Background
Aquila biolabs GmbH is a German sensor technology developer of smart sensors and state-of-the-art data analytics software for bioprocessing applications. As a subsidiary of the life sciences tool provider, Scientific Industries, Inc., aquila biolabs takes the guesswork out of bioprocessing and pioneers digitally simplified bioprocessing by providing actionable insights from lab to production floor.
One of aquila biolabs’ products is Cell Growth Quantifier (CGQ), a complete setup of sensors that helps in:
- analyzing biological cultures in shake flasks or bioreactors
- non-invasively plotting the growth of microorganisms inside vessels.
Another of their products is the Liquid Injection system (LIS), an automated miniature pumping system that dispenses fluid directly into a vessel.
Problem
The company’s products are designed to be compatible with a variety of laboratory glassware and equipment. As such, they require flexible production techniques, particularly as customers have wide-ranging expectations of both systems. On a global scale, there are numerous specifications and limitations on shake flasks and bioreactors. In the ever-changing biotechnological world, companies that build sensors for analyzing these vessels, and the cultures within them, need to adapt. 3D printing allows them to produce adapters and parts used in attaching sensors to a wide array of vessel types.
The demand for such elements at relatively low volumes has put aquila biolabs in a tricky position. Custom manufacturing of each configuration would be costly and time-consuming. Also tooling for mass production for so many variants would be too large an investment.
The Covid-19 pandemic is another factor that has driven aquila to rely more on 3D printing. Like many other companies, it has suffered supply chain disruptions. While they have continued to supply work to the biotechnology industry, the future has been murky for many of their own suppliers.
Being acquired by Scientific Industries has helped aquila biolabs ramp up production of the supplies for their products with 3D printing technology, thus becoming more independent. Such production was intended to be flexible enough to meet the changing demand for their products. This was important as it meant they wouldn’t have parts in storage and their Kanban production would be efficient.
All of this led them to search for a 3D printer for their application. Selective Laser Sintering technology seemed to meet their needs in terms of customization for the complex structures their 3D models require.
