they are on their journey,” explains Simon Mawson, senior vice president and global head of 3D Printing at Henkel. “Customers will benefit from hands-on training and the ability to pilot their own production requirements, enabling them to realize the full potential of additive manufacturing and leverage the combined functional materials, validated workflows and 3D printing expertise that Henkel and Nexa3D have to offer.”

“For example, customers can come to the center with a prototype product, and we will collaborate with them to design and build a pilot production proof of concept,” says Avi Reichental, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Nexa3D. “We will then work with them to develop a turnkey solution with the best system, tailored materials and post processing equipment for their application.”

As well as supporting customers, Nexa3D and Henkel plan to use the center to accelerate the adoption of additive production at scale for footwear, mobility, industrial and healthcare applications, by demonstrating to businesses how they can create an end-to-end solution using AM technologies.

To further support customers, Nexa3D and Henkel plan to open two more centers, one in North America and one in Europe, by the end of 2022. 

To find out how the industry can benefit from the customer experience center, visit https://bit.ly/3EmUDDi.  

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.