The Medical Sector at Formnext 2023: Manufacturers and Market Applications

While the additive manufacturing event has been in full swing in Frankfurt since Tuesday, we wanted to focus on one of the market verticals that has been a major user of 3D technologies for several years now: medical. If several market studies are to be believed, it’s a sector that’s growing exponentially, and at the same time, when you keep the advantages of 3D printing in mind, it’s easy to see why. Customization of devices that become more adapted to each patient, the biocompatibility of certain materials, the possibility of reproducing the mechanisms and textures of the human body, and so on. Strolling the aisles of Formnext 2023, we were able to discover a number of applications in the medical sector, with some exhibitors specializing in this market more specifically, focusing in particular on dentistry.

Manufacturers Serving the Medical Sector at Formnext 2023

The medical sector is a vertical market addressed by many manufacturers of 3D printers, materials and service providers. Additive manufacturing is now an increasingly useful tool for many healthcare professionals, so much so that some market players have developed specific offers. At Formnext 2023, we spoke to German manufacturer Orthonative 3D, which has developed the MAX3D FDM/FFF Medical 3D printer for orthodontists. He explained to us that these healthcare professionals need solutions that are easy to handle, repeatable and reliable: not being printer operators, they want to rely on a simple, effective process.

Graphy’s solutions on display at Formnext

Staying within the dental sector, the number of dedicated machines present at Formnext this year were beyond counting. These include Italy’s DWS with its D-Fab solution, Rapidshape and its range of resin 3D printers, and Asiga, all present at this year’s show. As for material manufacturers, they were also numerous in presenting their solutions – mainly resin for dental applications, as you’d expect. We were particularly impressed by Graphy, a Korean company that has designed Tera Harz TC-85 resin for direct 3D printing of aligners, without the need for thermoforming. The company also offers its own LCD machine and post-processing solutions.