In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re starting with a partnership regarding additive manufacturing quality software. Then we’ll move on to a defense acquisition and a trade secrets misappropriation case. We’ll end with patient-specific 3D printed ankle implants.
amsight Provides AM North with AM Quality Software Solution
amsight, which develops software for data-driven quality assurance and analytics in industrial additive manufacturing (AM), announced that Norwegian AM firm AM North is using its quality management software to support certified AM production, decrease manual documentation, and improve traceability. Established in 2023, with strong roots in the oil and gas supply chain, AM North helps its industrial customers transition from physical storage of spare parts to a combination of digital inventory and on-demand printing. The company is working to grow its AM capability across wider industrial markets, which is why it needs amsight. Until now, AM North manually filled out project information, using programs like Word and Excel and compiling the information into PDFs; the company estimated it took eight hours of documentation work per project this way. By using amsight, AM North is able to reduce this amount to just 1.5-2 hours per project, and aligning the process better with customer and certification expectations. amsight software allows the company to connect quality-relevant data across the entire workflow, from planning, build jobs, and machine monitoring to post-processing, inspection, and reporting.
“AM North shows exactly why production additive manufacturing needs an AM-specific quality evidence software. When customers, auditors, and regulated industries ask for proof, scattered files and manual reports are not enough. amsight helps manufacturers build a digital quality backbone that connects powder, process, machine, and inspection data at part level,” said amsight CEO Tim Wischeropp.
Ondas Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire Aran’s Defense Division
Ondas Inc., an international provider of defense and security technologies and autonomous systems, announced that it will acquire the Aran Defense division of Israeli engineering and manufacturing company Aran Ltd. Aran Defense generated about $17 million in revenue in 2025, up from $12 million in 2024, and reports expected revenue of approximately $26 million this year. It operates about 4,400 square meters of manufacturing and engineering facilities in Israel, combining multidisciplinary engineering with in-house production infrastructure, which includes cabling, CNC turning and milling, electromechanical assembly and integration halls, quality assurance, tactical textiles, warehousing, and 3D printing. Ondas will be able to expand its own footprint, and Israel’s sovereign defense industrial base, with Aran Defense’s capabilities, adding multidisciplinary defense engineering and manufacturing operations in order to support local growing demand for autonomous defense systems. Ondas will acquire Aran Defense for about $33 million in cash or Ondas common stock, and expects to close the deal during Q3 of 2026.
“As demand across our defense businesses continues to grow, expanding localized manufacturing capacity is becoming increasingly important to our ability to execute. Aran Defense will provide us with an established production platform in Israel that can support multiple Ondas businesses and programs, allowing us to industrialize products faster, increase manufacturing scale and respond more efficiently to customer requirements,” said Chairman and CEO of Ondas Eric Brock. “This is another important step in building Ondas into a vertically integrated defense technology company with the capabilities not only to develop differentiated technologies, but to manufacture and deliver them at scale.”
3D Systems Guilty of Misappropriating Intrepid Automation’s Trade Secrets
Image courtesy of Intrepid Automation
San Diego-based Intrepid Automation was founded in 2017 and builds use-case specific, automated AM solutions, using multiple projectors to achieve high speed printing at scale. The five co-founders all formerly worked at 3D Systems, which was just found guilty in a trade secret misappropriation case…and the secrets it misappropriated belong to Intrepid. Law firms Miller Johnson and Irwin IP handled the case, which recently went in front of a jury during an 8-day trial in the Southern District of California. It centered around Intrepid’s large-frame DLP multiprojection Range 3D printer, which was still being developed at the time of the misappropriation. The claims that 3D Systems made against Intrepid and its founders were dismissed over a year ago on summary judgement, so the jury only heard Intrepid’s counterclaims. 3D Systems is a public company, and a 3D printing pioneer with a lot of money at that, so it was a formidable foe. But the jury unanimously found that 3D Systems, and one of its employees, misappropriated Intrepid’s trade secrets, and awarded Intrepid $5.6 million in compensatory damages. Additionally, the misappropriation was found to be “willful and malicious,” so $6 million in exemplary damages were also awarded.
“This trial hinged on the testimony of several of Intrepid’s founders, who spoke with passion about the development of their technology,” said Jeffrey Catalano, lead trial counsel. “In the end, Intrepid’s innovation shined through. This victory has been a long time coming.”
Researchers Developing 3D Printed Ankle Implant for Patients with Cartilage Damage
Image courtesy of UT
Currently, there are two common surgical procedures for patients with damaged ankle cartilage. One is ankle fusion (arthrodesis), and the other is total ankle replacement; both are fairly invasive, and can limit the ankle’s natural movement. A collaborative team of researchers from the University of Twente (UT) and Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc), both in the Netherlands, are working together to develop a better treatment for ankle cartilage damage. The team is working within HealthTech Nexus, a strategic collaboration between the two universities meant to accelerate healthcare innovations, to create AMPLANK, a 3D printed implant designed specifically for patients with damage to the cartilage in their ankle. The implant is custom-made for each individual patient, created to fit within the ankle joint without needing to remove any healthy bone, that would make for a much less invasive treatment option. The team is currently developing a prototype of AMPLANK, and will use computer simulations to see how the implant behaves within the joint, before evaluating it in a real anatomical setting. If it’s successful, this technology could be applied to other joints in the future, like the elbow, wrist, and shoulder.
“Ankle cartilage damage can have a major impact on mobility and quality of life. With AMPLANK, we want to offer patients a new treatment option that better matches their anatomy and lifestyle,” said researcher Athena Jalalian from the University of Twente.
The Fraunhofer Innovation Platform at UT, the Sint Maartenskliniek, and several industrial partners are also contributing to AMPLANK.