3D systems, the company behind some of the world’s most advanced 3D printers for rapid prototyping services and other 3D printing applications, has announced that its move to expanded facilities in Pinerolo Italy is complete.
The multinational company has used the opportunity to consolidate the operations over several sites in the country and upgrade their facilities and technology at the same time. A large part of the new facility is now devoted to their on demand parts operation; with this they aim to be able to provide a much better service to customers using their own 3D printers. Not only have they increased capacity so they can create parts for customers and ship them more quickly with a shorter lead time but they can also now produce much bigger items up to the size of a car’s dashboard. As such 3D systems can now produce almost any replacement car part, which is becoming an important part of their business.
Those wanting to invest in one of 3D systems top of the range may well want to see the equipment they will be buying in action first and the new Pinerolo facilities will allow for this with a showroom where the entire range of 3D printers offered by 3D systems will be on show. With a range that covers entry level home and enterprise options, printers for rapid prototyping services and for production the showroom will be quite a size.
As well as being able to use their display models for demonstration to potential buyers 3D systems plan to also use them for technical training, especially for those companies using 3D printers to replace traditional rapid prototyping services techniques it will often be one or two people who need to be trained to use 3D printers. Those at an enterprise level especially are easy to use with simple training that 3D systems are happy to provide.
3D systems consolidation of its assets worldwide remains ongoing of course, from a background in creating tools for rapid prototyping services 3D systems have been quick to move with the times and have recently moved away from their traditional positioning at the high end of the market. New products such as ‘The Cube’ and their home and enterprise product and the ZPrinter offering from ZCorp, who they recently took over, allow them to serve small businesses many looking to either produce bespoke or low production run products or use 3D printing for rapid prototyping services.
Allowing companies to instantly make prototypes and models in their own offices rather than having to outsource is empowering to SMEs and even home based designers and this is an area that 3D systems has seen as a growth sector. For those with occasional needs still it may still make sense to get their parts built by 3D systems who can use the best tool for the job every time, with a quicker production time at their new Italian facilities they are even able to produce and send out models for rapid prototyping services quicker than traditional techniques.