India Cements and Tvasta sign MoU on 3D printing tie-up

Cement major India Cements Limited and Tvasta, a deep tech start-up that specialises in construction 3D printing, on Wednesday forged a partnership to engage in dedicated Research & Development and synergetic exchange of technology-centric efforts to develop new raw material formulations used in 3D printing applications.

Founded in 2016 by IIT-M Alumni, Tvasta developed a ‘Made in India’ technology focusing on leveraging automation and robotics in 3D printing platforms for faster, economical and sustainable construction methods compared to conventional technologies. The start-up is currently based out of Chennai and Bengaluru.

The MoU was signed on Wednesday by Rupa Gurunath, Whole-time Director, India Cements Limited and Vidyashankar C, Co-founder and CEO, Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions, in the presence of professors from IIT- Madras.

“We are excited that this technology delivers a cost-effective construction method that offers quicker turn arounds as compared to conventional methods. But what we are particularly enthusiastic about is that this methodology is more eco-friendly, with lesser consumption of water and sand, two of our most precious resources provided by Mother Nature,” Gurunath said.

Vidyashankar said Tvasta was excited to collaborate with a well-established, legacy organization like India Cements.

“We are confident that this partnership will significantly improve our technology’s orientation to sustainability, resulting in highly-efficient and targeted solutions. Not only will this lead to an expedited unification between technology, sustainability and construction in India, but with the support of India Cements, this will pave the way for such unification in the global markets as well,” he said.

India’s First 3D Printed House was constructed by Tvasta in the IIT Madras Campus, demonstrating its capabilities and feasibility in the actualization of a physical structure.