Getting in Shape for Active Duty

The company doing business as Foundry Lab is neither a foundry nor a laboratory, but it has something more than its name working in its favor now—recognition. The New Zealand-based enterprise developed and markets the Digital Metal Casting system that has been adopted now by the New Jersey Innovation Institute (a research-linked “accelerator”,) NJII is installing the production package as part the COMET maker-space operation that its affiliate New Jersey Institute of Technology operates in partnership with the U.S. Army DevCom Armaments Center, a primary R&D location for that military branch. DMC has been drafted.

Foundry Lab has been portrayed as metalcasting innovator, but by locating at COMET it will be among the additive manufacturing/3D printing options at the service of researchers and prototypers working on critical components for emerging applications, particularly in defense and health care technologies. AM/3DP is a clearer depiction of DMC’s value and purpose.

The connection to the defense manufacturing sector is significant because those interests have been tuned to the advantages of additive manufacturing for much of the past decade. AM, and particularly metal 3D printing, is understood as a route to overcoming obstacles like replacement of out-of-production components, or remote repair of systems, which are major concerns in the defense supply chain.

Foundry Lab’s DMC technology centers on binder jet printing of ceramic molds, which are then used to form parts from metal slugs. That step is performed in a microwave chamber, a setting that allows the manufacturer to control the metal forming process (which Foundry Lab refers to as the “casting” process.) According to the developer, the precise control over metal forming allows manufacturing production-grade parts with 0.5-mm wall thicknesses, comparable to investment castings or diecastings.

“This technology strengthens supply chain resilience while ensuring the U.S. retains sovereign manufacturing capabilities,” according to Foundry Lab CEO David Moodie. “In the current geopolitical climate, this level of self-reliance is more critical than ever. It’s about rebuilding the backbone of metalcasting in the United States—empowering businesses to innovate without waiting months for cast parts, experiment without incurring high costs, and deploy this technology at scale to enhance efficiency and sustainability.”

Moodie also connected the capabilities to a different aspect of the defense sector’s manufacturing needs. “They don’t have to compromise on performance or spend additional time requalifying parts—they get the same quality they are used to but much faster,” he noted.

Other AM developers have gained traction in the military supply chain too. Meltio, a Spanish developer of metal additive manufacturing systems based on wire-laser metal deposition technology, has drawn attention for its role in a U.S. Navy project, in which it contributed to readiness and may help redefine maritime logistics. Working through a U.S. sales partner, Snowbird Technologies, it developed the SAMM Tech system with a Meltio 3D-printing element, installed aboard the USS Somerset (LPD-25) amphibious transport dock. During a deployment, SAMM Tech was used to produce a critical component for a reverse-osmosis pump needed to produce clean drinking water during deployments at sea.

The comparisons and contrasts between metalcasting and metal 3D printing have been understood for decades—as have been their separate advantages. The value of their products, either samples or prototypes, or finished components, determines the proper market placement for these processes.