US Army Validates Foundry Lab’s Digital Metal Casting with Startup’s First Sale – 3DPrint.com

Just one year after publicly debuting its technology, New Zealand-born Foundry Lab has sold its first Digital Metal Casting (DMC) system. The DMC-3 will go to the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), who will deploy it as part of its Collaborative, Operationalized, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Training (COMET) initiative, a public-private partnership with the U.S. Army DEVCOM Armaments Center and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. This partnership signals a pivotal step in revitalizing U.S.-based manufacturing capabilities, particularly in the defense and homeland security sectors. To learn more, we spoke to David Moodie, Founder and CEO of Foundry Lab.

How Digital Metal Casting Works

Foundry Lab’s technology is as innovative as it is practical. The process begins with binder jet printing a ceramic mold. After setting the mold in a furnace, a metal slug is loaded and cast inside the mold using microwave energy. The use of microwave enables Foundry Lab to manipulate metal inside the mold, allowing for precise control over the casting process, enabling the production of parts with half-millimeter wall thicknesses that would typically require high-pressure techniques. The result is a production-grade metal part that meets or exceeds the material properties of traditional die casting.

One of the most significant advantages of Foundry Lab’s system is its ability to produce castings that do not require requalification. “For the defense force, this is major,’ Moodie explained. “They don’t have to compromise on performance or spend additional time requalifying parts—they get the same quality they are used to but much faster.”

The Shrinking Casting Industry and Foundry Lab’s Solution

The U.S. metal casting industry has seen significant attrition, with the number of foundries dropping from over 6,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 2,000 today as forging and casting business moved overseas, primarily to China. Foundry Lab’s technology aims to reverse this trend. The company’s system integrates the precision of 3D printing with advanced microwave furnace technology to produce functionally equivalent cast parts in hours rather than weeks. This speed and efficiency directly address the defense sector’s need for rapid prototyping and agile manufacturing.

“This technology strengthens supply chain resilience while ensuring the U.S. retains sovereign manufacturing capabilities,” Moodie explained. “In the current geopolitical climate, this level of self-reliance is more critical than ever. It’s about rebuilding the backbone of metal casting in the United States—empowering businesses to innovate without waiting months for cast parts, experiment without incurring high costs, and deploy this technology at scale to enhance efficiency and sustainability.”

Moodie further highlighted the role of the defense sector in validating the technology: “Having NJII as our first customer is monumental. The DoD doesn’t make decisions lightly. Their investment is proof of our system’s ability to deliver uncompromised, production-grade castings at speeds that are truly unprecedented.”

Why NJII Chose Foundry Lab

Thomas Murphy, Director of Defense Manufacturing Technology at NJII, explained, “We’re excited to bring Foundry Lab’s technology to the Northeast. This system not only energizes a new workforce but also addresses the immediate need for rapid prototyping and small-batch production in defense applications.”

Moodie noted that NJII’s adoption of the technology was influenced by its ability to bypass traditional casting bottlenecks: “For defense, speed and accuracy are critical. Our system eliminates the lengthy setup times of traditional casting while maintaining the material properties required for high-stakes applications. Engineers no longer have to compromise on performance or wait months for results.”

The COMET initiative is a cornerstone of workforce development and advanced manufacturing in the U.S. defense sector. Housed at the Landing 360 Advanced Manufacturing Center in Landing, New Jersey, the program spans a 20,000-square-foot facility equipped with over 100 3D. This includes standout systems such as the SPEE3D Warp Speed metal cold spray machine and equipment supporting advanced polymer printing, 3D printing of electronics, and digital twin development.

The COMET initiative at NJII serves as a sandbox for the Department of Defense, providing a space to test cutting-edge technologies like the DMC-3 system. “This partnership with NJII allows the entire defense sector to evaluate our system in a hands-on, real-world environment, ensuring it meets the rigorous demands of military applications,” Moodie said.

The COMET program aims to bridge the gap between innovative manufacturing technologies and the workforce needed to operate them effectively, particularly in austere and high-stakes environments like those faced by the Department of Defense (DoD). The program’s 10-week summer internship, dubbed by the DoD as a “finishing school for engineers,” gathers diverse teams of undergraduate students to develop functional prototypes addressing real-world defense challenges. Projects like a “drive and fly reconnaissance drone,” completed in 2024, are meant to equip participants with not only technical expertise but also critical problem-solving and communication skills.

The DMC-3, therefore, may be perfect for the COMET arsenal, given its overall ease-of-use. Moodie said, “You can learn to run the system in about two weeks. Compared to the years of apprenticeship and experience required to master traditional casting, this eliminates a huge barrier. For the defense sector and the U.S. as a whole, this is a major shift.”

Foundry Lab’s technology is also designed for deployment in austere environments, where traditional foundries are impractical, an area where the DoD has been increasingly focused. “This is about equipping warfighters to produce critical parts on-site without requiring extensive training or infrastructure,” Moodie said.

Scaling Up for Industry-Wide Impact

While the initial focus has been on defense, Foundry Lab envisions its technology scaling to meet broader industry demands. Moodie revealed, “We’re already working on high-throughput systems capable of producing tens of thousands of castings. This isn’t just about prototypes—it’s about production.”

The potential for scaling extends beyond volume to part size. “We can theoretically cast parts of any size,” Moodie said. “This has enormous implications for industries like shipbuilding, where large-scale castings are essential.”

“We’re producing parts for the world’s largest automakers, the defense sector, and industrial hardware manufacturers, often by people who have never stepped foot in a foundry before. Our team, mostly novices in casting, are producing parts that meet or exceed traditional quality standards. In just two weeks, someone can learn to use this system and start outputting parts. This is a complete step change.”

A Collaborative Vision for Manufacturing Resilience

Moodie sees the partnership with NJII as the beginning of a larger movement to reindustrialize the U.S. “There’s a tidal wave of metal casting coming back to this country,” he said. “The government is actively working to rebuild the casting and forging industries, and our technology is uniquely positioned to accelerate this effort.”

Foundry Lab’s broader mission aligns with this vision. “We’re not here to replace traditional foundries but to complement and expand what they can do,” Moodie said. “This technology offers a cleaner, safer, and more efficient way to produce cast parts, making it better suited to today’s workforce challenges and industrial demands.”

Looking ahead, Foundry Lab is poised to make further announcements that validate its technological leadership. He couldn’t say exactly what was in the pipeline, but it was clear that, given the money and labor power, Moodie’s startup could change manufacturing as we know it.