Oli Johnson speaks to Jeff Hanson, VP of Sales and Marketing at Evolve Additive Solutions, about the company’s recently launched Production Assessment Program.
Evolve Additive Solutions launched the Production Assessment Program in March 2023. The program analyses and validates business cases for additive manufacturing applications for Evolve’s clients. Users work with a team of engineering experts on Evolve’s Scaled Volume Production (SVP) platform, which is powered by Selective Thermoplastic Electrographic Process (STEP) technology. Slm Selective Laser Melting
The STEP technology was in development for over a decade, initially under the umbrella of Stratasys before Evolve was spun out into its own company in 2018.
Jeff Hanson, VP of Sales and Marketing at Evolve, told TCT that the programme was created to handle the large number of queries coming in about the SVP platform as the company took the technology to market. Hanson said: “The volumes of queries coming in created a priorities issue, so the Production Assessment Program allowed us to have real conversations with the OEMs that are looking at real production and manufacturing efficiencies. The Production Assessment Program is where we take their applications, which are talked through with the application engineers, and then the geometries are packed for production efficiencies and total cost of ownership.”
Clients of Evolve that go through the Production Assessment Program receive information about the cost of the system, cost of materials, cost of service packs, maintenance agreements, the licensing of the software, and access to the system which has build envelopes of 280 x 590 x 50mm or 200 x 300 x 75mm.
Prior to the programme, clients would ask Evolve for sample parts in certain geometries, and according to Hanson, 'it was out of control.' Since the introduction of the programme, the process to identify and qualify opportunities for OEMs to use the technology has become more efficient.
Hanson says that what Evolve has identified as good applications for the STEP technology are those that are low profile, with a high surface area, and that these show a strong return on investment for clients when stacked against traditional manufacturing processes. But why were companies so keen to use the SVP platform and the STEP technology? Hanson says that the parts coming off the SVP platform are 'best in class.'
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Cheryl Hillman, Senior Marketing Manager at Evolve, told TCT: “What’s really exciting when you think about STEP technology, because it is so different, it’s really hard to classify ourselves into any category today that’s out there. We had AMPOWER visit Evolve about a year ago and we spoke with them, and they wanted to put us into an additive manufacturing process category. They produce the polymer report every single year, and we wanted to make sure they understood STEP technology. So they put us in a category that we own 100%. Nobody else sits there. It’s really helpful for us to have that third party validation that says, 'Evolve STEP technology is something that is completely new in the industry.'”
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With the launch of the Production Assessment Program, Evolve also expanded its facility in Minnetonka, Minnesota, doubling the square footage and creating a new “Production Acceleration Center”, which contains an SVP platform, wash solution capabilities, and metrology capabilities to give the production assessment mechanical property and dimensional accuracy reports.
Speaking about what the future holds for Evolve, Hanson added: “We’re coming to market with ABS today because the system is working flawlessly. The part quality is best in class. Coming soon is PA11 nylon and beyond that is where we will be turning on more features of the SVP platform that will facilitate multi-material 3D printing.”
Hanson spoke about the technology being used for a badging application for automotive, and said that the manufacturers of the parts have looked at the technology, compared it to existing processes and decided that STEP is a “really unique” solution for the application.
Hanson added: “The messaging you’ll be hearing about Evolve is about shop floor agility, the flexibility that this technology allows on the production floor. The ability to modify your production plans on a moment's notice.”
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