Vertico Just Installed Its Largest 3D Concrete Printing System at a Portuguese Precast Plant

A record-setting install lands in Pombal

Vertico has spent years shipping robotic concrete printers to universities, architects, and construction firms around the world. Now the Dutch company has dropped its largest system to date inside a working precast factory. Sirolis, a Portuguese precast concrete manufacturer with roots going back to 1980, has taken delivery of Vertico's full two-component printing setup at its facility in Pombal.

The rig is not subtle. A 3.2-meter extended ABB robot arm rides on a 6.7-meter track, raised on a carriage and bolted directly onto a concrete slab. The whole arrangement is built to print on both sides of the work area and feeds from Vertico's automated silo system. It is the kind of footprint that says precast manufacturing is no longer flirting with 3D printing: it is making room for it on the factory floor.

Why a precast maker wants a concrete printer

Sirolis already runs two manufacturing units and produces a wide range of prefabricated concrete elements. Under its SIR3D brand, the company plans to use the new Vertico system for architectural and decorative pieces. That makes sense. Precast plants have the concrete supply chains, the curing space, and the quality control culture that experimental 3D printing studios often lack. Adding a robot does not turn Sirolis into a startup; it turns an established operator into a serious player in printed concrete.

Vertico highlighted the competence of the Sirolis team, noting that the staff was able to handle the machine from day one. Special credit went to Marco Sutil Saraiva for his work during the installation. That matters because the biggest bottleneck in industrial 3D printing is rarely the hardware: it is the gap between a delivered machine and a crew that knows how to use it.

The wider pattern: printing moves from demo to production line

This installation fits a broader shift. Companies such as Hyperion Robotics and Progress Group are also integrating robotic concrete systems into permanent factory workflows rather than treating them as one-off showcase projects. The message is clear. 3D concrete printing is leaving the exhibition hall and joining the ordinary business of making building components.

Vertico now claims more than 50 installations across 24 countries on six continents. The Sirolis deployment is a step up in scale, and it signals where the next wave of growth is likely to come from: not bespoke pavilions, but existing precast and construction manufacturers that want to add complexity and customization without adding formwork.

The Portugal plant has not printed its first production piece yet, but the size of the setup suggests the results will be hard to ignore. For an industry that still gets called niche, a 6.7-meter track inside a 45-year-old precast factory is a strong argument that 3D concrete printing is becoming just another tool in the construction toolkit.