【3D Printing】 How Universities Promote 3D Printing Technology Adoption in the Region
PrintCity at Manchester Metropolitan University: A Case Study
A recent report from the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) found that Manchester's adoption rate of additive manufacturing is approximately twice that of any other location outside London in the UK, and identified PrintCity as a key driver of this achievement.
PrintCity, a digital manufacturing center within Manchester Metropolitan University (Manchester Met), has become a national benchmark for university-led industrial technology application.
Through interviews with Carl Diver, Professor of Innovative Manufacturing and Director of PrintCity, and Sam Hitchin, the technical officer responsible for the facility’s 3D printing bureau, this article reveals a model that connects education, research, and industry to de-risk, democratize, and accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing.
| Background: The Collision of Manufacturing Tradition and a New Industrial Revolution
Manchester is widely regarded as the birthplace of the First Industrial Revolution. This deep legacy of engineering, production, and pragmatic innovation has shaped how the city embraces the next wave of manufacturing transformation.
As additive manufacturing began to mature as an industrial technology in the mid-2010s, the UK government recognized a growing skills gap and sought universities to help address it.
PrintCity was established in 2018 precisely to respond to this policy challenge. Starting with just two or three printers, the facility was designed from the outset as an open, industry-facing hub rather than a traditional university lab, where students, researchers, and businesses could explore the possibilities of additive manufacturing side-by-side.
Manchester is known as the birthplace of the First Industrial Revolution. The city and its surrounding areas have a long history of engineering and manufacturing, as well as a proactive spirit. PrintCity was developed on this foundation—it provides a springboard for businesses to reach new heights.
Carl Diver, Director of PrintCity and Professor of Innovative Manufacturing at Manchester Metropolitan University, stated.
| The Facility: A University-Scale Living Lab
PrintCity, part of Manchester Metropolitan University's Department of Engineering, is a multidisciplinary digital manufacturing center.
With over 100 machines, ranging from desktop FFF printers costing around £100 to industrial systems worth up to £300,000, it offers a range of technologies to meet the needs of diverse users, from first-year design students to established aerospace suppliers.
| Breadth of Technology as a Strategic Choice
Approximately 30% of the printer fleet consists of FFM (Material Extrusion) printers, which are the printers most students begin with.
These workhorse machines—primarily Bambu Lab’s P1S and P2S models—are fast, reliable, and sufficiently fault-tolerant to allow learners to experiment without incurring excessive costs.
Beyond FFF, PrintCity also deploys SLA, SLS, DLP, LFAM, concrete, and continuous fiber technologies, ensuring that when a company or researcher needs an industrial-grade solution, it is available on-site.
Technology investment decisions are carefully considered. The team analyzes industry demand across the Northwest of England and the broader UK, benchmarking against leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) (including field trips to major German manufacturers), prioritizing equipment not widely available through commercial service bureaus.
The goal is to fill a genuine market gap, not to compete with the private sector.
| 3D Printing Bureau: Rapid Delivery of High-Quality Products
Sam Hitchin, PrintCity Technical Officer and Bureau Manager
Within PrintCity, Sam manages a dedicated 3D printing service bureau, providing high-quality part printing services to students without requiring them to operate the machines themselves. It's important to note that this center exclusively offers internal printing services to faculty and students and does not undertake external commercial projects.
Students from disciplines such as architecture, fashion, interior design, product design, and engineering submit orders through an online system and receive their printed parts within strict academic deadlines.
The bureau's operational uniqueness lies in its data-driven quality management approach.
The team has developed a custom dashboard, engineered entirely in-house by PrintCity engineers, to aggregate real-time telemetry from each printer: remaining print time, success and failure rates, failure classifications (nozzle clogs, bed adhesion issues, slicing errors, underextrusion), and maintenance history. Every Tuesday, the team reviews the previous week's data to identify systemic issues and improve maintenance processes.
We don’t just print and pray for success; we use data to ensure everything is as scientifically rigorous as possible. We are conducting internal experiments to find the optimal conditions to maximize print success rates.
Sam Hitchin, PrintCity Technical Officer and Bureau Manager, said.
