Sustainability and Efficiency: An Insight into Materflow’s Advances in Additive Manufacturing – Interview with Sami Mattila

Based in Finland, Materflow specialises in additive manufacturing services for the industrial sector, helping companies evolve their products, supply chains and processes towards more profitable and sustainable solutions. Founded in Lahti in 2013, the service provider offers its customers both plastic and metal parts using technologies like SLS and SLM combined with a wide variety of materials. In an interview with 3Druck.com, founder and CTO Sami Mattila shares his insight into the additive manufacturing industry.

Materflow works closely together with its customers to optimise the design of their products, specifically for use in volume additive manufacturing applications. Around 90 % of the company’s business is in small to medium series production. Moreover, the team helps its customers to realise the potential of additive manufacturing in their business, product development, design and engineering processes.

To find better, more durable and more cost-effective materials, the team has also focused on its own R&D department. As a result, their recycling rate for most materials has increased to 90-95 %.

In Addition, different post processing methods for both plastic and metal parts are offered to meet their clients needs. It is the post-processing that allows the parts to be used in a variety of applications. Raw products without it tend to have many more limitations.

Interview with Sami Mattila

In an interview with 3Druck.com, founder and CTO Sami Mattila explains why the carbon footprint of his products can even be negative and what impact additive manufacturing could have on the industry in the future.

In your opinion, what significance does additive manufacturing have for the industries your main customers come from?

Cost, speed, simplified logistics and minimum stock are probably the most important benefits 3D printing offers to our clients. In a lot of cases it is the most cost efficient way to procedure spares or custom parts and even series. In our digital storage our clients have an unlimited stock of parts on demand. They don’t need to store vast amounts of parts and moulds and delivery times are short.

Product lifecycle is also improved by using additive manufacturing, as no new mould is needed if products are improved over time. Biggest reason I think people use our services is because there are less restrictions to design and making products is easier.

Additive manufacturing has continuously developed in recent years. Which innovations or technological breakthroughs do you consider to be particularly important for the industry sector?

Material variety and custom materials are the key innovations that we are also continuously working on.

We can bring onboard new materials that we have developed for our clients’ projects, and this way we can help advance our clients’ business goals in ways that have not been previously possible.

Sustainability that comes with green polymer upcycling is a big breakthrough for the industry sector. We have rejuvenated PA12 powders available and as we are using green electricity the carbon footprint of our products can even be negative.

Improving cost-effectiveness in materials is something we have been working on since the starting of the company. 3D printing can be expensive and it is important to make it accessible for an even wider target group by bringing the cost down, without compromising quality.

Expertise and Consultation – we work with the customer and are not just a manufacturing company.

First Corona and the now high inflation pose major challenges for the entire industry. In your opinion, how do the multiple crises affect the additive manufacturing industry?

To be honest we have not seen a super big impact first hand. The biggest change we have seen has been the price of electricity. It has nearly doubled in Finland. Sourcing is slightly more difficult for some products.

We have seen logistical disruptions and cost increases that are caused by the pandemic and inflation. Additive manufacturing demonstrated the value of manufacturing flexibility and resilience. The crises have raised awareness of dependance on global supply chains and made some operators seek alternatives to shipping parts from overseas, i.e. Asia.

Reduced reliance on global supply chains creates demand for local, on-demand and flexible production capabilities.

What impact do you think additive manufacturing will have on various industries and possibly society as a whole in the coming years?

Additive manufacturing will contribute to a more resilient economy. Flexible manufacturing will lessen the European industry sector’s dependency on global supply chains. Active research, machine and material development continuously brings new, better and more sustainable products to the market. Additive manufacturing can enable materials that are impossible or difficult to make otherwise.

Automating quality assurance and other processes will bring costs per purchase down. There will be even more custom materials available for specialised applications, and more demand for them.

In our point of view we see 3D printing promoting the democratisation of manufacturing, fostering entrepreneurship and economic growth. A lot of new products are on the market just because of additive manufacturing.

In the healthcare sector customised medical devices and implants can be produced with greater detail and personalisation when using 3D printing. Additive manufacturing has enabled these custom products and solutions in the medical industry and result in improved treatments and outcomes.

Here you can find out more about Materflow and their services.