A Stone-headquartered firm has opened what is believed to be the most automated polymer 3D print production facility in the UK.
Midlands 3D, based on Stone Business Park, marked the milestone with an industry open day showcasing its new headquarters, which is around five times the size of its previous unit.
The company began in 2018 in founder Paul Moloney’s garage before moving to a small industrial unit. Initially focused on models and custom one-off prints, Midlands 3D has since expanded into full-scale manufacturing, supplying industries including automotive, defence, motorsport and electronics.
The new facility features three HP Multi Jet Fusion machines worth £1.5 million, alongside 55 smaller printers, supported by automated systems that allow another build to start within minutes. The technologyenables the machines to run continuously, increasing overall efficiency, lowering operating costs and lead times for large print runs.
Paul said: “We’ve gone from producing one or two items to orders of thousands at a time. The technology lets us switch from printing orthotics for shoes to motorbike parts without a break.
“Customers like the flexibility – they don’t have to hold stock or order thousands of items from abroad to get a cheap price. We can supply five or 5,000, whatever they need.
“Someone who has come up with something and just needs 10 or 20 items is equally exciting to us as working with global household names.”
Midlands 3D remains a family-run business, with Paul, his wife, and two adult children part of a 13-strong team, including students from the JCB Academy and Leicester University. The company has invested around £1 million per year over the last four years to scale its capabilities.
The new facility also incorporates DyeMansion’s Powerfuse vapour smoothing system for automated finishing, creating smoother, stronger, scratch-resistant and waterproof parts, alongside deep dye colouringand surface texturing.
Paul said: “It’s really just being in the right place at the right time, and being in the Midlands is a terrific location to support UK manufacturing. Everything we do is confidential – we work with household names and global companies, producing parts that haven’t even reached shelves yet.
“If companies of any size think they could use this technology for their manufacturing, please get in touch to explore the potential and have a look around our site.”
