Aectual’s Origami Curve ceiling system is now being 3D printed at Caracol’s Austin headquarters, the first US production under a new partnership between the two companies.
The ceiling is headed for a commercial project in Houston, far from Amsterdam, where Aectual has 3D printed its products for clients in 45 countries. It makes them on demand from recycled materials, and they can be taken back and reprinted into new products.
Demand is driving the move. Clients with projects in several regions need production capacity that grows where their projects are, and Caracol’s network lets Aectual add it without building its own factories.
Caracol develops robotic large-format additive manufacturing and covers the chain from its own hardware and software to materials and process engineering. Aectual will deploy its own products, process standards and quality checks on parts built with those systems, so a product made in Austin matches one made in Amsterdam. Wherever a piece is printed, Aectual stays the client’s single point of contact and remains responsible for design, quality, warranty and take-back.
For Hans Vermeulen, Aectual’s co-founder and CEO, the request came straight from clients. “Our international clients ask us to serve them closer to home, at the same standard wherever they are,” he said. “Caracol helps us do exactly that.” The two companies will start by producing in the US before developing new products, applications and automated workflows together.
Caracol co-founder and CEO Francesco De Stefano sees the deal as part of a wider move away from centralized production, where parts are made far from where they are needed. “The way we manufacture things is changing,” he said. Production, he argued, should move “closer to the point of use, on demand, with the flexibility and resilience that distributed robotics and automation make possible.”
The two companies have followed each other’s work almost from the beginning. Both grew out of a design culture and a fascination with large-scale 3D printing before going separate ways. Aectual moved toward design, software, materials and architectural products, while Caracol focused on industrial technology and manufacturing.
After the US, the roadmap covers further markets across Caracol’s network in the Middle East, Asia and beyond. Vermeulen will be at the Caracol booth, C129 in Hall 12.1, at Formnext on November 17 and 18. He will also deliver the closing keynote at the BE-AM Symposium on November 18.
