Based in 2011 out of Vienna College of Expertise, Lithoz has grown into one of many key gamers in ceramic additive manufacturing. The corporate’s co-founder and CEO, Johannes Homa, says its imaginative and prescient stays constant: to make additive manufacturing a real manufacturing course of, not only a prototyping software.
Throughout AM Ceramics, I interviewed the Lithoz CEO to study extra.
“The imaginative and prescient has not likely modified rather a lot,” he mentioned. “From the beginning, our purpose was to show that additive can ship the identical materials properties as standard forming. The distinction right now is that the vary of functions has expanded far past what we first imagined.”
When the corporate was based, Homa and his workforce noticed potential in sectors equivalent to dental and textile equipment. Since then, the scope has widened dramatically. “We didn’t even know casting cores for generators existed again then,” he admitted. “Now we’re seeing adoption in medical implants, bone alternative, and semiconductors.”
From Prototyping to Mass Manufacturing
Lithoz’s expertise is already being utilized in large-scale manufacturing. “Our greatest buyer produced 4 million components final yr,” mentioned Homa. “It’s actual mass manufacturing, within the medical subject, combining quantity with particular person customization.” Different lively areas embrace surgical devices and semiconductor dealing with techniques, the place ceramics’ chemical and thermal resilience provide clear benefits over metals or polymers.
Regardless of that progress, the CEO acknowledged that industrial adoption has been slower than early forecasts. “The variation of the expertise takes for much longer than anticipated,” he mentioned. “That’s the fact for any deep industrial course of change.”
One persistent false impression, in keeping with Homa, is round half dimension. “In ceramics, smaller is healthier. The smaller the components, the extra productive additive turns into, since you’re including much less materials per unit.”
A Billion-Greenback Alternative Throughout Verticals
Homa believes that a number of ceramic additive segments may every characterize billion-dollar markets. He cites semiconductors, casting cores for engines, bone-replacement implants, and power techniques equivalent to stable oxide gasoline cells. “Semiconductors alone are a billion-dollar alternative,” he mentioned. “The identical is true for medical implants and casting cores. Every of those areas might be that dimension in the long term.”
But progress is determined by overcoming ceramics’ unforgiving failure modes. “Ceramics are used the place different supplies fail,” he mentioned. “Which means excessive stress, excessive temperature, excessive abrasion. However one flaw and the half isn’t adequate. High quality, high quality, and once more high quality, that’s what issues most.”
Rising Analysis and Multi-Materials Printing
Homa sees promise in multi-material 3D printing, an space he as soon as seen as purely educational. “I used to be one of many greatest skeptics,” he mentioned. “However it’s opening utterly new alternatives, for instance combining ceramics and metals, and even for dental functions the place we are able to print enamel that look pure, with full coloration.”
Lithoz can be concerned in power analysis, supporting initiatives in electrolyzers and stable oxide gasoline cells. “Design alone can change power density,” he famous, referencing current work by analysis companions.
Trade Outlook and Subsequent Part
After a turbulent few years marked by pandemic disruptions and market corrections, Homa sees indicators of restoration. “New concepts can’t be held again,” he mentioned. “It was only a delay. We’re now seeing optimism returning, even when enterprise funding remains to be tight.”
The corporate not too long ago achieved ISO 13485 certification for medical manufacturing, a milestone Homa describes as a step past compliance. “It’s actually about having the processes and high quality administration system to ship at industrial scale,” he mentioned.
For Lithoz, the subsequent decade is about manufacturing and partnerships. “We’ve realized that the higher the partnership, the upper the possibility of success,” Homa mentioned. “That you must cowl the total course of chain, from the powder to the ultimate utility. The deeper the collaboration, the stronger the end result.”
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Featured picture reveals Johannes Homa CEO Lithoz opening AM Ceramics 2025. Picture through Lithoz.