From left to right: Rapid Fusion’s Martin Jewell with Applied Automation‘s Paul RoweOne of the UK’s leading providers of robotic additive manufacturing (AM) systems has signed a new ‘outsourcing’ deal that will bring a world-first to market next year. In a match made in the South West,
Rapid Fusion and
Applied Automation have expanded a two-year business partnership by agreeing to work in tandem to manufacture Medusa, a UK-developed large-format hybrid 3-D printer.
This will see engineering teams from the two companies join forces to turn the ‘prototype’ into a machine ready for shopfloor use, with a lot of interest already being shown from companies involved in the automotive, aerospace, construction, medical and renewables sectors.
Design for manufacture (DfM) and supply chain management will be the first tasks, while Applied Automation experts will also create a dedicated assembly line and testing area at its facility in Plymouth to help ensure the target of an early 2026 release is met. This new technology is expected to generate more than £5 million of revenue from first year sales and could create up to 10 jobs across the two firms.
Martin Jewell, chief technical officer at Rapid Fusion, said: “We are fantastic at innovating and developing new technology that is changing the way companies adopt additive manufacturing (AM). However, we are not set up to manufacture the solutions we create in low to medium volumes, which is where our relationship with Applied Automation really comes into its own. Our initial robot systems — Apollo and Zeus — have been developed in partnership so it made perfect sense to give Paul and his team the opportunity to build Medusa.
“The aim is to take some of the early production costs out of the equation by streamlining DfM and then developing an assembly line that will take just six weeks - from start to finish - to build each machine. This gives us a great opportunity to be first to market and live on shopfloors by March 2026.”
Backed by a £1.2 million grant from
Innovate UK, Medusa is three-times faster than conventional machines, twice as accurate and promises to reduce training and maintenance costs by 30%. The gantry-style machine combines pellet extruder, filament and a CNC machining tool to provide a single-source solution for large moulds and tooling that is typically used by aerospace, automotive, marine and construction companies. Latest AI and Siemens motion control technologies have been integrated into the design, with the system featuring a 1.2m
3 volume build and able to move at 1,200mm per sec speeds.
Paul Rowe, director of Applied Automation, said: “Our job is all about taking fantastic technology and working out how we can serialise it at a cost and speed that works for Rapid Fusion and, importantly, the marketplace. Our facility in Plymouth is packed full of equipment and over 200 control system experts, toolmakers and manufacturing professionals that all work together to help bring the outsourcing process to life for customers.”
He added: “For Martin and his team, we will take on most of the build, final assembly and testing. The aim is to have two pre-production machines ready in the next few months to help fine-tune the process, followed by the first commercial systems to be ready in the first quarter of 2026. Compliance is really important for Medusa and, by tapping into our service, it immediately gives the machine approvals with CE marking and UL508a — the latter is so important for the North American market.”
Jake Hand, managing director of Rapid Fusion, concluded: “This is the first time an industrial 3-D printer of this speed and size has been made in the UK, so we are delighted to keep serial production on these shores and even better in the South West of England. Applied Automation is a world-class manufacturing partner and will play a pivotal role in helping us hit £5 million sales from Medusa in the first year. This is just the start, as we have also just agreed reseller agreements worldwide and this could accelerate revenues very quickly.”