Handddle and the French Air and Space Force renew collaboration

Handddle, a French industrial startup developing intelligent production cells for additive manufacturing, and the French Air and Space Force have renewed their collaboration to support the rise of AM in the defense sector. Only one year after installing a micro-factory at the heart of the French Air and Space Force’s National 3D Printing Pole (PNI3D), Handddle is taking a step forward and renewing its collaboration with a new installation.

As an essential technology for the military industry, 3D printing offers numerous advantages, especially in the production of complex and custom parts. This is particularly advantageous for the production of obsolete spare parts, in emergencies, which is a necessity for modern armed forces. In industries like defense, processes must be perfectly documented, closely monitored, and validated at each step to ensure that finished products meet the strictest standards of quality, safety, and conformity. Thanks to Handddle’s Smart Farm micro-factory, the company offers a controlled, standardized, and resilient production tool capable of meeting the growing production needs and capacities of the forces.

Since its installation in April 2022, Handddle has collaborated with the French armed forces in a task force to build a robust and ergonomic production process for producing quality parts that meet the industrial standards desired by the French Air and Space Force. Experiments and tests have been conducted to demonstrate process mastery with the Smart Farm solution in an operational production environment. After a year of use, the PNI3D acquired two new Smart Farm units.

This close collaboration between Handddle and the French Air and Space Force has allowed the startup to rely on solid user feedback to evolve certain aspects of its solution – both hardware and software – mainly focused on automation. A deep analysis of the data collected by the Smart Farm, combined with field expertise, has allowed Handddle to automate many workflow tasks.

“With the possibilities offered by our platform during production phases, we can help them automate workflow tasks related to the management and security of production environments, allowing soldiers to focus on their main mission”, said Dylan TALEB, co-founder of Handddle. Multi-site testing has also demonstrated the solution’s effectiveness in its ability to supervise and control distributed production, remotely.

In the future, Handddle’s Smart Farm could be deployed on a large scale – to strengthen the independence and resilience of the French Air and Space Force in times of crisis. A worldwide network would then improve the technical availability and cost control of support, which is a crucial issue for modern armed forces. The deployment of the Smart Farm on a larger scale would also strengthen the French Air and Space Force’s ability to deal with unforeseen situations and adapt quickly to new realities by quickly producing parts and equipment in theaters of operation while respecting a qualified industrial standard and having permanent visibility of the production capacities of the manufacturing network.