Manufacturing is the process of transforming raw materials into something with value. When you add a fervor for art, a keenness for progress, or a desire to help, you get a passion project.
In 2025, IMTS+ will debut the new original series “Passion Project,” which explores the connections between manufacturing and the personal passions of the creators and doers who make up our industry. Whether they are passionate about making music, improving pets’ lives, or building a more sustainable world, these manufacturers go to great lengths to deliver innovative products and pioneering processes.
Episode 1: The Harmony of Art & Technology
Legendary music manufacturer C.F. Martin & Co. and manufacturing technology giants Mazak and Renishaw have collaborated to create an innovative approach that blends the craftsmanship of instrument-making with the precision of manufacturing. The result is an improved guitar fabrication process that highlights the harmony of art and technology.
At IMTS, Lou Goffredo, the engineering services manager at Martin Guitar, met Bill Curtis, the applications engineering manager at Mazak, and Dan Skulan, the general manager of industrial metrology at Renishaw. They worked together to solve a long-standing challenge in guitar manufacturing: manual freizing, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process to cut a channel around the perimeter of a guitar body to install decorative elements.
After months of development, Martin Guitar, Mazak, and Renishaw had a prototype and were ready for test cutting. Using a Mazak 3-axis horizontal machining center, an external two-pallet part exchange system, and a Renishaw metrology measuring probe, Martin Guitar implemented an automated freizing process. A computer-controlled machine now cuts the channel in the guitar body for decorative bindings or inlays with minimal input from the operator, who can focus on other tasks.
Episode 2: Engineering Magic for Pets
Sometimes, you just have to jump. Alex Tholl and Adam Hecht, co-founders of DIVE, an industrial design firm transforming industries with additive manufacturing solutions, learned that early on.
After an attempt to enter the human prosthetics space stalled due to regulatory barriers, DIVE turned to animal prosthetics. They found an enormous opportunity to improve the lives of pets while proving the capabilities of 3D printing to make custom products that are repeatable.
With a worldwide network of clinics, DIVE launched 3DPets. Customers bring in their pets or send in a cast, and the 3DPets team creates a digital scan using the iPhone’s lidar camera. A custom prosthesis is designed around the scan, and the part is 3D printed. The result is a lightweight, flexible, and breathable prosthesis that meet an animal’s unique needs.
3DPets reduced labor to two-to-three man hours, cut lead times from two months to one, and expanded beyond cats and dogs. That’s right: 3DPets has improved the lives of pigs, goats, tortoises, alpacas, llamas, and even elephants. The brand was so hot that Apple partnered with 3DPets on a commercial campaign to show off both technologies working together to improve pets’ lives.
Episode 3: Furnishing the Future
Today’s furniture industry is far from sustainable. In 2022, Jay Rogers, an entrepreneur with an automotive background and deep manufacturing roots, set out to change that as co-founder and CEO of Haddy. An acronym for heroic, agile, design, durable, and yours, Haddy is a 3D-printed furniture manufacturer committed to delivering beautiful, functional goods that meet the needs of American consumers while cutting down on waste.
Haddy entered the massive furniture industry with tables and planters designed for a premium retailer and the dual goals of simplifying and improving the sector. To achieve these goals, the company tapped into the capabilities of 3D printing and ensured sustainability through upcycling.
Haddy’s process allows consumers to select furniture and have it printed near the point of use, eliminating the need for large warehouses or lengthy shipping times. By tracking products and ensuring circularity, Haddy also addresses the massive waste in the furniture industry. All products are made from recyclable materials so they can be repurposed as raw materials instead of discarded at the end of their life-cycle. That’s furniture for the future.
Look for these and more new episodes of the IMTS+ Original Series “Passion Project” debuting on IMTS+ at IMTS.com/PassionProject in February.
To read the rest of the Emerging Technology Issue of MT Magazine, click here.
