Mass Manufacturing with HP’s Metal Jet

Earlier this week, tech giant HP, Inc., launched HP Metal Jet, their first metal additive manufacturing (AM) machine for the mass manufacturing of production-grade metal parts. Volkswagen will be among the first companies to receive functional metal parts for the automotive industry. HP claims the machine is up to 50 times more productive than other binder jet and selective laser melting AM methods.

In an industry-first collaboration, HP is partnering with GKN Powder Metallurgy, UK, to deploy HP Metal Jet in their factories to produce the metal parts for the automotive and industrial markets. Volkswagen is working to integrate the Metal Jet into its long-term design and production roadmap.

"By 2025, the brands of Volkswagen Group will have introduced 80 new electric modes," said Dr. Martin Goede, Head of Technology Planning and Development, Volkswagen.

"A big advantage of an additive technology like HP Metal Jet is it allows us to produce many of these parts without first having to build manufacturing tools," he added.

HP is also partnering with California-based Parmatech, an ATW Company, to expand mass production of metal jet parts.