This rigorous analytical approach yields tangible returns: faster turnaround times, fewer print failures, and reduced material waste—all crucial for both economic and environmental reasons. The dashboard also serves as a demonstration tool, showcasing a well-managed additive manufacturing operation to visiting companies.
| Model: The Four Pillars of Adoption
PrintCity's impact on regional additive manufacturing adoption does not stem from a single project but from a model operating simultaneously across four interconnected areas.
1. Widening Participation: Benefiting the Next Generation
PrintCity welcomes approximately 200 secondary school students from the Greater Manchester area each year through its widening participation program.
Many young people encounter industrial 3D printing technology for the first time at PrintCity. By creating this early exposure, the institution helps cultivate a cohort of future engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs, equipping them with a conceptual understanding and practical experience of the technology before they enter higher education or the workforce.
2. University Teaching: Interdisciplinary Skill Integration
All forty thousand students at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) have access to PrintCity's facilities. More importantly, the facility serves all disciplines, not just engineering.
On any given day, the department handles parts for architecture students modeling building concepts, fashion students exploring structural fittings, interior designers prototyping layouts, and mechanical engineers testing load-bearing components.
This interdisciplinary exposure means that additive manufacturing will become a familiar tool across various industries, collectively shaping how UK businesses design and manufacture products in the decades to come.
Students who wish to delve deeper into the technology can enroll in the university's Master's program in Digital Design and Manufacturing, taught within the PrintCity campus. Students in this program not only learn technical knowledge but also gain hands-on experience with the technology daily, working alongside industry partners and researchers.
3. Research: Pushing the Technological Frontier
PrintCity supports researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and institutions across the UK, providing access to equipment and expertise that would be prohibitively expensive to replicate independently.
Current research activities span multiple areas, from exploring advanced metamaterials (lattice structures and materials that respond to temperature, humidity, or mechanical loads) to applied sustainability research (such as recycling and reusing selective laser sintering (SLS) powder and resin waste). Manchester Metropolitan University currently ranks first in the "Green Alliance for People and Planet" and has been in the top ten for over a decade.
PhD students work with the facility's technical team, partly funded by industry partners, creating a continuous cycle of practical knowledge generation.
4. Industry Engagement: De-risking Investment
The fourth and most commercially significant pillar is PrintCity's structured industry collaboration program, funded by a series of multi-year government grants. Over the past four or five years, more than 300 companies have been supported, covering the entire spectrum from initial exploration to full technology transfer.
The entire process begins with an open visit or a workshop guided by professionals. PrintCity adopts an objective and neutral approach: if 3D printing is not the best solution for a company's challenges, they will honestly say so. This frankness is central to their credibility.
If additive manufacturing is suitable, companies enter a short technical feasibility phase, and after discovering genuine potential, they proceed to a structured project lasting three to nine months, during which the PrintCity technical team collaborates with the company to develop and validate practical applications.
Carl Diver, Director of PrintCity
This process is supported by collaborative efforts across the Greater Manchester ecosystem, particularly with colleagues at the Business School's Enterprise Centre, who contribute to early-stage ideation and innovation workshops.
We want to give businesses the opportunity to explore this technology, understand its limitations, so that when they decide what investment to make, we can support their decisions and de-risk their eventual investment.
commented Carl Diver, Director of PrintCity.
The funding model behind it is as important as the content itself.
PrintCity secures three-to-five-year government projects that pre-fund teams and equipment. This means the institution can respond to business needs in weeks, rather than waiting 12 to 18 months as with traditional grant cycles. Rapid response is not a secondary factor, but a core element of its structural design.
| Model: The Four Pillars of Adoption
One of PrintCity's most important—and least known—contributions to the adoption of additive manufacturing technology is its ability to nurture and retain talent. Carl Diver illustrates this with Sam's story, who is now the facility's technical lead, and whose career trajectory embodies the institution's human-centered approach:
Sam, an undergraduate product design student at Manchester Met, discovered PrintCity and was so drawn to its technology and working environment that he became part of the team before graduating. After that,
He pursued a Master's degree in Digital Design and Manufacturing, working part-time at PrintCity throughout. Later, when a technical position opened up, he joined full-time. In less than a year, he completely transformed the print facility—helping colleagues build a customized monitoring dashboard, standardizing maintenance procedures, and improving print quality and efficiency.
