Ci-Esse Joins Velo3D’s Contract Manufacturer Network in Italy

Ci-Esse, a precision machining contract manufacturer with more than 15 years of experience in additive manufacturing (AM), has purchased a Sapphire printer from Velo3D to become the first member of its contract manufacturer network in Italy. This new, fully integrated metal additive manufacturing solution will be used to produce parts for Ci-Esse's customers in aerospace, defense, motorsports and other industries.

Ci-Esse’s Sapphire printer will be calibrated to produce parts using Inconel 718 metal powder and will reside in the company’s AM facility in Fiorano Modenese, Italy. The company has more than 40 years of experience in precision machining as well as 15 years using metal AM technology. According to Velo3D, Ci-Esse has a passion for solving its customers’ most difficult problems and has developed unique processes and capabilities — from printing parameters and quality control to postprocessing.

The companies say the overlap of industries served by Velo3D and Ci-Esse is extensive, so the companies foresee a fruitful partnership in which they can learn from one another as they serve joint customers.

Ci-Esse was founded in 1978 and has a large number of customers across space, aviation, defense, industrial tooling, racing and automotive. Prior to 2007, Ci-Esse’s business focused on conventional manufacturing technologies. Since then, Ci-Esse has adopted advanced manufacturing technologies like AM to differentiate itself from the competition. Its customers utilize Ci-Esse’s manufacturing capabilities to produce ready-to-use parts to support their various product lines and service offerings. The company is AS9100D certified and maintains a metallurgical laboratory to monitor the quality of the powder used in its AM processes.

“One of our core values at Ci-Esse is to strive for perfection in every part we deliver to a customer,” says Giorgio Canali, Ci-Esse CEO. “Velo3D’s solution, with its quality assurance and preprint software, is an excellent complement to our extensive history of delivering parts produced with the highest quality. The fully integrated solution will help us monitor the quality of the parts we produce for our customers to add an extra level of validation in our quality.”

Within the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) industry, Velo3D says it has been able to differentiate itself with a solution that combines software and manufacturing processes with its metal 3D printers. The fully integrated solution streamlines the preprint process, ensures quality in every layer of a 3D printed part and enables reputability from one Sapphire printer to another. This solution enables engineers to easily scale production to new printers without having to complete an extensive process of qualification. This same approach will enable Ci-Esse to produce parts for existing Velo3D customers with minimal effort. As its customers need to scale their production, Ci-Esse can simply add additional printers to meet its customer’s needs.