Prodways, the 3D printing subsidiary of French engineering company Groupe Gorgé, has been awarded a contract to supply a "major industrial project" whose machines will be used to produce up to 1 million orthodontic appliances each year. 

As part of the "World's Leading Medical and Dental Distributors" program, Prodways has contracted to ship eight MOVINGLight 3D printers and related materials to multiple locations across the United States. In the next 18 months, this installation base may eventually Up to 20 machines will be added, providing the company with the largest project to date and a source of recurring income for the next few years. 

Prodways was originally called "Phidias Technologies", and was acquired by Groupe Gorgé in 2013 and renamed as a means to bring 3D printing pioneer André-Luc Allanic's MOVINGLight technology to the market. Like other DLP systems, MOVINGLight machines use high-power LEDs to photopolymerize resin into parts, but especially in dentistry, they are said to be able to achieve high-throughput results.

In the past year or so, the company has continued to use MOVINGLight's mass production capabilities to add 3D super-resolution algorithms and Oqton software compatibility to its machines. These upgrades seem to drive customer demand, as Prodways was the fastest growing part of Groupe Gorgé in the third quarter, although this was also due to the material transaction with Straumann Group. 

Following the recent commercial success of its subsidiary, Groupe Gorgé stated that although it announced a new plan to simplify its corporate structure in October 2021, it has no intention of selling it. -Autonomous robot-related investment portfolio, it has developed a plan to "divide" it by allocating many of its shares to shareholders. 

To achieve this goal, Groupe Gorgé plans to hold a joint general meeting of shareholders on December 14, 2021, at which time a special physical distribution plan will be proposed, in which three Prodways shares will be issued for every two shares. If agreed, the move will be distributed in the form of Prodways shares on December 22, 2021, with Groupe Gorgé retaining approximately 5.9% of the capital.

"Millions of Dollars" Dental Enterprise 

As part of the preliminary agreement signed with its unnamed customer, Prodways will ship four of its eight machine orders to the United States by December 31, 2021, with the rest expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2022. Each of these 3D printers will MOVINGLight LD20s, the high-end system in the company's dental series, capable of mass production of aligners at a rate of up to 50 pieces per hour. 

Prodways is equipped with dual 385nm wavelength projectors and a customizable build platform, indicating that its ProMaker LD20 model and LD20 Plus system provide users with "industrial productivity" and flexibility, so in practice, it believes that they also have transparent rectifiers in production Other applications include the master model, drilling guide and castable model. 

In addition to these LD20 systems, Prodways will also provide its customers with the newly launched PLASTCure Absolute Aligner material. Liquid resins are specifically designed to solve orthodontic styling applications and are in great demand during the project. If Prodways' customers reach their lofty production goals, it is estimated that up to 30 tons of polymer will be needed each year. 

Prodways described the contract as a "significant commercial success" and added that it has room for a "further development phase" to provide it with future revenue opportunities, and more broadly, it considers the deal to "consolidate its position." One way is "leading enterprise in the field of orthodontic 3D printing" and will help to further promote the digitalization of orthodontic treatment. 

3D printed dental drive 

Although Prodways continues to develop its share of the dental 3D printing market, it is far from the only machine manufacturer operating in this field. In September 2021, Formlabs made a number of updates to its product portfolio, including the dental verification of its Fuse 1 SLS 3D printer and the reformulation of its Model Resin. 

At the same time, Materialise has released a new easy-to-use dental module for its Magics software, which is specifically designed to help simplify and expand the orthodontic 3D printing workflow. The plug-in facilitates automatic printing preparation in several common dental applications, such as the production of crowns, bridges and partial abutments.

In terms of materials, Liqcreate also launched two orthodontic oriented resins in June 2021, namely Dental Model Pro Grey and Dental Model Pro Beige. SLA and DLP compatible materials developed with dental experts have ultra-low shrinkage and matt finishes, making them ideal for manufacturing high-detail models.

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The featured image shows a batch of Prodways 3D printed orthodontics. Picture from Prodways.

Paul is a graduate of history and journalism and is keen to find exclusive news about the latest technology news.

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