The second FuturePrint Virtual Summit will be taking place from October 12th to October 16th. Sihl is a FuturePrint Virtual Summit Content Partner, and we caught up with the team to discuss the individualisation trend, how they are meeting that demand, and what they will be presenting at the upcoming summit.

Why has your business made the decision to participate in the second FuturePrint Virtual Summit? 

Sihl took part in the first FuturePrint Virtual Summit, with the focus was on ARTYSIO, our revolutionary solution for flexible packaging.

The first FututrePrint Virtual Summit was a good experience and so we want to use the second one as chance to show another new and innovative solution: 3D SubliColor.

 Who will be representing you at the FuturePrint Virtual Summit and what is their responsibility and experience?

Steffen Ohr will represent Sihl at the FuturePrint Virtual Summit. He is Vice President of Innovation at Sihl since 2017 and is responsible for technology management, research and development as well as business development.

Can you provide a brief overview of your chosen topic and why it will be of interest and relevance to Summit attendees? 

Currently, we are experiencing a trend of individualisation that goes through all areas of life and thus affects all of us.

Sihl has created an innovative solution: 3D SubliColor Film, which enables the individualisation of printed designs on all 3D objects from buckles of backpacks, motorcycle helmets, interior parts, surfboards and sneakers to individually printed household appliances like coffee makers, kettles or toasters down to furniture.

In addition, it is possible to print very small runs or even a real individualisation of only one piece. The customer gets their personal and individual design and the manufacturer can produce it on demand.

On the other hand the technology works perfectly in industrial mass production applications where millions of parts can be designed, where no design is currently possible.

How do you see the market developing in the next six months, and what will be your focus? 

We are convinced that the trend of individualisation will continue in the long term. There is already a strong demand in the market.

3D SubliColor Film will be a lasting project for Sihl and we are planning a global product launch.

We want to develop this business from runs of 1-10 pieces to a highly industrial production to print complex objects efficiently and individually.

 Tell us more about the product and the specific market it serves.

3D SubliColor is a highly functional film which is coated with a special ink so it can be used for thermoforming processes.

This means concretely: You put a three-dimensional formed component in a special oven, the 3D SubliColor film is heated until it gets soft and then the object is covered with it. The ink is activated by the temperature and transferred to the object. This is called diffusion process.

With this process, it is possible to print objects from very different material: hard or foamed polymers, glass, metals, metal sheets etc.

This is a big improvement for product designers because with 3D sublimation they will be able to combine their language of shapes with an individual product layout and so can design objects which are not yet printable today.

There are no limits anymore - everything can become a new lifestyle object. Let’s take household appliances as an example: You will be able to choose between 20 different designs for your new coffee maker or you can even create your own design. Thanks to 3D SubliColor technology the production will go very fast and your individual product will be delivered next day, or you can even get it directly in a shop.

Another very interesting point are products that impressively improve the quality of life. For example, we could print protheses and make them look very realistic.

What is unique about this product? How will it make a difference for customers?

The technology is the next development stage of the well-known dye sublimation technology. The difference is the operating temperature. Dye Sublimation takes place at high temperatures. Most popular polymers and materials are starting to melt. The innovation lies in the technology of the process and the 3D Sublicolor Film that works at low temperatures and enables the use of standard polymers.

The temperature of the diffusion process was reduced so that it is now possible to use thermosensitive standard polymers – a great innovation because this is the access to the industrial use of 3D sublimation.

In addition, the film has even more advantages: the instant dry simplifies the industrial production and it can be processed very easily and efficiently. Furthermore, the film consists of a monomaterial and thus is recyclable.

 You can find out more about the FuturePrint Virtual Summit here.

You can find out more about Sihl here.