In the large-format 3D printing world, two feedstock technologies compete:FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), which uses filament wound on a spool, and FGF (Fused Granulate Fabrication), which feeds directly from raw plastic pellets. The VORMETRA G1000's FGF design is no accident — there are five fundamental reasons it is the right choice for industrial manufacturing.
1. Raw material cost: a 5–10× difference
Filament is a processed form of pellet. Pellets are purchased, melted, drawn into wire, wound onto spools, and packaged — every step adds cost. Industrial filament typically costs 5 to 10 times more than the equivalent pellet material. For a factory machine,material cost is a direct competitive advantage or disadvantage.
FGF bypasses this chain entirely by feeding raw pellets directly into the extruder hopper. With recycled pellets, the gap widens further: rPET or rPP granulate is considerably more accessible than virgin filament.
2. Throughput: kg/h vs g/h
FDM machines typically deposit tens of grams per hour. Large-format FGF systems reachmultiple kilograms per hour. The VORMETRA G1000 targets up to ~5 kg/h — meaning a large composite mold or architectural piece can be produced within a day, not over weeks.
Throughput is not just speed; it is directly tied to energy cost per unit and labor efficiency. Producing the same volume with a low-throughput FDM machine is rarely economically viable at industrial scale.
3. Material freedom
Filament is a standardized product with specific diameter and tolerance requirements. Pellets have no such constraints: industrial thermoplastics (PLA, PETG, ABS, PP, PC), recycled materials, and glass/carbon fiber-filled composites are all available in pellet form. FGF is compatible with virtually this entire range.
This is particularly important for reinforced composites in aerospace, automotive, and marine applications — materials not easily accessible as filament.
4. Recycling integration
Perhaps FGF's strongest feature is its natural alignment with the plastic recycling loop. Factory scrap can be shredded, granulated, and fed directly into an FGF machine. Filament makes this loop much harder — granulated scrap would first need to be drawn into filament, requiring additional equipment and process steps.
From a circular economy perspective, FGF is the shortest path to a closed in-factory loop.
5. Industrial-scale architecture
Pellet feeding requires a substantial extruder — one that is fundamentally different from FDM print heads in terms of thermal stability, vibration resistance, and maintainability. This complexity is also why large-format printing has converged on FGF: the system must be designed as a whole from an industrial production standpoint.
In the VORMETRA G1000, the extruder screw and barrel are manufactured in-house — cutting supply chain dependency and reducing service turnaround time.
Conclusion
FDM remains valid for desktop and short-run prototyping. But for large-volume, material-intensive, cost-sensitive, recycling-oriented industrial applications,FGF wins by a wide margin. The VORMETRA G1000 was designed to fill this gap: domestic engineering, in-house extruder, and pellet-based economics.