A growing trend is seeing European 3D printer manufacturers heading stateside, to a land that is progressive in its uptake of 3D printing, particularly at the maker and home levels. Leapfrog did it just last month as Mike reported, and they followed Felixrobotix. Now Ultimaker wants in too. Today, the Netherlands based company, a firm favourite in Europe for its desktop 3D printer, has announced availability of its 3D printers directly to North American customers, which comes on top of its distribution agreements with retail outlets. Ultimaker has facilitated this move by way of a licensing partnership with fbrc8, which means that the US company will assemble all Ultimaker 3D printers directly in their territory to ensure faster and more cost-effective shipment to the North American market. Fbrc8 will also offer US customers full technical support and customer services. While the Ultimaker 3D printers themselves are well-received and get good reviews from the user community, the company believes this has been in no small way due to the expertise of the team and the support it provides to the open-source community — and these are the qualities it wants to offer US customers as well.
Commenting on the expansion into the US, Ultimaker’s CEO, Siert Wijnia said: We can’t wait to see more participation from the North American region to our YouMagine creative community.”
To align with this announcement, Ultimaker has made a free 3D model pack available — for everyone — which contains specific US-related models “for inspiration and fun.”
From today, North American customers can order a 3D printer from Ultimaker and be guaranteed a quicker and more cost-effective shipment, which will come with the odd freebie or two. Who doesn’t love a freebie?
The company has been preparing this move, and it comes with a video announcement – release today:
