Industrial laser powder bed fusion system manufacturer Farsoon Technologies revealed that by end of June 2021, the total Farsoon installed base of polymer and metal PBF 3D printers has passed 500 units at customer sites.

“Although our metal 3D printer product line only [started to be] commercialized in 2015, with the rapid rise of the civil aerospace industry as well as its manufacturing ecosystem, we now see the metal and polymer systems contribute equally 50% – 50% in number amongst our 500 plus installations,” revelaed Jack Cheng, Deputy General Manager of Farsoon.

The metal PBF installed base numbers reported are perfectly in line with those included in 3dpbm Research’s recently released market report on Metal AM Trends and Opportunities 2020-2030. The numbers on the installed base of polymer PBF systems will be accounted for in 3dpbm Research’s next report on the Polymer AM market.

Going big in aerospace and automotive

Don Xu, Director of Farsoon’s Global Business Group, added that Farsoon has been introducing the multi-lasers, large-format metal systems FS421M, FS621M, as well as the latest FS721M to the market. Till today Farsoon has achieved more than 80 large-format metal systems (Build platform > 400mm) installations in aerospace and automotive companies. [We] are now seeing increasing demand of large volume functional parts fabrication—Xu explained—especially in the aerospace and automotive industries, using specialized materials in order to achieve designated performance tolerances, mechanical properties and reliability under a variety of operational conditions.  “In order to address customers’ pain points around size, productivity and quality.”

Catering to the needs of AM services

Meanwhile, the service bureaus industry is faced with a very different set of challenges including large size, quality, speed, productivity, flexibility and tight margins. In 2017 Farsoon added a new line of machines under the revolutionary Continuous Additive Manufacturing Solution (CAMS) Concept including the largest plastic PBF machine HT1001P featuring an industry-leading build size of 225 Liters.  In 2019 Farsoon introduced the next generation high-speed “Flight” plastic laser sintering technology by innovatively using robust fiber laser; offering users a variety of polymer systems in build size, speed, productivity, temperature, and material capabilities. By the end of June 2021, Farsoon’s cumulative installed base at service bureaus had topped 150 systems, helping customers achieve large parts fabrication and series production of smaller parts all at a reduced cost.

“Also, Thanks to the truly open architecture of Farsoon machines, we have been working along with these industry-leading manufactures, service providers, and research institutes in various fields including material, post-processing, and software to help customers achieve their specific application needs and produce faster, bigger, better parts with a significant competitive edge,” Mr. Xu added.

“We are also excited to share that in the first half of 2021, Farsoon has been rapidly growing its teams from 300 to more than 400 talented employees globally,” concluded Hope Hou, General Manager of Farsoon, “with significant expansions in technology & development, technical support and manufacturing quarters in order to offer high-quality products and services.”

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