Fieldmade and UrbanAlps 3D print secure keys on demand
The young Swiss company, UrbanAlps had created a metal 3D printed key, hiding security functions inside its mechanism to make it impossible to scan it, in order to protect it. The company has just announced a collaboration with Fieldmade, a spin-off of the Norwegian Defence Research Centre, to produce these on-demand 3D printed keys for the military and energy sectors. These will be designed in Fieldmade’s micro-plants enclosed in containers, anywhere and at anytime.
Stealth Keys, which won the Purmundus Challenge at Formnext 2019, seems to have found in this new partnership a great opportunity for growth. The keys are created from a Laser PBF process: it allows to design a cylindrical shape in which the unlocking code is hidden. In concrete terms, this means that the key is impossible to copy, an interesting application for sectors where security is a priority. By turning to Fieldmade, the Swiss company can offer a reliable marketing model. Alejandro Ojeda, founder and CEO of Urban Alps, adds: “This collaboration marks the beginning of a new industrial era, where high-security mechanical keys are digitally shipped and transformed into physical products at the customer’s premises, regardless of the distance from the location – there are no shipping costs, no customs, it is immediate and above all protected from unauthorized duplication.”
Thanks to additive manufacturing, it is easy to hide the security mechanisms | Credits: UrbanAlps
Fieldmade and UrbanAlps, a partnership to strengthen security
Fieldmade was designed in 2016 to develop, produce and sell fully integrated additive manufacturing solutions for deployed military activities – in other words, mobile solutions. It therefore created NOMAD, a mobile micro-factory in the form of containers integrating printing cells and inspection and quality tools. This microfactory now masters several 3D technologies including powder bed fusion, photopolymerization, directed energy deposition and extrusion processes. Skills that will enable him to produce the keys for UrbanAlps – they will also be used to lock Fieldmade containers. A two-stroke stone for the Swiss company!
By choosing this partner, UrbanAlps should be able to produce its keys anywhere in the world and avoid excessively long manufacturing and delivery times. It will focus first on the military and energy sector. Alejandro concludes: “This cooperation is a perfect example of how two innovative companies can complement each other to provide truly secure products in a matter of hours to customers with high security and time needs.”
The NOMAD microfactory will now be locked with a system developed by UrbanAlps | Credits: Fieldmade
We look forward to seeing how this partnership will evolve. We may have our own 3D printed keys in a few years’ time, who knows? You can find more information on the UrbanAlps website HERE.
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