Westminster Tool Metal 3D Printing Technology Celebrated by Leaders, State Officials

Industry leaders and state officials gathered at Westminster Tool to view the company’s metal 3D printing capabilities, made possible through the Mantle beta machine. The event brought together politicians, educators, administrators and workforce development organizations. This addition to Westminster Tool’s facility marks a symbolic step forward in advancing opportunities for small manufacturers in the state of Connecticut.

Supported by Governor Ned Lamont’s Additive Manufacturing Adoption Program (AMAP), Westminster Tool’s equipment purchase was made possible by partnerships with the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), the Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund (MIF) and the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT). Last year, Westminster Tool was one of six recipients in the state to be awarded the AMAP grant.

This celebration marks the first time Westminster Tool has opened its doors to the public since before the pandemic.

This event was the first time the beta machine was seen up and running by the community, as well as by Westminster Tool’s partners and customers. The live demonstration showed Mantle’s hybrid additive process building a hardened H13 injection mold cavity with conformal cooling for a complex automotive part (see its application in medical devices). 

Mantle’s Trueshape Technology makes the additive opportunities more accessible to small businesses like Westminster Tool. By catering to injection mold manufacturers, Westminster Tool says Mantle’s machine makes the jump to additive less disruptive and more successful, without sacrificing accuracy needed for the most demanding applications.

Among those in attendance were Congressman Joe Courtney, Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, Chief Manufacturing Officer Paul Lavoie and Chief Workforce Officer Kelli Vallieres, along with several members from workforce institutions such as CCAT, EWIB and EAMA.

“We wanted to bring together all the organizations that not only helped to make the acquisition of this technology possible, but everyone in our community that directly benefits from this,” says Westminster Tool president and owner Ray Coombs. “This technology has major implications for manufacturing education in the state, and this is only the beginning.”

The nation is looking more and more to 3D printing as an answer to industrial and economic obstacles.

This celebration marks the first time Westminster Tool has opened its doors to the public since before the pandemic, and the company says a lot has changed since then.

“We take immense pride in all of the new technology added here and the improvements made on how we train our team on that new technology,” adds Coombs. “What makes us unique is our people paired with technology, and that kind of magic deserves to be seen in person.”

Watch “MMT Chats: 3D Printing Molds and Training Moldmakers” to learn about the company and the steps it’s taking to move forward in industry.