From Prototype Development to Serial Production: 3DPartner Provides Insights into the Mexican AM Market – Interview with Daniel Garza

3DPartner is a Mexican 3D printing company specialising in on-demand manufacturing. It offers design and prototyping services as well as small to medium batch production through its online platform. 3DPartner focuses on the regional industrial sector and aims to provide fast and cost-effective alternatives to traditional production methods, with a wide range of additive manufacturing technologies. In an interview with 3Druck.com, co-founder Daniel Garza shares his insight into the additive manufacturing industry.

Founded in 2019, 3DPartner has been dedicated to digitising manufacturing processes and lowering the entry barriers to additive manufacturing since its inception. Established by experienced 3D printing enthusiast Daniel Garza, who participated in the development of a new metal 3D printer during an internship at a German company in 2018, and his business partner Leonardo, 3DPartner now offers a comprehensive online platform for on-demand manufacturing.

3DPartner’s services include design, prototyping and small to medium scale production. The company uses various additive manufacturing technologies to provide fast and cost-effective solutions. “Our goal is to make access to AM technologies as easy as possible and to offer a wide range of manufacturing capabilities to companies in Mexico,” explains Daniel.

The company has established itself as a reliable B2B service provider, particularly in Mexico’s manufacturing and automotive industries. However, the platform remains accessible to individuals who wish to use the company’s print farm for their projects. Its vision of digitising manufacturing processes and lowering the barriers to access to additive manufacturing technologies is being realised through efficient use of resources and the offering of diverse manufacturing options. 3DPartner demonstrates how additive manufacturing can be used in various industries to achieve flexibility, speed and cost optimisation.

Interview with Co-founder Daniel Garza

In an interview with 3Druck.com, co-founder Daniel Garza gives an insight into adoption of additive manufacturing technologies within Mexicos industry. He also outlines the key factors he believes will drive further industry growth in the technology and considers the potential of 3D printing in the future.

In your opinion, what is the significance of additive manufacturing for the industry in your region? 

At this moment, AM in Mexico is still at the beginning of the curve of adoption. Manufacturing represents a very important economical activity for the country, mostly represented by SMEs and family-owned companies, therefore, there is some resistance (or inexperience) with the adoption of new technologies. This could be due to lack of budget for innovation or unwillingness to evolve old processes.

Nonetheless, in our experience, once companies discover the benefits of AM, they continue to develop applications to further adopt the technology. We are seeing an increase in the establishment of foreign companies in Mexico, thus causing local companies to invest in new technologies and innovation to stay relevant and competitive.

For that, AM plays a major role for companies needing to reduce import costs by producing locally, save development and prototyping time, cut on manufacturing costs, among others.  

Additive manufacturing has developed continuously over the last few years. Which innovations or technological breakthroughs do you consider to be particularly important for the industry? 

In my opinion, AM is transitioning from being regarded as a prototyping technology to a production technology. Two key factors are driving this development: production speed or part throughput as well as material quality and affordability.

An important milestone would be that AM starts pairing in even more to injection moulding applications. This will increase economic viability for more industries willing to adopt the technology but are reluctant of the actual benefits.

For that to happen, I believe automation and software have the potential to generate great disruption on how we produce plastic and metal parts, opening pathways to potential applications in consumer products and other mass production items. Big automated print farms will be capable of producing thousands of different parts in record times, which seemed impossible just a few years ago. 

First Corona and now high inflation are major challenges for the whole industry. How do you think the multiple crises will affect the additive manufacturing industry? 

As in every other industry, crises represent challenges to overcome. During the pandemic, AM entered the spotlight as a means of producing personal protective equipment rapidly and locally. It drove adoption of the technology and propelled the growth of the industry.

I don’t know if this will be the case in a high inflation scenario since this tends to reduce investment in innovation and new technology. On the other hand, companies will be looking to cut costs on logistics, duties, foreign currency fluctuations, component and development costs, which are some of the benefits of AM.

The manufacturing industry won’t stop and the requirements will be there waiting to be fulfilled. It is just a matter of perspective and how one finds opportunities for the application of new technologies.

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

I see AM becoming even more mainstream every year. As technology advances, we are more likely to buy a product that contains an AM manufactured part. We are already seeing this with big consumer brands starting to adopt the technology for certain niche products. 

My guess is that manufacturing will start becoming more localised, micro factories and print farms will be producing and servicing a bigger chunk of the manufacturing economy. 

In my opinion, and one of the reasons I love working with AM, manufacturing is becoming even more democratised. What in the past required big machinery and investment, can now be produced in a maker ́s garage. This empowers innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. 

Here you can find further information on 3DPartner and its services.