HP collaboration with Legor scales to jewellery production

Legor, a specialist in precious metals for the jewelry industry, initially partnered with HP over five years ago. This collaboration first evolved into qualification of precious and non-precious metal materials for HP Metal Jet systems. Now Legor has become the first company to introduce HP Metal Jet technology into the luxury and fashion accessory markets to enable efficient and high-quality production. With the help of HP’s 3D printing expertise, Legor has made progress toward its own business goals, including enabling a circular economy, speeding up the time for medium-scale production and improving available services for its customers.

A multinational group founded in Italy in 1979, Legor specializes in the science of precious metals at the service of the jewelry, fashion and electroplating industries. The company is revolutionizing the jewelry & fashion industries with its alloys, powders and galvanic solutions, made using 100% precious metals from recycled sources and included in the Chain of Custody. Through its innovative 3D Metal Hub, Legor has been experimenting with and producing jewelry and accessories from precious and non-precious metal powders with the help of HP 3D printing.

One of Legor’s main priorities has been to offer customers and partners the opportunity to take full advantage of the Legor 3D Metal Hub: an innovative center designed to offer them the chance to experiment and produce jewelry and fashion accessories. The installation of the new HP Metal Jet systems, resulted in an immediate improvement in the service offered to customers. Flexibility and creativity, therefore, meet synergistically with the optimization of productivity for cutting-edge jewelry and fashion accessories, currently created in 316l Stainless Steel.

The successful partnership between Legor and HP allows both companies to innovate as leaders in their respective industries, showing that it is possible to transform manufacturing in the jewelry and fashion industry with faster and more sustainable methods.

The companies’ shared values around sustainability also created the perfect opportunity to leverage 3D printing technology in a way that positively impacts the environment, representing an alternative approach to traditional casting with the combined advantage of not requiring the combustion of wax or the use of gypsum.

Using HP’s technology, Legor is able to reuse the excess powder remaining at the end of the printing process, leveraging a more circular approach to sustainable production. Speaking of the partnership, Legor Group CEO, Massimo Poliero, said: “The Legor 3D Metal Hub is an innovation center for the experimentation and production of precious and non-precious components combining the use of metal powders with Binder Jet technology, an alternative method to the classic casting, MIM (Metal Injection Moulding) or SLM (Selective Laser Melting), which allows us to be not only more innovative but also more sustainable.”

“We work with the aim of developing this technology for jewelry and fashion, maximizing the performance of the machines and optimizing the use of the metal powders we manufacture to adapt them to the various production cycles. In this way, we can support our customers by helping them in the usage, application and introduction of this technology for commercial manufacturing in a cutting-edge, innovative, sustainable and expedited way,” continued Poliero.

The Legor research and development department is also exploring new solutions for 3D printing of precious metal materials, such as silver, and non-precious metal materials, such as bronze, to enable medium-scale production of parts at competitive prices and with short lead times. With the help of HP, Legor has been able to increase its offer in terms of support for customers, helping with the usage and applications of this technology in the manufacturing of various products.

Ramon Pastor, HP’s Global Head and General Manager, Metal Jet, commented that “it is exciting to partner with another company that views sustainability as one of the most important pillars of their business. We’re looking forward to continuing our Metal Jet partnership with Legor to champion the adoption of 3D printing technology in new and exciting industries while encouraging the adoption of this innovative technology for new applications.”

HP’s Metal Jet and Binder Jet technology is designed to help businesses scale up their production using 3D printing technology. Legor is taking full advantage of these advancements through its ongoing partnership with HP, allowing it to offer customers the highest quality products and pioneering a new era of manufacturing in the jewelry and fashion markets.