Carbon is a digital manufacturing company founded in 2013 by Joseph and Philip DeSimone, Alex and Nikita Ermoshkin, Edward Samulski, and Steve Nelson. Carbon is based in Redwood City, California. The company manufactures and develops 3D printers utilizing the Continuous Liquid Interface Production process, with its first commercial product being the Carbon M1 printer. The company introduced its proprietary CLIP process on the TED stage in 2015. The Carbon Platform combines software, hardware, and molecular science to deliver manufacturing solutions designed to allow customers to build differentiated products that reduce waste and speed time to market. In April 2017, Adidas announced the first 3D printed midsole developed using Carbon technology.
History
The company was founded in 2013 by Joseph and Philip DeSimone. In March 2015, Joseph gave a TED talk that showed a preview of a 3D printer prototype using Continuous Liquid Interface Production. Carbon engaged in four fundraising ventures between 2014 and 2017 from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Google Venture, GE, Fidelity Management & Research, Adidas, BMW, and Johnson & Johnson. The company won awards from WEF Tech Pioneers, MIT Technology Review's 50 Smartest Companies of 2017, and the Fast Company Innovation by Design Award. Carbon has made partnerships with companies including Ford in 2015, Johnson & Johnson in 2016, Adidas in 2017, Vitamix in 2018, Riddell and Lamborghini in 2019. Craig Carlson joined Carbon in 2014 from Tesla to lead the engineering team. In March 2016, Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur Josh Green joined as general counsel. In November 2018, Elisa de Martel was named chief financial officer. In December 2018, Dara Treseder joined as the company’s first chief marketing officer. In November 2019, Ellen Kullman was appointed President and CEO. Kullman served on Carbon's board prior to becoming President and CEO. Carbon’s board of directors includes former Ford CEO Alan Mulally, and Sequoia Capital partner Jim Goetz.
Products
Carbon is a vertically integrated manufacturer that offers its own software, hardware, and materials products that leverage Digital Light Synthesis™, or DLS™, technology to produce isotropic end-use parts.
Hardware
Carbon hardware uses the same basic principles of DLS™ to produce isotropic parts. All of Carbon’s hardware offerings are available as a subscription that includes service, support, and software upgrades. Different models have different build areas for building either more parts or larger parts. All the devices are connected to the cloud by default to allow for predictive maintenance, remote monitoring and control, and over-the-air software updates.
M1 Printer
The Carbon M1 printer was Carbon’s first offering, which has since been replaced by the M2 as Carbon’s general-purpose printing device. It could produce parts sized up to 144 millimeters x 81 millimeters x 330 millimeters, with the light engine display LED using 75μm pixels. The printer supports using a variety of resin materials, including some already in production commercial applications.
M2 Series Printer
The Carbon M2 printer can produce parts larger than the original M1 printer, up to 189mm x 118mm x 326mm, with the same 75μm resolution. The M2d is an entry-level device for dental labs with the same base hardware as the M2 except for a smaller build area for lower throughput. The M2d printer is upgradable to an M2 printer.
Smart Part Washer
The Smart Part Washer machine washes, serializes, and data-scans parts to automatically record production information.
L1 Printer
The L1 printer offers 10 times the build area of the original M1 printer for high-volume production. It is offered as part of a complete manufacturing solution tailored to the application, such as the Adidas 4D midsoles or the Riddell SpeedFlex Precision Fit Diamond Edition.
Materials
All Carbon materials are sold as a liquid resin. Each material is cured by UV light, which defines the overall geometry, and the engineering-grade resins have a secondary thermal cure, which sets the final material properties. Prototyping and modeling resins undergo only the UV cure.
