Telford-based additive manufacturing (AM) specialist Ricoh 3D has opened the doors of its revamped ‘Centre of Excellence’ after an investment of more than £1 million. The ‘state of the art’ production centre has now been expanded to facilitate the company’s turnkey end-to-end manufacturing capabilities.

Manufacturers looking for an AM partner can book to visit the facility – complying with Covid-19 restrictions - and see first-hand the latest in proven 3-D technologies, processes and platforms. An interactive virtual tour will also soon be launched on the Ricoh 3D website.

A total of £1.35 million has been invested to create a cutting-edge 3-D print centre at the 50-acre Telford site, with dedicated production cells catering to process control standards for key sectors including medical and automotive.

In July the company added medical standard ISO 13485 to its suite of ISO certifications assuring the company’s environmental, information security, health and safety, and quality management capabilities.

Mark Dickin, AM and moulding engineering manager at Ricoh 3D, said: “We are delighted to unveil our completed Centre of Excellence, which further demonstrates our commitment to growing our AM business.

“We have had to delay the opening due to lockdown but we are now fully operational and looking forward to welcoming manufacturers – physically or virtually.

“Before the Covid-19 lockdown, we welcomed over a thousand businesses every year to our AM facilities to demonstrate how we work and the technologies we have, including the ability to work with materials that our competitors cannot through our material-testing programme.

“We now look forward to welcoming anyone interested in learning more to our factory of the future.”

Flexibility to test and develop new materials
Visitors will be able to see Ricoh 3D’s portfolio of hardware, which includes Selective Laser Sintering, Multi Jet Fusion, Fused Deposition Modelling and a range of technical services and back office technology. This unique range of systems gives Ricoh the flexibility to test and develop new materials and to create non-standard components and parts.

The area was designed specifically to have dedicated production and powder processing areas, which limit contamination and allow Ricoh to cater to the requirements and standards of key market sectors.

There is also the opportunity to explore Ricoh 3D’s range of post processing and metrology solutions, as well as talk to experts about the material characterisation, design support and quality assurance services available.

Mr Dickin added: “We have deployed Ricoh’s 80 years of manufacturing expertise into this facility. We see the showroom as a chance to prove our robust processes, cleanliness and meticulous attention to detail.

“We believe in a collaborative approach with our customers, working alongside them and developing our capabilities to make sure every AM project is optimised to be as successful as it can be.”