Making Machines and Selling them!

Hi all,It is a pleasure to be a member of the thread - I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction here.So, i understand the 3DP world have number HUGE companies such as HP, Stratasys, DMG Mori etc etc... but not all of them actually manufacture the machines. They perhaps have a huge setup/warehouse facility that houses these units and then sells a service.Would would be the largest manufactures of actual 3D Printers in Europe/USA? I have done some googling and after a number of hours found myself slightly lost in the fact that it is not crystal clear as to which company does what exactly. If someone could shed some light on this thought would be great - I am also asking in the respect of industrial machines and not desktop for now.Many thanks!

stratasys are probably the largest industrial manufacturer as they make a wider variety of machines than most.

But as far as the actual machine manufacturing goes - an awful lot is done in china - 'cos it's cheaper.

parts might be put together in europe - but the initial manufacturing of components is invariably done in china.
https://www.stratasys.com/

Prusa are an anomaly as they make almost all their plastic components in-house, with their own printers.
That's a pretty large factory and prusa seem to be always playing 'catch-up' between produxtion capability and fulfilling orders.
Pretty much the ideal position for any business :-)

Another large europaen manufacturer are dutch company Ultimaker.
Technically desktop printers but Ultimakers current bias is towards industrial applications and print farms.
All their latest products have been solidly aimed at the industrial fdm market, including new software and multi material 'feeding' station.
I believe most of their products are still made in holland.
BUt don't quote me on that ;-)

https://www.tctmagazine.com/
is probably the best spource for industrial 3d printing.
They pretty much do not cover desktop and 'hobby' machines any more.

Thank you very much for the insight - really helpful. I guessed a large part of the machinery may be made in china eg. a car (ford/VW) may assemble the car in their factories but obtain nuts and botls from around the globe. It is more the companies such as Stratasys I was looking for that will sell their huge industrial machine with their name to it. THere is Ultimaker as you mentioned and perhaps DMG Mori?

I will take a look at that magazine website as you said, desktop machines are not really covered. This is OK for a hobby but I am doing market research on Commercial/Industrial uses.

Many thanks
Ben

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

stratasys are probably the largest industrial manufacturer as they make a wider variety of machines than most.

But as far as the actual machine manufacturing goes - an awful lot is done in china - 'cos it's cheaper.

parts might be put together in europe - but the initial manufacturing of components is invariably done in china.
https://www.stratasys.com/

Prusa are an anomaly as they make almost all their plastic components in-house, with their own printers.
That's a pretty large factory and prusa seem to be always playing 'catch-up' between produxtion capability and fulfilling orders.
Pretty much the ideal position for any business :-)

Another large europaen manufacturer are dutch company Ultimaker.
Technically desktop printers but Ultimakers current bias is towards industrial applications and print farms.
All their latest products have been solidly aimed at the industrial fdm market, including new software and multi material 'feeding' station.
I believe most of their products are still made in holland.
BUt don't quote me on that ;-)

https://www.tctmagazine.com/
is probably the best spource for industrial 3d printing.
They pretty much do not cover desktop and 'hobby' machines any more.

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dmg mori look like cnc machines - never heard of them in an additive manufacturing context.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dmg+...hrome&ie=UTF-8

cool - you don't see many powder jet machines around.
I guess it's the way to go :-)

It's a useful system that can be bolted on to a standard cnc machine - which explains their involvement.
Instaed of buying a whole new machine you just adapt an existing cnc platform.

metal printers are a whole other industry.
Just as inteesting but around `1000x more expensive.

That said my favorite machine at the last tct show was a metal printer the size of an offcie water cooler.
https://xactmetal.com/
https://xactmetal.com/xm200c/

Amazing little machine.