3D printing also offers great opportunities for medical applications. One heart-warming case study involves a young patient with a malignant tumour in the femoral stem. The tumour could be removed by saving the patient's own joints and building a new femur from the patient's own femur, calf fusion and supporting femoral plate. The doctors were able to practice this challenging puzzle beforehand with the help of 3D prints.

Senop Communications ordered its first 3D printed product from 3DStep in 2020 when the company realised that the precise requirements of a particular metal enclosure were difficult to meet using traditional manufacturing methods.

Overall, 3D printing has already been used in the development of around 100 different product models in Valmet's Automation Systems business line, and dozens of parts are mass-produced using 3D printing. Valmet sees one of the main advantages of this cooperation as being that 3D printing enables them to test prototypes quickly and develop them further. At the same time, it frees their thinking from the constraints of traditional manufacturing methods.

Mirka, part of the domestic, family-owned KWH Group, has been working with 3DStep since 2017 on 3D printing and product development. Through the partnership, Mirka has sourced prototypes of new products as well as metal and plastic parts for sale. The materials used in the prints include aluminium, polyamide and glass-reinforced polyamide.

The challenge for OptoFidelity was the large number of plastic mechanical parts and the variability of customers. The plastic mechanics were mainly produced by machining. The main problem with machining is often the long lead time, which did not meet the end user's delivery time requirements.

Dekat's products and production volumes are well suited to 3D printing. Complex components and processes can be found in the products. In addition, volumes are reasonably low.

We carried out a redesign of the hydraulic block for Avant Tecno together with Enmac Oy. The aim was to produce a proof-of-concept and prototype of a 3D printable metal component for the Avant loader.