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Exclusive Interview: Amazon Talks to Us About 3D Printing Trends, Industry Outlook, and More 3D Printing Processes

by Consumer

In a market jam-packed with a variety of different 3D printing manufacturers and 3D printer resellers, it’s sometimes hard to gauge exactly which facets of the industry are succeeding and which are not. But, the globally pioneering e-commerce service Amazon is certainly capable of providing the proper insight into how 3D printing is fairing and where the desktop market is currently heading. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Amazon launched their 3D printing storefront back in 2014, and has since garnered the largest selection of 3D printers, filaments, and accessories on the market. Looking at recent data unveiled by JeeQ data, a majority of their 3D printing devices that Amazon has sold come from equal array of companies that include 3Doodler, Printrbot, Robo3D, XYZPrinting, and Aleph Objects. But, as most of us additive manufacturing enthusiasts know, the 3D printing industry is a fragile beast that is extremely subject to change. So, we decided to turn to Amazon in order to gain some insight on what direction the desktop 3D printing market is heading. We had the chance to speak with Lori Richter, an Amazon Spokesperson, about the trends that the company has noticed in 3D printing, along with their thoughts and future goals in regard to desktop 3D printing. Q: What are some 3D printer sales trends that you’re seeing? Lori Richter: Amazon has seen 60 percent growth year-over-year in 3D printer purchases, mostly driven by low-cost devices. From an industry standpoint, we’ve seen an increase in purchases from the education and makers sectors. Q: What are some 3D printing material trends that you’re seeing? Richter: Customers come to us for not only the breadth in selection offered, but also the ability to quickly evaluate, compare and purchase the right 3D printing material for their unique projects. We have seen the average price of a 3D printer decrease, which has increased sales and, thus, the demand for 3D printing materials. Q: What is Amazon’s general view of desktop 3D printing? Richter: Our customers are using 3D printing in many different, unique, important and innovative ways. It’s our goal to provide them with the most expansive, competitively-priced selection of 3D printers and 3D printing products so they’re able to focus on the applications of this technology. Q: Does Amazon see big players getting seriously involved, and what would that mean? Richter: We have an expansive selection that includes major 3D printer companies such as Aleph Objects and Robo 3D, as well as 3D printing supply companies such as Hatchbox 3D. Further, we are onboarding new vendors every day, bringing on more products that make it possible for business customers to buy the supplies central to their operations, including industrial parts and manufacturing inputs. From an industry perspective, there is constant innovation on 3D printer applications. For example, 3D printers continue to increase their presence in classrooms across America as a way for students to learn STEM concepts and critical skills such as teamwork, problem-solving in a fun and engaging manner. Other benefits include supporting diverse learning and bringing concepts into the real world for students. Q: What does Amazon consider the advantages of 3D printing, both as products to sell and as a way to possibly alter some of its current distributive models? Richter: Customers are using 3D printers in many different, unique, and innovative ways. It’s our goal to provide them with the most expansive, competitively-priced selection of 3D printers and 3D printing products so they’re able to focus on the applications of this technology. In addition, 3D printers provide a significant savings in replacement part costs. Not only is the part more cost-efficient to produce, but it eliminates the need to hold inventory parts as you can print on-demand. For example, we here internally at Amazon Business recently needed a replacement review mirror cradle on one of our 3D printers. Through traditional sourcing the part would have cost $180, but we were able to print it for just $27.

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AM Europe Show, the Biggest Announcements in Photos 3D Printer Hardware

by Technologies

Even though the first edition was a difficult – but necessary – transition from the consumer-focused 3DPrintshow to a more professional level trade show, the first AM Europe show can be considered a success. Not many visitors, numerically speaking, but a much more qualified professional target which makes for better business. For many companies – Ultimaker and Zortrax in particular – the show was an opportunity to make some big announcement (quite literally in the case of Zortrax’s M300). These two companies, more than others, represent the possibilities that the consumer 3D printing hype created. They were born as consumer projects and they were able to evolve into real and structured multinational companies. Jos Burger, Ultimaker’s CEO, is perhaps one of the best representations of this trend as he brought a global multinational mentality to a young startup. He explained that “there is no doubt that people are moving away from the hyped up consumer 3D printing idea. No one is talking about it any more. Now it is all about the industry and the incredible possibilities that 3D printing can offer to professionals at all levels.” The truth is that desktop 3D printing is far from dead: instead of bringing a 3D printer in every house, it made it possible for every one who wanted to to invent a new profession, opening up the previously unaccessible manufacturing and prototyping market to more people than ever before. This is resulting and will continue to result in more innovation than ever. Here are some photogalleries from the best new things we saw at the show.

