en.Wedoany.com Reported - Lohia Aerospace Systems has signed a memorandum of understanding with Massivit 3D Printing Technologies to deploy India's first large-format commercial additive manufacturing platform for composite tooling. The two companies are partnering as a joint manufacturing alliance, with Massivit's large-format 3D printers set to be installed at Lohia's facility in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to produce molds and manufacturing tools for the aerospace and broader composite industries.
Composite manufacturing in India has long relied on manual tooling and traditional production processes. Massivit's technology can reduce tooling lead times by up to 90% compared to conventional methods, producing complete composite tools in days rather than weeks. Each large-format printer can produce 1 to 2 complete tool sets per day, with individual tool sets priced at approximately $10,000 to $20,000. Lohia plans to deploy 8 to 10 printers, expected to create 60 to 100 skilled jobs, with each machine requiring a dedicated team of 8 to 10 operators.
Lohia Aerospace will invest $8 million to $10 million over the next 1 to 2 years to scale up the project, adding 250,000 square feet of production space to its existing 80,000-square-foot facility to support the expansion of its Kanpur operations. Large-format additive tooling is not yet prevalent in India, and the small amount of tooling currently used locally is imported. The alliance aims to replace imported tooling with local production and gradually achieve full import substitution.
Lohia Aerospace stated that this collaboration combines Massivit's additive manufacturing technology with its own established composite manufacturing and engineering capabilities, enabling partners and customers to benefit from shorter lead times, lower costs, higher quality, and faster production scaling.
Ziki Kuly, Chief Commercial Officer at Massivit, said the company looks forward to partnering with Lohia to bring the RapidWings platform to India's rapidly growing defense market, noting that synergies will help expand domestic production for critical mission requirements.
Since launching its Cast-In-Motion technology at the CAMX trade show in 2021, Massivit has continued to focus on large-format additive manufacturing for composite tooling. This technology combines rapid additive manufacturing with direct casting of two-component epoxy-based materials, producing tooling with high heat deflection temperatures and low thermal expansion, reducing the traditional composite mold manufacturing process from approximately 19 steps to 4. VoxelMatters reported on this at the time.
Lohia Aerospace Systems, founded in 2019, is the aerospace and defense division of the Kanpur-headquartered Lohia Group. Its main composite facility is located at the Lohia Industrial Complex in Kanpur, and it also owns a wholly owned subsidiary, Light & Strong Ltd—a composite manufacturer based in Kannot, Israel, with two decades of aerospace composite production experience. Led by Anurag Lohia, the Lohia Group operates manufacturing bases across nine countries on four continents, employs approximately 5,000 people, and its core business supplies machinery to the woven sack industry, while also engaging in automotive and technical textiles businesses.
