Walmart partnered last year with construction firm Alquist 3D to build an nearly 8,000-square-foot expansion to its Athens, Tennessee, store for online pickup and delivery.
Now the largest 3D-printed commercial structure in the U.S., the project served as a crucial early demonstration of the technology’s commercial potential—despite a rocky start.
Alquist, headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, has since announced plans to print more than a dozen additional Walmart buildings, along with facilities for other retailers. The initiative marks what may be the most ambitious commercial-scale deployment of 3D-printed construction to date, a field previously dominated by residential projects.
As part of the new agreement, global construction materials provider Sika will supply materials for all Alquist 3D projects and licensees. The partnership is expected to streamline Alquist’s national operations, reduce material and freight costs, and speed development of more sustainable mixes for large-scale printed construction—including the new Walmart projects.
“The way to bring prices down for anything is volume,” said Alquist CEO Patrick Callahan. “When suppliers see demand growing, they can scale production and reduce costs.”
Early Challenges
Callahan, whose background is in defense technology rather than construction, positions Alquist as a tech-driven company following founder Zach Mannheimer’s goal: to build residential and commercial structures faster, cheaper, better, and more sustainably. He acknowledged that the initial Athens project was slowed significantly as the team learned how to manage materials and implement the technology for their first commercial build.
“It was classic Silicon Valley ‘fail forward,’” Callahan said. “We weren’t part of the design process. Permitting changed. The general contractor met us a week before we started, and no one had done this before.”
In contrast, a subsequent 5,000-square-foot Walmart pickup center in Huntsville, Alabama, took only seven days to print.
Workforce Shifts
Although 3D-printing construction requires fewer workers, the roles are more specialized. Alquist has partnered with trade schools to train students in robotics and sustainable materials—an appealing path amid a shrinking construction labor pool.
“You’re not throwing rocks around on scaffolding—you’re using robotics in a clean, safe environment,” Callahan said. “People who were skeptical are now leaning in.”
Rising Competition
Icon Build, the leading residential 3D-printing firm, is also moving into commercial projects. The company has completed a hotel and is in talks with partners for data center construction. Its upcoming Titan printer is designed for large-scale commercial structures.
“Once Titan is out in the world and proving its cost and performance, it’ll open a lot of eyes,” said Jason Ballard,
Icon’s co-founder and CEO. He expects increasing demand for faster, more affordable alternatives to traditional construction—though he notes intense labor competition from data center development. Icon plans to manufacture at least one Titan printer per month next year, a move Ballard says will dramatically expand its capacity. While not yet capable of printing high-rises, the technology will support most industrial commercial buildings.
“If we hit our goals next year—on revenue, cost, and technological progress—we’ll grow over 300%, and we were already busy this year,” Ballard said. “I think people will finally see the opportunity to move beyond pilot-scale innovation.”
Source: CNBC
