Based in 2011 out of Vienna College of Know-how, Lithoz has grown into one of many key gamers in ceramic additive manufacturing. The corporate’s co-founder and CEO, Johannes Homa, says its imaginative and prescient stays constant: to make additive manufacturing a real manufacturing course of, not only a prototyping software.
Throughout AM Ceramics, I interviewed the Lithoz CEO to study extra.
“The imaginative and prescient has not likely modified so much,” he mentioned. “From the beginning, our objective was to show that additive can ship the identical materials properties as standard forming. The distinction as we speak is that the vary of purposes has expanded far past what we first imagined.”
When the corporate was based, Homa and his workforce noticed potential in sectors akin to dental and textile equipment. Since then, the scope has widened dramatically. “We didn’t even know casting cores for generators existed again then,” he admitted. “Now we’re seeing adoption in medical implants, bone substitute, and semiconductors.”
From Prototyping to Mass Manufacturing
Lithoz’s know-how is already being utilized in large-scale manufacturing. “Our largest buyer produced 4 million elements final 12 months,” mentioned Homa. “It’s actual mass manufacturing, within the medical subject, combining quantity with particular person customization.” Different energetic areas embody surgical devices and semiconductor dealing with programs, the place ceramics’ chemical and thermal resilience supply clear benefits over metals or polymers.
Regardless of that progress, the CEO acknowledged that industrial adoption has been slower than early forecasts. “The difference of the know-how takes for much longer than anticipated,” he mentioned. “That’s the truth for any deep industrial course of change.”
One persistent false impression, in keeping with Homa, is round half dimension. “In ceramics, smaller is healthier. The smaller the elements, the extra productive additive turns into, since you’re including much less materials per unit.”
A Billion-Greenback Alternative Throughout Verticals
Homa believes that a number of ceramic additive segments may every characterize billion-dollar markets. He cites semiconductors, casting cores for engines, bone-replacement implants, and power programs akin to strong oxide gas cells. “Semiconductors alone are a billion-dollar alternative,” he mentioned. “The identical is true for medical implants and casting cores. Every of those areas might be that dimension in the long term.”
But progress depends upon overcoming ceramics’ unforgiving failure modes. “Ceramics are used the place different supplies fail,” he mentioned. “Which means excessive stress, excessive temperature, excessive abrasion. However one flaw and the half isn’t ok. High quality, high quality, and once more high quality, that’s what issues most.”
Rising Analysis and Multi-Materials Printing
Homa sees promise in multi-material 3D printing, an space he as soon as seen as purely educational. “I used to be one of many largest skeptics,” he mentioned. “But it surely’s opening fully new alternatives, for instance combining ceramics and metals, and even for dental purposes the place we will print enamel that look pure, with full coloration.”
Lithoz can be concerned in power analysis, supporting tasks in electrolyzers and strong oxide gas cells. “Design alone can change power density,” he famous, referencing latest work by analysis companions.
Business Outlook and Subsequent Section
After a turbulent few years marked by pandemic disruptions and market corrections, Homa sees indicators of restoration. “New concepts can’t be held again,” he mentioned. “It was only a delay. We’re now seeing optimism returning, even when enterprise funding continues to be tight.”
The corporate not too long ago achieved ISO 13485 certification for medical manufacturing, a milestone Homa describes as a step past compliance. “It’s actually about having the processes and high quality administration system to ship at industrial scale,” he mentioned.
For Lithoz, the following decade is about manufacturing and partnerships. “We’ve realized that the higher the partnership, the upper the prospect of success,” Homa mentioned. “You want to cowl the complete course of chain, from the powder to the ultimate software. The deeper the collaboration, the stronger the result.”
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Featured picture reveals Johannes Homa CEO Lithoz opening AM Ceramics 2025. Picture by way of Lithoz.
