Some of the HP engineers who work on building the company's 2D printers wondered if there was a way to harness the 3D printing technology of the company's Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing system, to optimize the design and reduce costs for its large-format inkjet printers. HP's industrial inkjet printers, like the HP Latex 1500, are huge devices, built with thousands of moving parts, and are designed to print hundreds of square feet of material every day. HP engineers wanted to see if they could explore different ways to make parts for this equipment, and ultimately reduce the cost of the supply chain and the need for inventory, by optimizing the design process through 3D printing for certain pieces of equipment. Read more at 3DPrint.com: http://3dprint.com/165319/hp-3d-printing-meets-hp-2d/