Divergent Technologies has unveiled a new industrial metal 3D printer and announced a major manufacturing expansion in Southern California, moves that the company says will significantly increase production capacity for defense and commercial customers.

The California-based manufacturer introduced the Monolith One, a large-format metal additive manufacturing system developed specifically for high-volume production. At the same time, the company revealed plans for a new 430,000-square-foot facility in Long Beach, California, where dozens of the machines will support future manufacturing programs.

Built for production

Unlike many metal 3D printers designed primarily for prototyping, Monolith One targets continuous industrial manufacturing. The machine stands more than eight meters tall and incorporates 12 high-powered lasers that deliver a combined 24 kilowatts of output.

Divergent designed the system over a 28-month period using lessons learned from more than a decade of additive manufacturing operations. The company developed the printer exclusively for use within its own manufacturing ecosystem rather than for commercial sale.

The machine supports a wide range of industrial alloys, including aluminum, steel, titanium, and nickel-based materials. It also offers a larger build chamber than many existing systems, allowing engineers to manufacture bigger and more complex structures in a single print.

According to Divergent, the printer can roughly double production throughput compared with current-generation equipment. The system also incorporates automated powder handling, thermal management controls, and optical monitoring technologies designed to improve consistency and reduce downtime.

Chief Technology Officer Brian Erhartic said the company built the printer specifically to improve manufacturing efficiency and quality. He added that integrating the machine directly into Divergent’s production platform helped unlock higher performance across multiple stages of manufacturing.

Factory expansion plans

Divergent currently operates six Monolith One printers at its headquarters in Torrance, California. The company plans to install an additional 64 systems at its new Long Beach facility over the next two years.

Once fully operational, the site will support production of tens of thousands of munition airframes annually. It will also have the capacity to manufacture hundreds of thousands of critical metal components for aerospace and defense programs.

The expansion comes as defense contractors seek faster production methods and more resilient domestic supply chains. Traditional manufacturing processes often require lengthy lead times for complex hardware, particularly in aerospace applications.

Divergent says its software-driven manufacturing approach reduces those timelines from months to weeks or even days in some cases. The company supplies structures and components for several major defense and aerospace organizations, including Lockheed Martin, RTX, and CoAspire.

Chief Executive Officer Lukas Czinger said the new printer reflects years of operational experience gained from delivering production hardware to both defense and commercial customers. He noted that the company manufactures the systems domestically and sources key components through a U.S.-based supply chain.

As production ramps up at the Long Beach facility, Divergent expects the new manufacturing capacity to support growing demand for mission-critical hardware while strengthening domestic industrial capabilities.

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