Equipment development

A 3D printer is a mini-factory that can operate across home, service and production-type settings. Through its multi-scale food technologies, DFPI is making this available to production and processing companies of all sizes. It also means that the creation of unique, personalized products isn’t just for professionals: consumers can now play a role in generating new and sustainable routes from farm to fork.

Personalizing and scaling up

Equipment development reflects two important trends in society. Firstly, urbanization has lead time-pressured consumers to move away from home cooking. Individuals, however, also want to eat healthily and be empowered in the choice of what they consume. This move towards personalization (also reflected in areas like mobility and entertainment) opens up new production methods for companies to grow their (e-commerce) businesses. DFPI’s ambition is therefore to scale up various production levels, create food-grade printing set-ups and merge 3D printing with existing production lines.

The equipment of the future

DFPI brings together nearly 10 years of experience in projects of all sizes. TNO has been involved in the development of printers for American snack provider Mondelez and Italian pasta giant Barilla, where customers can now design and print their own pasta shape. On a smaller scale, work is being done on an integrated printer for the home, into which users can feed personal input to produce foods that meet their taste and nutrition requirements. Such goals may seem lofty, but the same was said of personal computers 40 years ago.

To discuss equipment development opportunities with DFPI, get in touch now.

DFPI is a collaboration of: