Support Client – Formation

Prodways Group is a subsidiary of Groupe Gorgé, born from the acquisition of Phidias (renamed Prodways) in 2013. Gorgé Group is a high-tech industrial group listed on Euronext Paris. The group designs high-tech systems (in particular drones, robots and 3D printers) for the most demanding sectors (aerospace, medical, defence, oil & gas, energy).

In the spring of 2013, Raphaël Gorgé, Chairman and CEO of the Gorgé group was introduced to André-Luc Allanic PhD by the French government, wishing to keep home-grown, domestic industrial pioneers in this emerging market from leaving the country.  Gorgé group, a family-owned French industrial group, already defined by a culture of high-tech innovation and well-positioned on the international market, seemed the perfect choice to André-Luc Allanic, PhD. Raphaël Gorgé very quickly grasped the significance of the leap forward that is MOVINGLight® technology, delivered by Mr Allanic’s 3D Printers, and the muscle he could put behind it. In addition to their shared passion for scientific research and technology – Mr Allanic is a PhD in chemistry and Mr Gorgé, a chemical engineer – the two men share the same vision and ambition in 3D Printing. Thus began Prodways.

Prodways relies on a strong distribution network to sell its products. However, some key accounts requiring special R&D developments can be taken into account directly.

The advantages are numerous: Saving time: Tens or hundreds of parts in a few days. Profitability: No tooling costs Flexibility: the possibility to change the product without any additional costs Ideal for personalised or limited production products. Possibility to personalise each product or change the design without any additional costs Just In Time production: delivery in a few days, no stock

Speedy production: manufacture large quantities of parts in a short time Profitability: no additional tooling costs Flexibility: ability to upgrade the product without incurring additional cost Ideal for individualized products or limited runs Possibility to customize each product or to change the design without additional cost Produce products as needed: quick delivery with no need for large stock volume. We talk about rapid, additive or e-manufacturing when we produce series parts directly without using tooling. For this, we use 3D Printing methods but in series production conditions (traceability, repeatability, new materials).

MOVINGLight® is a disruptive technology based on a moving DLP® and powerful UVA LEDs resulting in two major competitive advantages for industrial and biomedical additive manufacturing applications: unparalleled quality of the parts produced and distinctly improved profitability.

• MOVINGLight® can produce the most detailed parts on the market at high throughput: hundreds of small parts in just few hours at a resolution of less than 40 .mu.m – Unequaled resolution, hundreds of millions of pixels per layer – High precision in all three dimensions (vertical AND horizontal) – Capable of producing very large parts while retaining the same precision required for intricate and exacting parts such as those used in biomedical applications • Technology permitting the use and development of premium innovative composite and hybrid materials with impressive mechanical, physical, esthetic properties, as well as biocompatible materials for a wide variety of medical applications. • Significantly improved profitability due to its incredible speed and considerable reductions in production costs: – Up to 10 times faster than market standards – Technology allowing for unequaled production volumes – Superior surface quality requiring minimal finishing – Low operating costs due to minimal wear-and-tear on parts – LED light source is more economical to operate and replace than a laser

We are open to partnerships with our customers to develop an optimal ProMaker-PLASTCure solution for their applications. We are also open to signing partnership agreements to bring more value to our customers.

Manufacturing time depends on a lot of parameters such as the material used, layer thickness, polymerization speed, number of heads and so on…. In order to estimate the manufacturing time of your parts, please send us your STL file so that we can estimate the production time with direct simulations on our ProMaker machines.

Max 72 mm/h in Z with 40 microns pixel with layer of 100 microns. We can polymerize almost 3.5L of materials per hour.

To properly understand this question, we must separate ‘precision’ from ‘resolution’; Regarding precision: recent customer case studies estimate that the precision of a ProMaker machine is about 0.1% tolerances on the 3 axes. ProMaker machines are among the best in the market in terms of native resolution, with 30 to 42 native microns without interpolation.

Prodways announced a major partnership agreement with Hunan Farsoon Tech Ltd regarding selective laser sintering technologies for plastic and metal powders in order to propose a true alternative to the current market offering. Prodways develops a range of plastic and metal printers under the “Prodways powered by Farsoon” line, based on the current range of Farsoon’s machines. Prodways will market these 3D printers worldwide, together with related materials. These world-class machines will enable Prodways to compete with the market players, becoming the only non-American company to offer a wide range of technologies using plastic and metal powders and liquid resins.

