Back
Fast Radius and Carbon Partner to Reimagine the Award-Winning Steelcase SILQ Office Chair with Additive Manufacturing
Chicago – Fast Radius, the leading additive manufacturing company, partnered with digital 3D Manufacturing company Carbon to reimagine the design of Steelcase’s award-winning SILQ office chair. The companies worked with Steelcase to design, engineer and print a custom arm cap, using additive manufacturing processes to align the design of the chair with human physiology. Steelcase engaged Fast Radius and Carbon to explore how additive manufacturing could improve the product development process and differentiate its products in the market, while also greatly reducing the time it took to bring the product to life.
“Ever since SILQ first debuted, we have continued to experiment with enhancements to the chair’s design, living up to our reputation of pursuing innovation,” said Bruce Smith, Steelcase Director of Global Design. “The additive manufacturing processes from Fast Radius and Carbon enabled us to streamline the already-unique aesthetics of the chair with a lattice structure that also condensed three parts into one.”
“The flexibility of our Application Launch Program (ALP) provided the freedom to brainstorm and try new design ideas for the SILQ,” said Lou Rassey, Fast Radius Chief Executive Officer. “For a design-driven company like Steelcase, this was crucial. Unlike traditional lengthy and expensive design cycles, the additive manufacturing process meant Steelcase could go through as many redesigns as needed to get it right. In this instance, we went from the initial idea with around 100 variables and produced over 12 unique designs in just eight weeks.”
Consumer personalization is fundamental to Steelcase’s vision for the SILQ, as every part of the chair is designed to react intuitively to an individual person’s body and movements. The additive manufactured armrest was designed in four zones that provided different attributes based on how a person’s arm might interact with it. Although each zone was designed separately, Carbon’s proprietary Digital Light Synthesis™ technology enabled Fast Radius to print the entire armrest as one cohesive part, and the use of lattices reduced material usage by up to 70 percent without sacrificing performance.
“Carbon’s digital 3D Manufacturing solution empowers companies like Steelcase with the freedom to design and build next-gen products on the means of production, at scale,” said Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone, Carbon Chief Executive Officer and co-founder. “In addition to Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesisä technology, our novel approach combines connected, data-centric hardware with over-the-air software updates and innovative materials—like the ones used to create the lattice for the SILQ armrest—enabling creators to design and produce previously unmakeable products both economically and at mass scale.”
At NeoCon 2018, Steelcase featured multiple SILQ chairs —including the option with additive manufactured armrests—in their showroom. The showroom won Best in Competition at NeoCon, and the SILQ concept won an Innovation Award. The armrest itself is currently undergoing more enhancements before it can officially hit the market.
Fast Radius and Carbon will be showcasing the Steelcase SILQ office chair and armrest at IMTS in Chicago, Sept. 10-15. Visit Carbon’s booth (#431505, West Hall) to learn more.
About Fast Radius
Fast Radius is the leading provider of additive manufacturing solutions, including application discovery, product design and testing, production-grade manufacturing and global fulfillment. From entirely new products uniquely enabled by additive manufacturing to global supply chain solutions leveraging a virtual warehouse, Fast Radius brings the future of manufacturing and the supply chain to its clients. In September 2018, Fast Radius was named as one of the nine companies best “implementing technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Fast Radius is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in Atlanta, Ga and Singapore, as well as a production hub on-site at the UPS Worldport facility in Louisville, Ky. Visit fastradius.com for additional information.
About Carbon
Carbon is a Silicon Valley-based company working at the intersection of hardware, software, and molecular science to deliver on the promise of digital 3D Manufacturing. The company empowers its customers and partners to evolve beyond using 3D printing for basic prototyping to producing at scale by revolutionizing how they design, engineer, make, and deliver their products. With Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis™ technology and its SpeedCell™ system (M Series printers and Smart Part Washer), manufacturers can unlock new business opportunities such as mass customization, on-demand inventory, and differentiated products made with unique functional materials. Carbon’s solutions also provide substantial operational efficiencies, such as the elimination of tooling costs and decreased time to market. To learn more, visit www.carbon3d.com.