Australian metal cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) OEM SPEE3D is taking its containerized systems on the road. Earlier this week, the company began a tour across Europe to showcase its deployable Expeditionary Manufacturing Unit (EMU). Local partners in several European cities will collaborate with SPEE3D to host live demonstrations and workshops centered around the EMU. The EMU Euro Tour 2025 will show attendees how containerized manufacturing can be used to fabricate critical military components in a matter of hours, and not weeks.
“Typically, people see our technology only if they visit our factory, attend a tradeshow, or if they’re a defence force taking it out in the field. This time, we are collaborating with local industry leaders to bring the technology directly to European forces, OEMs, and defence research organisations, allowing them to evaluate firsthand the Expeditionary Manufacturing Unit’s ability to rapidly produce mission-critical parts,” said SPEE3D’s CEO Byron Kennedy.
Released in 2024, the EMU is an end-to-end deployable production unit for metal parts printing. Made up of two 20-foot containers with twist locks that are transported with ease by NATO in-service vehicles or civilian trucks, it includes the ruggedized XSPEE3D shipping container printer, which can print parts that weigh up to 40 kg and measure 0.9m x 0.7m in diameter. The EMU also includes the SPEE3DCell post-processing unit for heat treatment, tooling, machining, and testing.
When it comes to AM in defense applications, SPEE3D definitely knows what it’s talking about. The company’s CSAM solutions have been used by defense forces around the globe, from its native Australia to the U.S., Japan, Ukraine, and Britain. The EMU in particular has been successfully tested in real-world conditions, deployed by the U.S. Navy in the Department of Defense RIMPAC exercise and at the European Defence Agency’s AM Village event.
The first stop on SPEE3D’s EMU Euro Tour took place earlier this week in Bourges, France, hosted by digital manufacturing pioneer Vistory. Through its advanced MainChain system, the software company specializes in secure, traceable, and on-demand production solutions for aerospace and defense applications. By pairing Vistory’s secure platform with SPEE3D’s EMU and its rapid manufacturing abilities, full part traceability can be achieved, which is very important when out in the field.
“The integration of our MainChain software platform with SPEE3D’s EMU capability creates an unprecedented solution for secure, traceable manufacturing. Together, we demonstrate how a sovereign digital production ecosystem ensures complete control and transparency throughout the manufacturing process,” said Alexandre Pédemonte, CEO and Co-Founder of Vistory.
In two weeks, from September 16-17, SPEE3D’s European tour takes the EMU to Lasertech in Sweden, though registrations for this close on Tuesday, September 9th. After that, the tour heads to Perron038 in the Netherlands from September 24-25, and will end at 3D Phoenix in Poland from October 21-23.
Each stop on the tour will offer breakfast, lunch, and time for networking, and attendees will get to hear from both SPEE3D experts and the host companies. There will also be a guided tour of the EMU, including live demos of the XSPEE3D and SPEE3Dcell printing and processing parts for land and naval platforms out of corrosion-resistant materials, like Aluminum 6061. Finally, all those present will see firsthand how militaries can quickly and easily deploy the EMU in the field with an installation demonstration.
There’s a lot of money in 3D printing for these kinds of applications. According to an AM Research report, the market for military and defense AM is estimated to exceed $2.6 billion by 2030. This EMU Euro tour by SPEE3D is very smart, because the company will be able to show how truly forward deployable its CSAM technology is—literally pulling in, putting the machines through their paces, packing up, and hitting the road again within a matter of days.
Images courtesy of SPEE3D
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