Materialize.X aims to disrupt the engineered wood industry using machine learning and AI

Materialize.X, the technology startup, has developed products which will disrupt the $300 billion-a-year engineered wood market. Engineered wood is the technical name for any wood product (like particle board) that is created by bonding wood chips into different shapes using an adhesive. It’s much cheaper than using a solid piece of wood, and can be used to make anything to kitchen countertops.

The startup provides engineered-wood factories with software that uses machine learning to optimize how their adhesive is used in the production process. Materialize.X has created software that uses machine learning to take in all those variables and make slight changes to the manufacturing process that can greatly improve the quality of the final product. Examples of these changes are adjusting the amount of adhesive used or increasing the pressure in the bonding process depending on the variables listed above. The machine learning optimization can be useful in other manufacturing processes unrelated to engineered wood — right now the startup is testing algorithms to improve production in the steel industry.

Besides, it has created a patented non-toxic adhesive to serve as an alternative to urea-formaldehyde. The firm plans to license to chemical companies, or engineered-wood manufacturers so they can make the adhesive on site, the method for making this adhesive.