The multinational printing company Hewlett-Packard made several announcements before this year's Formnext trade show, the first of which involved a new partnership with cosmetics giant L'Oréal.

The two companies are jointly seeking to achieve more flexible cosmetic production and to explore "new" cosmetic packaging and applications. HP also announced the expansion of its component supplier's Digital Manufacturing Network (DMN) to accelerate the transition to mass production, and the momentum of its Metal Jet 3D printing platform will continue until its commercialization in 2022.

"3D printing is opening a new level of personalization, business flexibility, sustainability and market disruption," said Didier Deltort, President of HP Personalization and 3D Printing. "HP is excited to meet again with the additive manufacturing community at Formnext.

"Together with our partners and customers, we will continue to pave the way for mass production through improvements to the Multi Jet Fusion platform, the commercial release of HP Metal Jet, and investments in software, services, and partner capabilities."

Transform the cosmetics industry

Through the new cooperation with L'Oreal, HP hopes to increase production flexibility and create innovative new packaging and customer experiences in the cosmetics industry. L'Oréal turned to HP to help it respond more quickly to changes in manufacturing processes and production lines.

The two companies worked together to quickly design and expand a large number of adjustable discs, allowing L'Oréal to transfer, fill and label products more flexibly. In this way, L'Oréal has achieved a 33% cost reduction and 66% time savings, and the ability to customize ice hockey allows L'Oréal to respond to changes in customer buying behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic in a more agile manner.

"Customer-centric innovation and sustainable products are at the core of all our work," said Anne Debauge, Director of Digital Transformation, Packaging and Development at L'Oréal. "We agree with HP's vision to overcome our current limitations through new technologies. 3D printing provides us with the entrepreneurial freedom to provide new customer experiences.

"Through this cooperation, our factory has gained agility and hopes to go further by creating new services."

Looking to the future, L'Oréal will use HP's DMN to expand the hockey puck in its global supply chain, which will achieve its sustainability goals by producing parts on demand when and where it is needed.

The two companies are currently demonstrating examples of custom hockey pucks and the unique textures of luxury cosmetics on Formnext, reportedly thanks to HP's 3D printing technology. Outside the exhibition hall, partners are working with the Alternative and Atomic Energy Commission to continue to explore the design and production of a series of new applications using the HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) platform, such as the new texture and lattice packaging (CEA).

Guayente Sanmartin, Global Head of HP's MJF Business, said: “In large industries and new verticals such as cosmetics, our customers want to be more flexible and meet the growing demand for personalized products.” With the production and growth of more than 100 million parts We are proud of the influence of MJF in these turbulent times. Our cooperation with L'Oréal is a good example of the infinite possibilities that 3D printing brings. From increasing manufacturing flexibility to reimagining traditional products, this is a huge opportunity to help change the market. "

In addition to announcing a partnership with L'Oréal, HP also revealed that it is expanding its global DMN with new certified parts suppliers to ensure that as MJF production demand grows, it reaches the highest quality and reliability standards. 

DMN now includes manufacturing partners and MJF professionals who use HP's 3D printing technology to design, produce, and deliver parts at scale. 3D printing service providers FORECAST 3D, Jawstec, Weerg and ZiggZagg are now using HP's 3D printing products to optimize complex 3D printing workflows and the management and automation of large 3D printing fleets.

ZiggZagg is the latest partner to rapidly expand its business using HP's 3D as a service (3DaaS) business model, which the company says is "very beneficial" during the fluctuating pandemic.

HP and its DMN customers will showcase final parts and new applications on Formnext this week, including custom 3D printed bucket car seats developed by BASF's 3D printing solutions and Oechsler. The seat is made of HP's MJF technology and BASF's ULTRASINT TPU01 powder, and has a unique elastic lattice design. Also on display was the transparent orthodontic appliance made by HP MJF 5210 by Impress, a manufacturer of invisible orthodontics, to help the company expand its production scale.

At the same time, several 2021 Purmundus Challenge finalists used HP's MJF technology to develop their applications, including 3D printed hiking boots, upper limb prosthetics and electronic saxophone.

The continued rise of HP Metal Jet

HP also demonstrated its Metal Jet platform during Formnext, which includes new parts and the latest developments with partners such as GKN and Volkswagen. This layer integrates parts printed by HP Metal Jet 3D for the A-pillar of its T-Roc Cabriolet, which weighs almost half of traditional parts and has passed crash certification. 

HP will continue to validate production applications with its partners and customers, and it is expected that Metal Jet will have wider commercial availability in 2022. 

"Our early Metal Jet partners and customers, such as GKN, Parmatech, Volkswagen, Cobra Golf, etc., are successfully demonstrating our metal mass production advantages," said Ramon Pastor, global head of HP's 3D metal business. "As we continue to advance our technologies, materials and capabilities, we are still expected to launch in 2022.

"We look forward to providing industry-leading efficiency, cost savings and design freedom to help the industry accelerate and expand digital manufacturing."

Those attending Formnext this week can learn more about HP's latest announcement at the company booth at booth D61 in Hall 12.1.

Subscribe to the 3D printing industry newsletter for the latest news on additive manufacturing. You can also keep in touch by following us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Looking for a career in additive manufacturing? Visit 3D printing jobs to learn about a range of roles in the industry.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest 3D printed video clips, reviews and webinar replays.

The featured image shows the HP Metal Jet 3D printer system. Photos are from HP.

Hayley is a 3DPI technology reporter with a background in B2B publications across manufacturing, tools, and bicycles. She writes news and features, and has a keen interest in emerging technologies that affect the world in which we live.

© Copyright 2017 | All Rights Reserved | 3D Printing Industry