The partnership signed between Prodways and Hunan Farsoon is not a reseller agreement, but an OEM agreement by which R&D resources from both companies will be associated – Farsoon’s R&D expertise in laser sintering, and Prodways’ competencies coming from the acquisition of Norge in 2015. Combining the 2 companies’ R&D resources creates a very powerful research entity, allowing us to develop selective laser sintering printers using plastic and metal powders. These are marketed by Prodways worldwide under the “Prodways powered by Farsoon” brand. A dedicated assembly line for these new machines is installed in Prodways’ site in Les Mureaux (France). Hunan Farsoon benefits from the global coverage provided by Prodways. Prodways brings a well-known brand and has a very extensive network of dealers and service providers, which allows innovative solutions based on Farsoon’s technologies to be proposed to industrial customers worldwide.

You can find all available materials on our Materials datasheet.

Some materials are produced by our R&D department at Prodways Materials (based on the strong experience of DeltaMed GmbH, affiliate of Prodways Group). Our partners, who have worked in the additive manufacturing industry for years, produce other materials.

Prodways supplies plastic and metal materials designed for the new selective laser sintering printers by “Prodways powered by Farsoon”. Some of these materials are supplied by Farsoon but we also develop other partnerships to develop new materials which add value for our customers. For our new selective laser sintering offering, we at Prodways have the same philosophy of maintaining a semi-open platform, as we have adopted for our MOVINGLight® technology.

Standard delivery time is approximately 3 months. However, some of our best-selling ProMakers may be in-stock and available more quickly.

Standard delivery time is 6 weeks. However, some of our PLASTCure materials may be in-stock and available more quickly.

With the purchase of a ProMaker, you’re also accessing our expert customer support service to help assist you through every step of your ProMaker set up, and continuing support to maximize its uptime.

Prodways provides a large distribution network covering France, North Africa, Germany, Austria, Italy, North America, Romania, East Europe, UK, Ireland, South Korea & Netherlands… Prodways currently has many active distribution agreements. There is no exclusivity and they are committed to at least having a showroom displaying our ProMaker, as well as a dedicated sales & service team. Prodways’ objective is to have a presence that covers all countries with a substantial additive manufacturing market. In February 2015, Prodways made a major step in its expansion with the opening of a fully-owned subsidiary based in Minneapolis, MN, USA.

We are currently covering all industrial markets, including biomedical, dental, aerospace, automotive, jewelry and more. We are also constantly developing new premium materials with mechanical properties that will open a new range of possibilities for new industrial applications.

Indeed, we can propose leasing solutions to give you access to the high productivity and resolution of our ProMaker range. Please contact us

Speedy production: manufacture large quantities of parts in a short time Profitability: no additional tooling costs Flexibility: ability to upgrade the product without incurring additional cost Ideal for individualized products or limited runs Possibility to customize each product or to change the design without additional cost Produce products as needed: quick delivery with no need for large stock volume

Due to our focus on the development of Additive Manufacturing, we have a large production facility including 5 stereolithography machines, 8 sintering machines, 6 metal fusion machines, with eight materials currently available.

3D printing has evolved to allow for Rapid Manufacturing with new materials being developed to best meet the needs of this trend, such as polyamide reinforced carbon or various fire resistant materials.

We can digitalized parts up to several meters length, thanks to photogrammetry. Additionally, we are capable of scanning very small parts (10mm) with great precision.

Formats we can work with: Neutral: STL, IGES, STEP Natives: PRO/E or CATIA V4 or V5 Format used for production is .STL To inquire about the use of other file types, please contact us. If you have only a 2D plan, contact us for a quotation, as we can facilitate 3D modeling if needed.

Parts built using stereolithography typically have very good surface finish and excellent dimensional accuracy, however the resins used can result in brittle parts.

Parts built using Fused Deposition Modeling have high geometrical stability which minimizes the risk of deformation. FDM® technology is especially good for large parts and tense surface. It is possible to produce a several individual components of a part that can be glued together after production with an epoxy adhesive.

The term “HD sintering” refers to high-definition technology featured in more precise printers, specially designed to produce small parts. HD sintering allows for layers of 0.06 mm (60 microns) and walls just 0.4 mm thick!

Surface finishing can be applied to any kind of prototype or piece after 3D printing: Stereolithography, powder sintering, fused deposition modeling, vacuum casting, etc…

Any kind of finishing is possible following your needs: • Simple sail painting (F1) • Priming (F2) • Priming paint + sanding + painting (F3) • Satin paint or matt, grained • Metal plating (electroplating), screen printing, transfer, varnish, impregnation…

3D printing metal or Direct Metal Laser Sintering enables direct manufacture of parts or mold cavities. It is particularly well-suited to the production of highly complex parts of small size. Because parts are manufactured layer-by-layer, the complexity of a part is not problematic. It is therefore possible to produce parts which are not feasible with other production methods.