RIC Technology founder Ziyou Xu was aiming high when he launched the business in 2021, hoping his company’s take on 3D printing would have a transformative impact on the construction industry in Los Angeles. Three years later, RIC Technology has adopted a somewhat less ambitious business model, but Xu is still working to change general contractors’ attitudes about how they build one project at a time.
“We were thinking, ‘We’re going to do everything in the 3D printing industry’ – from design, manufacturing of the equipment to manufacturing of the material, the software, everything, including the onsite build,” Xu said of RIC Technology’s initial plans in 2021, adding that the company spent millions over the next two years trying to implement that do-it-all strategy.
“But we realized this industry is really not something you can revolutionize by yourself,” Xu said with a chuckle. “You have to partner with the key players already in the industry. … So that’s why in 2023 we decided to focus only on what we do best, which is the design and manufacture of equipment and also providing material solutions and the software service for actual builders that are already building.”
RIC Technology’s total assets were $1.35 million at the end of last year, up more than 84% over the year prior, according to financial data provided by the company. And while it generated $1.32 million in total revenue last year – a sizeable jump over the next to nothing it generated in 2022 – RIC Technology posted a net loss of just over $612,000 in 2023. That figure was, however, an improvement over the more than $894,000 net loss RIC Technology posted in 2022.
Amid the changes afoot at the company, RIC Technology had to move from its home in Torrance to Fontana two months ago to procure a larger logistical space. The company hopes a number of its projects will be back in its home turf of L.A. It has also partnered with a local company on an accessory dwelling unit project.
Familiar territory
A third-generation architect, Xu completed his undergraduate degree in China before coming to the U.S. to tackle graduate studies at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and then later at Columbia University.
“Our family actually owns two factories in China that manufacture heavy equipment for the construction industry,” Xu explained. “So I took some of my ideas about how 3D printing could maybe help with problems I saw in the building industry here in the states, and then combined that with our manufacturing capacity and started the company in 2021.”
Today, RIC Technology completes the design work in Fontana for its 3D printers, which are gantry-mounted robotic arms equipped with nozzles that shoot out a proprietary concrete blend. Those designs are then sent to China, where the 3D printer parts are manufactured, and the parts are in turn shipped back to Fontana, where RIC Technology employees assemble the printers.
Xu said RIC Technology generated about $1.1 million last year through sales of its 3D printers, which typically cost about $300,000 each. But Xu was quick to note the company has had a great deal of success over the last year by initially leasing its 3D printers to builders, so they have an opportunity to try out the products first along with help from Xu and his team onsite.
“That really lowers the entry barrier for clients,” Xu said, noting his company’s 3D printer lease pricing depends on the project but usually ranges somewhere between $6,000 to $10,000 a month.
Xu added that RIC Technology, which has nine employees in Fontana and about 30 in China, is privately funded and entirely free of any venture capital investments today. And a big part of why the company has yet to turn a profit, according to Xu, is his preference for reinvesting revenue into research and development.
“In 2024, thanks to the deals we’ve already signed we’re probably going to hit $4 million in revenue, so that department is good,” he said. “We’re definitely going to keep investing in R&D, but I think we’ll probably turn a profit in the next two years or so.”
On-site expertise
Working alongside builders to showcase the 3D printers’ capabilities is a crucial component of what RIC Technology provides clients, according to Xu.
“I work on the job site every single day,” he explained. “I monitor every single inch of concrete that comes out the nozzle and goes into the building.”
Earlier this month, Xu was working on-site with Greely, Colorado-based Alquist 3D to build public sidewalks, taking part in what he described as not only important assistance to a client but also critical research and development.
“The more I see, the more I work, the more I talk to the client and to the workers on the job site – on all aspects of efficiency, safety – that’s valuable information that I take back to my team and say, ‘OK, we need to change our design to upgrade this, to make sure the client is happy, the workers are happy, and the customer, which is the homeowner, is happy,’” Xu explained. “This [3D printing] industry is still in its infancy, and there are a million problems that everybody still needs to solve. … We need to innovate our machines and deliver our concrete material in the most optimal way. That requires constant upgrading and redesigning.”
Over the past year, RIC Technology has partnered with Alquist 3D on housing and public works projects in Colorado and Iowa while also supplying 3D printers, software and know-how to international home builders in Canada, Australia and Africa.
RIC Technology also teamed up last year with Builtech Construction Group and the City of Walnut to launch an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, project aimed at showcasing the fire-resistant advantages of 3D-printed construction.
Builtech Construction Group Chief Executive Aaron Liu said his company leased a 3D printer from RIC Technology last year, in part because the product offers a distinctive advantage over the competition.
“Most L.A. backyards where you would build a detached ADU are very tight; they’re very narrow,” Liu said. “The conventional 3D printer is very large and heavy, so it’s complicated to maneuver them in backyards. But RIC’s (smaller) 3D printers overcome all those limitations.”
William Ellsworth, a senior designer and associate at Long Beach architectural firm RDC, agreed that RIC Technology’s smaller, more nimble 3D printers provide a number of positives for builders.
“I think their technology is really promising,” Ellsworth said. “And their price is much cheaper.”
Like Xu, Ellsworth thinks 3D-printed construction is still in its infancy in Southern California, due in part to the technology’s limitations, including challenges such as how to best blend the required concrete material and wall heights that typically max out around 20 feet.
Even so, Ellsworth said many in the construction industry are excited about the technology, and he expects to see more 3D-printed homes and commercial buildings in Los Angeles County in the relatively near future as the technology becomes more nuanced and refined.
“There’s an arms race right now towards the cheapest, fastest and most versatile machines on the market,” Ellsworth said. “The big constraint is price right now. If (RIC Technology) can bring the price down on a lot of these machines, that’s what’s going to get people to use them.”
