Bart Maeyens recently shared an update on LinkedIn about Signify’s long-running 3D printing effort – and there is a lot of info if you know what you’re looking at.

Signify’s 3D printing program started over a decade ago in Philips Lighting and Philips Research (back when Philips was still a cohesive conglomerate).

Back around 2012, the 3D printing research project and my own Luminous Patterns venture started concurrently with a focus on exploring the potential of digitally-turbo-charged mass customization. Whereas I pushed luminous patterns to a panelized system of subtractive 2D CNC cutting and additive 2D digital printing, Bram Knaapen, a very talented research scientist, asked the fundamental question “Why is 3D printing slow and expensive?“ He then proceeded to work the problem in making additive 3D printing fast and cheap in order to build mechanical parts for lighting fixtures. Along the way, he created gorgeous prototypes and custom slicing software to add unique new capabilities for 3D printing, such as parametric dimensional texturing. His lab at the High Tech Campus was like a 3D printing wonderland, with an endless parade of executives trapsing through, many of whom were seeing and handling 3D printed components for their first time ever. It was a simple but powerful way to win approval for the innovation program (I often reference the effectiveness of Bram’s lab for pitching the innovation program when advising people how to drive innovation programs in companies – make things as vivid, real and tangible as possible).

It quickly moved from a corporate research project to a funded corporate venture. For me, it was fun to watch the project move from Bram’s self-assembled RepRap printers to massive factories with hundred of 3D printers, filament extrusion lines and dedicated lean assembly cells. For many years, the 3D printing effort was rather bizarrely kept secret, with the first 3D printed fixtures publicly shown off only as late as 2017, with the 1st website launched a couple years later.

After I left the Luminous Patterns/Carpets venture team, I spent my final year at Philips/Signify in the 3D printing venture. It is one of the few corporate ventures at Philips Lighting that has survived, so it is nice to see Bram’s work making a very real and very sustained impact on the lighting industry.

From Bart Maeyens’s post is a picture of the development lab, whose caption labels it as located at the Eindhoven High Tech Campus:

People familiar with 3D print farms will immediately notice the proprietary printers, the air ventilation system, the filament drying ovens, the bags to catch ejected parts…and so many other goodies.

Signify now has 4 global production sites with hundreds (if not by now thousands) of 3D printers. I understand that in the Netherlands, the 3D printing factory moved into a former metal-halide lamp factory site in Turnhout, helping to save some of those jobs. The same process-control and intense quality-management skills needed to consistently manufacture old-school lamps are ironically the very skills needed to run a high volume 3D printing plant. Let that sink in to all the people who love to throw around the flashy buzz words of 3D printing, but who don’t really understand the reality of the process.

If you click through to the marketing links, you will notice the gorgeous range of textures that can be added onto basic 3D shapes:

And the nice range of plastics they have in muted architectural colors:

How they show sales samples:

Also note the HUGE range of fixture types that are using extensive percentages of 3D parts (far beyond just decorative fixtures as most people think):

I also think people have no real understanding of how big the parts are that Signify can print – in volume. The high bay series is especially large, with a reflector bell just under 2-feet in diameter and an upper decorative cap for a total height of just under 2-feet tall.

And the “Essential” surface mount unit is nearly 2-feet in diameter:

You can also see that the inner mechanical components are also 3D printed for most of these fixtures:

Glad to see my former colleagues at the Signify team continue to make progress!

For posterity, here’s Bart’s post with the inline links:

Philips MyCreation is currently available in 4 continents. We have 4 global production sites (Pacific – Asia – Europe and North America) where hundreds of our 3D printers are buzzing and printing the most remarkable and sustainable printed lighting. In the United States you can discover what we do under Cooper Prentalux or Signify Lightolier.

For those interested in what our additive manufacturing can do from a sustainability perspective, I urge you to check our whitepaper. The elimination of stocks, carbon neutrality and speed are some of the long list you can read up on. Overall we can make your EPD shine whilst making this world a better place.

Being part of Signify, the world leader in lighting and a topnotch innovator and sustainability champion, we are a venture that is shaping the future towards a truly circular lighting industry. That being said, it can only happen if others join the journey we are on.

That means, we can apply our knowledge, footprint and innovation also for you. Ranging from various materials, textures and colors to shape and form your lighting components or luminaires entirely. Feel free to reach out and ask your question or express your need. We can discover together how we can upgrade your lighting to be remarkable and sustainably printed.