New DragonFly Ushers in Industry 4.0 with Lights-Out Digital Manufacturing
Amit Dror
It’s a very big day for our team here at Nano Dimension, for our customers and resellers, and for the electronics industry. It’s the birth of Lights-Out Digital Manufacturing (LDM), a manufacturing methodology in which systems run with little to no human intervention around the clock.
The first system with this technology is our DragonFly IV™ additive manufacturing solution, introduced today. The new DragonFly LDM enables users to 3D-print functioning electronic circuitry faster and adds opportunities for both prototyping and short-run, low volume manufacturing of printed electronics with 24/7 unattended printing.
The first deployment of the DragonFly is at the Munich premises of sensor and defense electronics provider HENSOLDT. Aerospace and defense contractor HENSOLDT is a long-time customer that was one of the first adopters of the DragonFly electronics 3D printer. Their response to the DragonFly is that the new system allows for a significant reduction of time and cost for realizing circuits, which are often needed as quickly as possible. Their testing of the new system showed that it achieves more than 40% higher printing time than our prototyping machine, the DragonFly Pro.
Not only is the DragonFly system unique in the industry, it’s designed specifically for Industry 4.0 and manufacturing for the Internet of Things. New features introduced in this version of the DragonFly include proprietary, state-of-the-art technology that enables 24/7 uninterrupted 3D printing. Improvements include the optimization of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and significantly improved workflow and production processes of 3D printed electronics. Some of the advances include automatic print head self-cleaning and real-time automatic material monitoring capabilities that ensure maximized runtime. The new technology minimizes the frequency and duration of scheduled downtime to typically just one weekly maintenance operation.
The DragonFly is already available through Nano Dimension’s global sales channel. This new printer is designed to ensure our customers stay competitive in a world that demands electronic devices with increasingly sophisticated features. Like its predecessor, the DragonFly Pro, it’s the first of its kind on the market, carefully designed for both ease-of-use and even more agile, faster and affordable 3D printing of functional circuitry. This new system provides best-in-class additive manufacturing of printed electronics so our customers can be more innovative, improve productivity and reliability, lower costs and reduce time-to-market.
Step into the future: HENSOLDT ALM project manager Andreas Salomon (left) and Nano Dimension’s Director Sales EMEA Valentin Storz with the first PCB samples additively manufactured on the DragonFly LDM.
If you are in the process of automating your manufacturing processes for PCB fabrication, using an inkjet additive manufacturing system can expedite prototyping and complete fabrication of complex 3D-printed electronics. The DragonFly is a perfect system for implementing digital manufacturing. Contact us today to learn more about DragonFly.
Co-Founder of Nano Dimension Ltd. and Chief Executive Officer and director since August 2014. Previously, Mr. Dror co-founded Eternegy Ltd. in 2010 and served as its Chief Executive Officer and a director from 2010-2013. Mr. Dror also co-founded the Milk & Honey Distillery Ltd. in 2012. Over the course of his career, he has developed vast experience in project, account and sales management while serving in a variety of roles with ECI Telecom Ltd., Comverse Technology, Inc., Eternegy Ltd. and Milk & Honey Distillery Ltd. Mr. Dror has a background that covers technology management, software, business development, fundraising and complex project execution. Mr. Dror is a Merage Institute Graduate.