In much of the wire DED space, you'll often see companies focusing on doing one part extremely well, like the deposition head itself for example. But in reality, system performance is dominated by how all these elements interact.
Innovation in Blue Laser Power in Industrial Wire DED 3D Metal Printing
Q&A with Lukas Hoppe, R+D Director | Meltio
Tell us about yourself and your role with Meltio.
I lead the R&D team at Meltio and have been with the company since the beginning, so I’ve grown alongside it. From the start, our ambition was always to deliver industrial solutions, although in the early years the technology was often used more in research contexts while we refined the systems and processes needed for full industrialization. That transition into robust, production-ready solutions has been one of the most exciting parts of the journey.
This was my first professional role, so much of the experience has been learning by doing, including a few costly mistakes along the way. That said, those challenges are also what made it so rewarding. The pace of change and the constant problem-solving keep the work engaging. What I’m most proud of is the team we’ve built. Having a strong, capable group of people is what ultimately makes everything else possible.
Can you summarize Meltio’s DED (Direct Energy Deposition) industrial metal 3D printing solutions?
At its core, Meltio’s technology is a laser wire process for metal 3D printing. We use multiple blue lasers to melt standard welding wire, which gives us a very stable, efficient, and safe way to deposit material.
The key idea is that everything is built around a deposition head that can be adapted to different use cases: standalone printers, robotic arms, or CNC machines.
It’s the same core process, just deployed in different ways depending on the application.
One of the biggest learnings for us over the years is that you can’t just build a good printer and expect everything else to fall into place. The full ecosystem matters. Machine, materials, process parameters, resulting material properties, software, and even the service and support layer. That’s really what turns a machine into a technology platform.
In much of the wire DED space, you’ll often see companies focusing on doing one part extremely well, like the deposition head itself for example. But in reality, system performance is dominated by how all these elements interact. That’s where we’ve invested a lot of effort, and where we think Meltio stands out.
You mention DED not only enable the production of metal parts in various materials but also allow for their use in repair applications. Could you explain this aspect of repair?
Yes, and this is one of the most compelling use cases. With DED you’re not limited to building parts from scratch, you can also add material exactly where it’s needed on an existing component.
So if a part is worn or damaged, instead of scrapping it, you can rebuild the critical areas and bring it back into service. That’s especially valuable in industries where parts are expensive or have long lead times.
We see strong use cases across a broad range of sectors. From mold repair to defense. One of the biggest advantages is speed.
Getting a part operational again in days instead of waiting weeks or months for a replacement. It also reduces dependency on original suppliers, which is important when parts are obsolete or the original manufacturer is no longer available.
.jpg)
What are the industrial metal applications, in which sectors, and what types of parts can be 3D printed using the Blue Lasers that Meltio incorporates into its solutions?
We’re seeing adoption across a wide range of industries: defense, automotive, aerospace, mining, oil and gas.
Basically anywhere you’re dealing with metal parts that are expensive, critical, or hard to source. Applications range from tooling and spare parts to structural components and repair. One of the advantages of using blue lasers is that they interact better with reflective materials, which opens up interesting applications that were previously difficult - including new areas like jewelry.
In terms of scale, it’s quite broad. We see everything from centimeter-scale consumer products to meter-scale components used in production lines. Where we really tend to excel is in three areas:
- reducing scrap when working with expensive materials like Inconel, titanium, or precious metals;
- quickly repairing or recreating critical parts to avoid long delays;
- consolidating complex welded assemblies into single, more efficient components.
How does Meltio support an industrial production line with its integrations into robotic arms and CNC machines?
Fundamentally, we offer three types of systems:
First, the M Series, like the M600 which are standalone 3-axis printers. These are very easy to use and are a great fit for production when parts fall within their size and geometry limits.
Then there are the Meltio Engine Robot integrations. Here we integrate the deposition head with an industrial robot, either as part of our own robot cell or through a wide range of partner solutions. Robotic systems are ideal for larger, more complex geometries or for repairing large components.
Finally, there are CNC integrations. These are particularly well suited for repair or feature addition on smaller components. The typical limitation is that you’re either machining or printing at a given moment, but the advantage is that you can switch seamlessly between both processes. That makes it a very powerful and compact solution, especially in environments where space is limited or where you need capability at the point of use like repair shops, military bases, or onboard vessels.
What is the return on investment a factory can achieve by implementing Meltio’s solutions in its production line?
ROI usually comes from a combination of factors rather than a single driver. Using wire instead of powder reduces material costs and waste. Producing parts on demand reduces the need for large inventories.
But in practice, the biggest drivers are often operational. Reducing downtime is huge.
For example, in getting a ship or specialized vehicle operational again in a week instead of waiting months for a replacement casting. Then there’s reducing waste from machining large billets of expensive materials. And finally, replacing scarce manual labor by consolidating complex weldments into single printed parts.
When you combine those factors, the economic impact becomes quite clear, often faster than people initially expect.
What are Meltio’s next steps in innovation regarding blue laser power or other components?
We’re continuously improving the process: making it more stable, faster, and easier to control. That includes hardware like lasers, but a lot of the focus is actually elsewhere.
.jpg)
Right now, the biggest priority is user experience. One of the main barriers to adoption is system complexity, especially since there isn’t a large, established workforce trained specifically in additive manufacturing like there is for CNC. So anything we can do to simplify operation, automate parameter selection, and reduce the burden on the user directly improves scalability.
The second key area is monitoring and control. As certification frameworks for wire DED mature, having reliable, real-time process monitoring becomes critical. It allows users to qualify parts more easily and confidently, especially for high-value or safety-critical applications.
In that sense, improvements in usability and process intelligence are, in our view, even more impactful than simply increasing laser power, although we are of course working on that as well.
The various industrial sectors that have adopted Meltio’s solutions—including defense, automotive, aerospace, mining, and oil and gas—are validating its technology. What capabilities and new metallic materials does Meltio aim to support in these industrial sectors?
Material development is a major focus for us. The goal is to support a broader range of industrial alloys while maintaining a good user experience and providing realistic, reliable as-printed material properties.
While the list of processable materials continues to grow, we see our role as providing a stable, well-characterized baseline set of alloys that customers can use as an entry point for many applications. From there, for more specific alloys and use cases, we often co-develop tailored processes together with customers to meet their exact requirements.
That combination, standardized materials plus application-specific development, is what enables adoption across a wide range of industries.
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of ManufacturingTomorrow
Featured Product
