MakerBot Extends New England Reach to CAD Professionals

MakerBot is making its presence known in Connecticut, where the launch of their retail store has influenced locals, like the non-profit Level Up Village, to adopt MakerBot as their go-to 3D printer brand. Now, New England’s printing service and sales provider, Joseph Merritt Company, has added the 3D printer manufacturer to their line of 2D printer products, believing that 3D printing fits in perfectly for the clients in the Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) & Graphic industries.

Joseph Merritt CEO, Ed Perry, explains that “A large portion of our AEC customers design in 3D. Our aim is to save customers time and money when it comes to rendering their designs. Instead of building a 3D model from scratch, they can simply print out models of their designs.” The company chose MakerBot, believing them to have the best track record and pricing. The sale of MakerBot machines by Merritt expands the brand’s already large base, as well as Joseph Merritt Company’s own product offerings. Alongside the new MakerBot 3D printers, Joseph Merritt Company sells, leases and rents 2D printers from Canon, Epson, HP, KIP and provides print services, including wide-format printing. In addition to offering paper and printing supplies, they are also authorized to perform repairs on Canon, HP, Océ, KIP, Xerox, Epson and, now, MakerBot printers.

What may be most interesting about this latest retail partner is that MakerBot is deliberately marketing architecture, engineering and construction professionals through Joseph Merritt Company. If, as Business Advantage Group’s “2014 Worldwide CAD Trends Survey” suggests, CAD users don’t really rely on 3D printing all that often, such a move may increase the visibility of 3D printing technology to those who use CAD often, like architects, engineers, and those in construction. On the one hand, 3D printing has been marketed to consumers and retailers, but it may be through such professions that consumer-grade printers will really hit the ground running.

Source: Merritt Graphics