OPT's RAMP 3D printing process. 

MIT spin-out OPT Industries has announced the opening of its first manufacturing facility which will scale market access to its roll-to-roll digital photolithography RAMP 3D printing platform.

RAMP is said to enable the continuous production of materials at ‘unlimited lengths with new levels of micron-level precision.’ The 14,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will lean on the capabilities of RAMP to establish a product line serving the medical sector, with demand coming from a number of Fortune 500 companies and market leaders.

Having developed the now patented RAMP technology for several years inside MIT, OPT Industries put the process to use during the pandemic to design and manufacture a novel nasal swab product called InstaSwab. The company has so far supplied more than 800,000 InstaSwabs to a number of healthcare and at-home testing organisations throughout the United States. OPT Industries’ flagship RAMP application is said to be 20 times more effective in bacterial sample elution and ‘significantly more effective’ in viral sample elution for COVID-19 testing compared to conventional swabs.

The InstaSwab will continue to be manufactured at the Medford, Massachusetts-based facility, where OPT Industries has secured ISO 13485:2016-certification for medical device manufacturing. But the company is confident its RAMP 3D printing technology will enable the rapid design and mass manufacture of products in a wide range of sectors from micro to macro scale.

OPT's functional materials offering includes fabric, fur, feather and foam options. 

OPT's functional materials offering includes fabric, fur, feather and foam options. 

OPT's functional materials offering includes fabric, fur, feather and foam options. 

OPT Industries’ RAMP 3D printing offering is made up of the RAMP 3D printer, generative software and engineered polymers. The RAMP 3D printer is an automated continuous manufacturing system powered by roll-to-roll digital photolithography and enables the ‘creation of continuous materials and products at an unlimited length.’ Meanwhile the generative software uses custom algorithms to optimise the design of dense micron-scale structures to deliver ultra-fine and freeform features, and the engineered polymers boasts micron-scale precision that ‘can be designed for advanced properties, spanning mechanical, biological, thermal and more.’

“Our proprietary additive manufacturing system specialises in making microstructures at a massive scale,” commented OPT Industries founder Jifei Ou. “We’re unique in precision microfabrication that can create rolls of materials and designs with no limitations in length. Our technology stack currently provides materials solutions for medical, cosmetic and consumer product applications.

“OPT will be continuously enhancing new capabilities from our technologies to introduce new product lines for the industries we serve. We work with our customers as a one-stop shop partner to design, develop and manufacture end products to meet their exact needs. Whether you’re a distributor or a brand interested in co-inventing a new product, OPT’s collaborative business model offers a new paradigm for product creation from inception to manufacturing.”

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