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Fast-growth startup Wikifactory partners with Danish AM Hub to make Denmark the European capital of sustainable manufacturing

Denmark takes a giant step into the future today. Wikifactory - the world’s first social platform and online collaboration system for anyone, anywhere to make real products completely online – has entered into partnership with Danish AM Hub - the world’s first member organization for production companies leading in the use of Industrial 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing. Together they will bring about a radical transformation to the global manufacturing industry that will enable almost every product imaginable to be sustainably made for the next 100 years.

Wikifactory is a fast-growing technology company with more than 100,000 product developers, that completely eliminates the need for large inventories, stocked warehouses, long shipments and resource-intensive production processes. Meanwhile, Danish AM Hub has developed a new model through which production companies can calculate exact CO2-savings by switching from formative or traditional production processes to additive manufacturing. Wikifactory, which recently decided to move its global headquarters from Hong Kong to Copenhagen, together with Danish AM Hub’s vast network can transform the manufacturing industry by developing the Internet of Production, making product innovation and development easier, faster, cheaper and, not least, more sustainable.

The latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that human influence has unequivocally affected global warming. Taking all emission scenarios into account, temperatures will continue to rise between 1.5°C and 2°C in the first half of this century, unless there is a significant reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades - a problem the manufacturing industry and global freight are a big part of.

45% of the world’s CO2 emissions are related to production, and about half of this is related to how we process materials - whether aluminium, concrete, metal, titanium, glass and plastic for houses, garden furniture, cars, and other products. In the most positive scenario (where renewable energy usage across the globe increases significantly), production emissions are expected to increase by a factor of between two and four by 2050. However, evidence suggests that already 50% of all products made globally could be 3D printed. In partnership, Wikifactory and Danish AM Hub can create changes in the value chain and in the final product, while at the same time presenting strong competitive advantages for production companies.

Nicolai Peitersen, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Wikifactory, comments: “Despite the development of digital production and Internet-based services, the manufacturing industry has still not had its major transformation from mass production and global freight to mass innovation and decentralized production. Covid-19 has shown that the current global production system is vulnerable and the time has now come to roll out a new model through concrete initiatives. Joining forces with AM Hub’s diverse network was a huge driver for us to move our headquarters to Denmark and we’re delighted not just to partner up, but to move in together this year.”

Danish AM Hub has connected medium-sized and small companies across the country in one unified ecosystem, which will supply the whole world with industry-leading processes for Additive Manufacturing and create the conditions for more sustainable product development. In partnership, Wikifactory and Dansk AM Hub pave the way for a solid, cloud-based, agile product development system that enables secure, real-time and on-the-go collaboration between engineers and designers from reputable companies and quality-assured 3D printing bureaus.

Frank Rosengreen, Lorenzen, CEO of Danish AM Hub, comments: “Attracting a global tech company like Wikifactory to move their headquarters to Denmark is testament to the strength of our world-leading and progressive ecosystem of on-demand manufacturing companies that can not only transform production to make it faster and more efficient, but also more sustainable in the decades to come. Bringing the supply chain online with a system like Wikifactory and enabling industry-wide adoption of digital production processes through clusters and networks like Danish AM Hub, could be game-changing for our environment. This is a long-term vision but already today we can ensure that the 50 members of Danish AM Hub can access the Wikifactory platform and we can start designing the sustainable products of the future.”

In Denmark, where investments in renewable energy have established the country’s international profile as a green nation, transformation of the manufacturing industry to remove hidden emissions is an obvious next step. Already home to Lego, Bang & Olufsen, Carlsberg, and A.P. Møller-Maersk, Denmark is a global front-runner in the transition towards a more circular production economy, and an established European capital of industrial-scale manufacturing after Germany, Switzerland, France and Sweden. The partnership between Wikifactory and Dansk AM Hub will give the country the necessary and crucial momentum to achieve a leading position in sustainable manufacturing and be a pioneer country for the rest of the world.

Wikifactory has moved in with Danish AM Hub in Valby, Copenhagen into the iconic capsule factory, and will kick-off their partnership with a fast-paced special project called ‘Designing for Additive Manufacturing’ (DfAM). The project challenges Danish manufacturing companies to work together to build the most sustainable products of the future across industry verticals. First prototypes will be revealed to the world in April 2022.

Wikifactory’s global community of industrial and mechanical engineers, product designers, hardware start-ups and makers have developed more than 5,000 products across a variety of industries, including robotics, electric vehicles, drones, agri-tech, biotech equipment, furniture, Covid supplies and digital fabrication machines. Wikifactory is where great ideas become even better products.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Company .