Last month, Canon Business Solutions of Korea announced a product design contest to demonstrate that 3D printers can help make a wide range of daily items and supplies. The company garnered designs from almost anyone who was interested in designing and printed those designs on their 3D printer, the “Marv.” The judges then evaluated the designs and efficiency of the prints and selected the winner. The grand prize, $1000USD and a “Marv” FDM 3D printer went to Mr. Park Jung Min for his design of a hood for the L lens used by Canon DSRL cameras.
Mr. Park is also the CEO of a small start-up company called SUPER3DM in Seoul. He studied product design at university and worked on a product design team for two and half years. That is when he first heard about, and actually used, a 3D printer. As he produced prototypes, the 3D printer enchanted him like some kind of magic box that could bring any of his designs into reality. He soon found out that there were several 3D printer manufacturers in Korea. He bought some of them and started to seriously experiment with the technology.
Being an experienced designer and maker, he was eager to start his own company. During the long preparation to the opening of his own company, there were almost no 3D printing seminars, conferences or workshops in and around the Seoul area that Mr. Park had not attended. Though he failed five times starting up his company, he proved himself to be a man of persistence. His sixth try resulted in “SUPER3DM” but currently, the website is only available in Korean.
Despite all the uncontrollable factors in business and very few cases of successful 3D printing start-up stories in Korea, he was pretty confident in his designing ability and his ability to develop good 3D printed content. Now, with an assistant and seven 3D printers including; a Marv, an Upplus2, and Almonds, he is seeing rapid growth in his business. He is now moving and expanding his office and planning to purchase a high-end industrial DLP 3D printer in the very near future.
Like other 3D printing companies, the majority of his profits come from printing services, consulting and education. But Mr. Park wants to spend more time on content development. Specifically, he really focuses on improving the quality of the printed objects. He described his company as ‘3D printer product lab’ that keeps exploring new products and creating new ideas.
He said that while the process of 3D printing can be complicated and cumbersome, he feels a sense of joy and delight when he looks at the end product that has been rendered perfectly. As good as he is at 3D printing; he says that he still records a 40% failure rate. “Some people just print and display the output in their office. But after printing and post-processing, only 60% of my prints can reach the high level of quality that I want. The level of quality that can be sold and not get any complaints from paying customers. It is important that users build their printing know-how and print only at their best quality levels,” he added.
Mr. Park currently views the Korean 3D printing market as having too much hype in terms of a business form. “Frequently, people who believe in the hype run to this industry, thinking that this can be a good and easy business model. Such a situation brings people into the industry, but it does not really help move the industry forward. The profits also fluctuate because the market is unstable. Printing and bringing the quality up to the level that would satisfy customers takes quite a bit of work. It is hard to sustain a business without enthusiasm, but if you feel the joy of printing and experimenting with new stuff, it will be a worth the try.”
