The future of manufacturing is local and connected — meet Caracol at Formnext 2026!

Look closely at the blades and you can still guess the layers. This impeller was made with MTC leveraging Vipra AM WAAM process, deposited in metal until it was almost the finished part. Starting that close to the final shape means far less material ends up as chips on the floor, and nobody has to wait weeks for a foundry.

On the water, a heavy hull means less range, so weight was the first thing Mirai had to fight. They printed this drone with robotic LFAM in a fiber-reinforced material, light but stiff enough to take the waves. The shape came straight from the file, and the next one can change without anyone having to build a new mold first.

Carbon door skins get laid up here and cured in the autoclave, cycle after cycle, at high temperature. Robotic LFAM deposits the mold near-net shape straight from CAD, so there’s no master pattern to build first, and machining then brings the surface to the finish lamination needs. Inside, a ribbed structure keeps thermal mass low, which means a more even heat-up during cure. The left and right doors come from the same toolpath, mirrored and printed in a single job.

The client had the old propeller and nothing else, no drawings, no CAD. So JOME scanned it and printed a new one in SS316L on Vipra AM, in Dubai, a short trip from the boat it went back on. Skipping the die and the foundry took roughly 60% off the lead time and about 40% off the cost.

Run a hand along the counter and there isn’t a straight edge anywhere. That’s the whole point of this bar, a completely custom piece printed with robotic LFAM, big curves and all. Building something like this by hand would need molds for every section. Here it took a file and a robot, and it can be printed again whenever someone wants a different version.

Tuesday 17 November | h 16:00

What happens when production moves into a network of connected microfactories? This panel brings together industries that rarely share a stage to explore how the model reshapes the way things get made, sold and scaled, and where it still has room to grow. Francesco De Stefano, CEO & Co-founder at Caracol AM, will be talking with Formative 3D, Romar, MTC and Aectual. After the talk, join us for a happy hour at the booth!

Wednesday 18 November – h 11:00

One of the largest LFAM microfactories out there, with robotic cells printing production parts day in, day out. Formative 3D will walks through how it grew from a first concept into a real factory, including a few decisions they’d make differently today.

Wednesday 18 November – h 11:30

A clear market, products that already sell. The harder question is how to expand without opening every new factory on your own. Producing closer to clients, with partners who work to the same standards, turns out to be a big part of the answer. The guest this time is Aectual, the Amsterdam company known for its 3D-printed floors and interiors, and they’ve had to face exactly this question. They’ll walk us through how they’ve handled it so far, including what worked and what they’d probably do differently.

Wednesday 18 November | h 15.30

Few know the road from prototype to production as well as the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), one of the UK’s leading research and innovation organizations. On stage they’ll bring real applications, the ones that made it into production and a few that didn’t, for a look at where the technology is really heading.

Thursday 19 November | h 11:00

Rail might be the toughest test for additive manufacturing, with strict certifications, tight safety requirements and parts expected to last for decades. To close the program, Alstom, Omer, Romar and Formes et Volumes come together to talk about how LFAM can change the way rail components are designed and produced. A practical session on what it really takes to get printed parts approved and on the tracks.