Cambridge, UK-based industrial inkjet printhead manufacturer Xaarannounces the completion of its new Xaar 3D Centre in Nottingham, UK, which is just opening.

The new facility will deliver 3D printing services and equipment to OEMs, material suppliers and end users. The company has also hired a team of staffers to become a part of its new 3D team—that end of the business being part of Xaar’s 2020 strategic vision plan.

The new 3D team is headed up by Professor Neil Hopkinson, who Xaar says was the original inventor of the transformational High Speed Sintering technology (HSS), a process which uses inkjet printheads and infrared heaters to manufacture products layer by layer from polymer powder materials at much higher speeds than other additive manufacturing processes. The technology is of great interest to companies looking to use 3D in volume manufacturing, according to the company.

Since joining Xaar, Hopkinson has been building his 3D team and earlier this year appointed project managers and 3D engineers who are now based at the Xaar 3D Centre. The team in Nottingham will focus on development of materials and applications, while a separate group of engineers in Copenhagen, Denmark, will provide design and process development expertise to help the company’s partners commercialize HSS equipment, enhancing Xaar’s ability to secure further revenues in the fast-growing 3D printing sector, the company says.