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Bioplastic From Orange Peels and Coffee Developed by IAAC to Be 3D Printable 3D Printing Processes

by Environment

In order to fully take advantage of working with a biodegradable material, and the ethos of reducing, reusing and recycling, a team from Barcelona’s IAAC investigated how to incorporate food-waste, including orange peels, shrimp peels and used ground coffee into, bio-plastic. Food-waste is generally perceived as unwanted matter, unless used for compost. The team, made up of senior faculty member Areti Markopolou, fabrication expert Alexandre Dubor, computational expert Anfgelos Chronis, and students Christopher Wong, Lili Tayefi and Noor Elgewely (with external support from bioplastic expert Atanassia Atanassiou) has the aim was to incorporate local food waste from urban environment, and local context, in order to divert this matter from ending up in landfill. Some of the local produce initially considered were orange peel and shrimp peel, since Spain is known for its oranges, and Barcelona for its seafood. In addition to merely up-cycling food-waste, the organic matter would actually provide added beneficial properties to the bio-plastic.

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3DPrinterOS Moves Cloud Service to Microsoft Azure, Set to Expand Virtual Factory Across the Globe 3D Printing Processes

by Design

After spending a bulk of the last few years developing one of the most powerful and all-encompassing 3D printing cloud services on the entire market, 3DPrinterOS seems prepared to unleash their platform to the global 3D printing community. This week, the Silicon Valley-based company 3DPrinterOS announced that they would expanding their cloud operating platform on a global level by moving their service to Microsoft Azure, which is an open, flexible, professional-grade cloud computing platform. The recent move to Microsoft should certainly help 3DPrinterOS garner some much-deserved attention, as their cloud infrastructure is already utilized by the likes of Ford, Cisco, Duke University, CalTech, and many other businesses and educational institutions. Focused on integrating their platform into universities and enterprises around the globe, Microsoft Azure seems to be the optimal choice for the 3DPrinterOS platform. “We are extremely excited to collaborate with Microsoft Azure to serve our Enterprise Clients with its highly secure, hyper-scale global cloud,” said 3DPrinterOS CEO John Dogru. “It was a challenge to find the right company that had the cloud infrastructure, compliance, security, and reliability around the world including countries like China and Europe.” So, those who are unfamiliar with the cloud service may be asking, what exactly does the 3DPrinterOS platform do? Well, in all honesty, it’d be much easier to explain what it doesn’t do. Their virtual factory enhances the entire 3D printing process, all the way from the CAD file to the print bed. By offering a centralized workflow, anyone from IT managers to students can manage a wide-range of 3D printers and designs directly from a web-based browser or through the 3DPrinterOS smartphone app. On Azure’s secure and globally connected network, the 3DPrinterOS platform will be able to continue providing customers with an efficient way to manage up to 1000’s of networked 3D printers, users, and designs, essentially revolutionizing the fragmented world of 3D printing software, which oftentimes requires a handful of different programs and processes to complete one goal. But, with 3DPrinterOS, users are able to manage every part of the 3D printing process from where ever they happen to be, and are able to instantly change print settings, watch a live-stream of the many print jobs taking place from their smartphone, and even use the built-in slicer and instantaneously queue up a new print on the fly. “The cloud is transforming entire industries and creating new opportunities for even the most innovative new businesses,” said Senior Director of Microsoft Azure, Nicole Herskowitz. “The market leading scale and speed of Microsoft Azure helps spur global growth opportunities for companies like 3DPrinterOS who are utilizing cloud computing and IoT connected devices in a completely new model of decentralized manufacturing.” Over the last eight months, the 3DPrinterOS cloud platform has unleashed decentralized manufacturing, building over 62,000 parts in 100 different countries. With this latest move to Microsoft Azure, the future looks extremely promising for 3DPrinterOS, who are taking the limitless and relatively cloud platform and creating the powerful 3D printing management platform that the industry has been in desperate need for. As they continue to expand into universities and enterprises throughout the world, 3DPrinterOS is simplifying the time-consuming and currently fractured 3D printing process, cutting out the middle man and handling everything that happens in between the CAD file and print bed.

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3DSPRINT Connect by 3D Systems, 3D Printing Software’s Newest Hero 3D Printing Processes

by Design

Embodying the next generation of intuitive and streamlined 3D printing software, 3DSPRINT by industry leader 3D Systems is bridging the gap between 3D designers and manufacturers, one optimized print job after another. After months of extensive beta testing, we’re taking a look at all that the new 3DSPRINT Connect has to offer for 3D printing businesses and individuals alike.