This is not an isolated case. PrintCity graduates are currently working in additive manufacturing teams for F1 racing, with four or five alumni employed by the team, and two PhD students partially funded by them.
The institution also creates indirect career paths: during a networking event at PrintCity, a prospective student met an alumnus working at a local company, and as a result, the student was directly hired into the additive manufacturing industry, completely bypassing the path of pursuing a Master's degree.
These individuals bring deep practical knowledge of additive manufacturing to the companies and industries they join. In fact, they are drivers of technology adoption—and they are direct products of the PrintCity model.
| Tangible Impact: Twice the National Average
This multi-layered approach's regional impact has been independently verified. A DSIT report found that the rate of additive manufacturing adoption by SMEs in Manchester is approximately twice that of other regions outside London.
PrintCity was explicitly identified as one of the contributing factors to this outcome.
Recent government reports indicate that the adoption rate of additive manufacturing technology in Manchester is approximately twice that of other regions in the UK outside London. And PrintCity is considered one of the key factors in creating this opportunity for businesses.
Carl Diver, Director of PrintCity, stated.
This is a remarkable finding.
The widespread adoption of additive manufacturing technology has historically been challenging: the technological landscape is complex, capital costs are high, and required skills are scarce.
A region's adoption rate being twice the national average—and a university facility being credited as the cause—indicates that PrintCity's model addresses real adoption barriers in ways that pure market mechanisms cannot.
| Keys to Success: Critical Success Factors
From Sam's perspective:
Focus and Institutional Commitment
Sam's advice to other universities is clear: the key to success is having dedicated professionals. PrintCity doesn't expect technicians in a machine shop to juggle 3D printing alongside other duties. It hires individuals specifically for additive manufacturing. It is this focus, combined with strong institutional commitment, that allows the facility to accumulate deep expertise and achieve scaled, consistently high-quality production.
· Specialized technical personnel focused on additive manufacturing
· University-supported investment in equipment and staffing
· PrintCity offers a range of technologies and materials, ensuring each user receives the right technology, material, and expert support.
· Industry funding does not duplicate new technologies in commercial services
· Open culture: PrintCity welcomes visits from other universities and shares its operational experience.
From Carl's perspective:
Structure, Speed, and Academic Integrity
· This funding model, which deploys resources in advance, allows response times to be measured in weeks, not months.
· Honest and unbiased advice, not favoring any particular technology, telling businesses when 3D printing is not the best solution.
· A comprehensive support model that continues to assist companies after project completion, ensuring skills are integrated.
· An open, inclusive, and accessible culture that makes the facility physically and culturally accessible.
| Looking Ahead
Both Carl and Sam are enthusiastic about PrintCity's next phase of development.
In terms of technology, Carl believes that emerging functional and responsive materials (materials capable of reacting to temperature, humidity, or mechanical loads) are a cutting-edge area where PrintCity's research community has already made significant progress.
He also focuses on developments in industrial reliability and repeatability, which remain barriers to the wider adoption of these technologies in production environments.
Sam focuses on sustainability.
The recycling of SLS powder and resin waste is an area where PrintCity actively collaborates with PhD students and material manufacturers, and this collaboration is increasing. PrintCity is also exploring the use of new additives for in-house filament production, seeking to position itself as a partner in material innovation, not just a consumer of materials.
They both clearly state that the focus for the next five years is on deepening rather than expanding. More students need to be recruited, more industry partners attracted, and community engagement strengthened—to ensure, in Sam's words, that additive manufacturing gets the reputation it deserves.
| Implications for Other Institutions
· Specialization over generalization: A facility with dedicated personnel and clear responsibilities outperforms a general workshop where additive manufacturing is a sideline.
· Serving multiple constituencies simultaneously: The convergence of students, researchers, K-12 students, and industry professionals in the same physical space creates value that no single group could create alone.
· Agile funding: Multi-year project funding that pre-arranges resources is more effective in promoting industry engagement than project-by-project grant cycles.
· Be honest about technological suitability: The ability to say "no" when additive manufacturing is not suitable earns industry trust.
· Measure and share: PrintCity's willingness to open its doors to visiting universities and benchmark its own operational data sets a standard for transparency, building trust across the industry.
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