3D Systems Corporation (DDD) partnered with The Culinary Institute of America (“CIA”) for developing the 3D printing technologies for food and culinary industries. The two entities will be collaborating to initiate a beta program for ChefJet Pro culinary 3D printer that was unveiled in Jan 2014.
3D printing is a novel concept which is now gaining popularity across all domains from manufacturing to medical sciences and presently, to food as well. 3D Systems, a bellwether in the industry, has been making persistent efforts to expand its market share in this vast arena by developing innovative offerings.
Recently, the company collaborated with The Hershey Company (HSY) to explore and develop ingenious 3D printed chocolates as well as non-chocolate products. As per media reports, the two companies exhibited 3D Chocolate Candy Printing at the Hershey’s Chocolate World a few days back.
The aforementioned partnership with CIA is aimed at enhancement of the conventional culinary art through inventive 3D printing methods. The 3D printing domain has innumerable possibilities waiting to be tapped. This collaboration will bring together the powerful technology from 3D System and the skilled professionals in the culinary industry.
3D Systems will be offering internship and fellowship opportunities for the CIA students at its 3D printing culinary innovation center, The Sugar Lab, in Los Angeles. Moreover, the two entities will be jointly conducting a range of conferences and seminars for the students and faculty of CIA, utilizing the advanced printing technologies deployed by 3D System at the campuses.
CIA is intending to launch a rigorous beta testing program for the ChefJet Pro printer, the novel kitchen-ready edibility-certified 3D printer. This full color printer can produce customized food products ranging from candies and chocolates to flamboyant cake toppings. Designed using the company’s ColorJet Printing technology, the printer comes with user-friendly digital cookbook software for making ornate deserts including candies and sweets with different flavors.
CIA is planning to add 3D printing to its curriculum in order to make it easily accessible to its students, alumni as well as other culinary professionals. This initiative will open avenues for a rapid and ground-breaking development of this new technology in the professional culinary industry. Together, the two establishments plan to explore the vast sphere and create opportunities for both education and applications.
The printers will be commercially available by the second half of 2015. The company will also be conceptualizing a number of events to showcase its offering to the prime members in the hospitality, culinary and related communities. Along with these, the company will also reach out to symposiums and master-classes for further enhancement of 3D printed food items. Once the company’s culinary innovation center is operational, confections and other 3D printed food products will be made available online through its Cubify platform.
3D System plans to equip its ‘The Sugar Lab’ with state-of-the-art culinary printers and novel food ideas. In order to do this, the company will be hosting a number of pastry chefs, mixologists and molecular gastronomists to drive innovation and create unique offerings.
Such initiatives are allowing 3D System to gear up for leveraging this booming industry. According to the analytical firm Canalys, the 3D printing market will grow to $16.2 billion by 2018. IDC expects worldwide 3D printer unit sales and installed base to grow at a combined compound annual growth rate of 59% through 2017.
As such, 3D Systems seems well-positioned to reap the benefits in the long run, but aggressive competition from other key players in the industry like Stratasys Ltd. (SSYS) and The ExOne Company (XONE) can restrict its growth.
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