The automotive industry is one of the biggest beneficiaries of 3D printing technology, with ountless companies around the world using 3D printers on a daily basis in order to accelerate and improve the design and manufacturing processes. For them, 3D printing is a real revolution and salvation at the same time, allowing them to save tons of money on prototypes and further production time. But, often, ordinary consumers are completely unaware of this fact and may not fully grasp the whole 3D printing hype. The reason for this is simple: they may not know, because no one told them about it. That may change thanks to a new Volkswagen Passat commercial, in which 3D printers play a very important role, showing viewers that, without them, designing a modern car would simply be impossible.
Germany’s Volkswagen is one of the largest car manufacturers in the world and its design offices have successfully used 3D printing for many years, even if the company does not flaunt this in their press releases. But in their latest commercial for the VW Passat, the company decided to change their approach. Advertising company Timecode Film Production worked with the Polish division of Volkswagen to produce their latest commercial and invited polish 3D printers manufacturer 3DGence to take part.
3DGence is one of the most recognizable companies manufacturing 3D printers in Poland. Even though it was founded in 2014, it stormed into the Polish 3D printing industry, getting a lot of publicity and respect among other companies in a very short time. 3DGence won the award for the best new Polish company of 2014 in CD3D’s own poll, also taking second place for the best new Polish 3D printer of 2014. The company owes its success to the perfect combination of experienced management staff and scientists of Silesian Technical University, responsible for its design and multiple unique features.
More importantly, the team behind 3DGence love cars and designed their 3D printer especially for the automotive industry. So, it wasn’t a big surprise that one of the very first customers for their 3D printer in 2014 was Opel, a German subsidiary of another automotive giant, General Motors.
The commercial’s protagonist is a car designer who discusses how innovation (in this case, 3D printing technology) influences the creative process, “3D printing is a technology of the future. It allows us to create tools that save our time and materials. This is an innovation that makes our life better and easier.” It’s fair to say that, in addition to encouraging viewers to buy the new Passat, the ad also promotes 3D printing.
The fact that such a big brand like Volkswagen decided to base their commercial on 3D printing is truly amazing, but from another perspective, it shows the importance of this technology to their processes. If the excitement around 3D printing was just hype, they might not bother to waste expensive advertising time on it. VW Passat understands that, without 3D printing technology, their cars wouldn’t be so unique and, so, the company decided to share this fact with the world.
Thanks to the ad, might a number of ordinary people start to understand what 3D printing is really about? That a 3D printer may have a lot of wider and more important applications than printing plastic guns that break with very first shot or useless figurines and gadgets? Let’s hope so!
“3DGence is one of the most recognizable companies”? ciekawe 🙂 artykuł sponsorowany? 😉
Ano właśnie.