Frankfurt is this week flooded with over 800 exhibitors. Taking some time to check each company can help even the dedicated additive manufacturing professionals. But you don’t want to miss Xerox’s debut at Formnext. Xerox is a US copier and print manufacturer and print.
The company published its intention to enter the 3D printing industry in October 2019 by their CEO John Visentin. Xerox’s CEO announced that the company was creating a roadmap to join 3D Printing after five months in the position.
After the announcement, Xerox acquired Vader Systems and the metal jet technology of the company. Later on, Xerox had its 3D printing trade exhibit première at RAPID 2019.
The most recent one was its bold takeover offer to HP. This was considered a daring offer since HP is thrice large than Xerox. However, Xerox wasn’t able to share more details regarding the progress of this deal. The company’s Additive Manufacturing director shared with the public on some of the things to expect in Formnext show.
According to reports, Xerox has been in the 3D business for some time. The company has been offering its inkjet print heads to leading 3D printing makers for twenty years. There are a few factors that have pushed the company to join the 3D printing industry. They include the new leadership that finds opportunities beyond the core business of the company. Another one is the fact that the market situation is now good for Xerox.
Kevin Lewis who has been working with the company for many years said the following, “We are good at reliably depositing material at scale. We know how to put toner down precisely, we know how to put ink down precisely.” The technology is encircled by software and workflows that make for the seamless client experience.
Xerox 3D printing showcased its portfolio at formnext 2019. The portfolio includes continuing development of the Liquid Metal 3D printing mechanism and polymer powders for SLS 3D printers. It also showcased a high pace FDM mechanism that the company refers to as Nozzle Extrusion and the AL software.
Xerox picked Vader Systems metal 3D printing system as its opening 3D printer for the market. Although this might appear unusual, technology is comparably novel and unverified on the business. Lewis says the choice was not that exceptional.
Xerox is a company skilled in jetting physics but it’s not known for its metallurgical expertness. “We know a lot about how drops form, how drops coalesce, stick to substrates etc.” Says Lewis.
The Vader Systems technology utilizes an “off the shelf” aluminium alloy. The customers are probably already accustomed to. The components created need minimum post-processing, no extra depowdering, sintering or debinding steps. As stated by Lewis, technology is awesome when it comes to reliability and productivity.
“Toner is an engineered plastic, it needs to be highly spherical, particle size needs to be controlled. It needs to be consistent from batch to batch,” said Lewis. “Well that sounds a lot like SLS powders.” He added.
