And before anyone could even break out a sandwich for lunch, the name Stratasys was rolling off our tongues again today—but this time along with MakerBot—as the two keep it in the family with quite a logical new partnership and agreement that offers what sounds like common sense integration of their products and way of making sure that both Stratasys and MakerBot increase market share.
To the benefit of resellers, MakerBot is also beginning a training program that will allow them a comprehensive understanding of and familiarity with their products, as they begin offering their customers this complete portfolio of products.
“We believe that both Stratasys and MakerBot can greatly benefit from each other’s strengths–and so can our customers,” said Jonathan Jaglom, CEO at MakerBot. “This collaboration between the two companies gives our customers access to a larger suite of products that is designed to speed up the design process and lower costs. The partnership program also empowers sales partners to better consult their customers on how to make their product development processes more effective and gain a competitive edge.”
“Stratasys helps professional customers with prototyping, tooling, manufacturing and many other aspects of product development. Organizations, hospitals and educators without access to Stratasys 3D Printers can start prototyping on a MakerBot and then use Stratasys Direct Manufacturing (SDM) to have high quality 3D prints and parts delivered to them in a variety of colors and materials,” states the company in their press release.
A good example of this process they see working for many of their customers would be that of Robert Welch, a UK company currently using both MakerBot and Stratasys 3D printers as they prepare, explore and experiment with designs, and then begin to shape the prototype into more formal, finished product. At Robert Welch, they are using MakerBot Replicator desktop 3D printers as they begin the prototyping process, and then as they near the finish line with a design, they head to the Stratasys Objet-line 3D printer to create extremely realistic prototypes before they go to final production.
“Using the MakerBot allows us to really get the shape refined and make sure that it feels nice in the hand,” says Kit deBretton Gordon, senior designer at Robert Welch. “You can actually use it as a 3D object so people understand it.”
“And there’s no real sort of risk,” says another of their designers. “We can just print as many as we want, and then as it gets closer to finalizing the design, we’ll go leave it onto the Objet 30.
To understand more of the process both MakerBot and Stratasys see happening with their 3D printing customers, check out the video below regarding Robert Welch and how they use both MakerBot and Stratasys 3D Printers. Do you think this sales program is a good idea? Discuss in the Stratasys & MakerBot 3D Printer Sales forum over at 3DPB.com.