In April of this year, Desktop Metal introduced its first two 3D printing systems: the Desktop Metal Studio System and the Desktop Metal Production System. The Desktop Metal Studio System is an industrial metal 3D printer designed for the office, featuring a brand new technology called Bound Metal Deposition, or BMD. The company itself has generated a great deal of excitement since before it even introduced its technology, drawing funding from major investors from the very beginning. When the 3D printers were finally unveiled, the excitement didn’t die down. The Desktop Metal Studio System has been in high demand in the United States, with shipments scheduled to begin in a few weeks.
Now Desktop Metal has announced that it is accepting pre-orders of the Studio System from international customers as well, in Europe, Asia Pacific, Canada and Mexico. The company has been seeing interest from around the world, and is taking orders from customers in Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom with plans to expand further through Europe and Asia Pacific. The 3D printing system will become available to these customers in mid-2018. Desktop Metal is expanding its network of global resellers and sales partners, with a current total of 66.
“We are excited to bring our metal 3D printing solutions to new markets around the world,” Ric Fulop, CEO and Co-Founder of Desktop Metal, told 3DPrint.com.
“Our expansion is further commitment to our mission of making metal 3D printing accessible to engineers and manufacturers on a global scale.”
As Desktop Metal works toward expanding internationally, it plans to work with a group of strategic customers that will serve as early evaluators of the technology. The first will be BMW Group, whose independent venture unit, BMW i Ventures, was an early investor in Desktop Metal. BMW Group has an additive manufacturing team that has worked closely with Desktop Metal to accelerate market adoption.
“Metal additive manufacturing has already impacted the automotive industry mainly in prototyping,” said Jens Ertel, Head of BMW Group’s Additive Manufacturing Center in Munich. “Currently, we are further expanding the use of metal additive manufacturing in multiple applications. Starting with design to cost-effective mass production, which is the most challenging application where material and process qualification, design, performance and cost-per-part are crucial for our success. Together with Desktop Metal, we are working on challenging the status quo of metal additive manufacturing. We are looking into uncovering the potential for both the Studio System for functional prototypes and the Production System for high-speed prototyping and mass production of BMW Group automotive parts.”
Availability of the Studio System will vary by country; if you’re an interested customer, you can find more information here. The Desktop Metal Production System will also be expanding internationally in due time.
“Our vision is to make Desktop Metal 3D printing solutions accessible to engineers and manufacturers around the world,” said Fulop. “We plan to begin offering our metal 3D printing technology internationally and will be accelerating production to meet worldwide demand, first for our Studio System and later for our Production System. Our partnerships with best-in-class resellers in each of these geographies bring us closer to making metal 3D printing solutions available to all who want to realize the benefits of rapid prototyping and mass production of metal parts.”
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[Images: Desktop Metal]
