rigid.ink to Stop Selling Filament

“Well, we’re certainly not disappearing” – Ed Tyson 

While change is often for the best, it can be a shock at first. Rather than just throwing in the towel, however, it is better to adjust—and that is exactly what Ed Tyson of rigid.ink informs us his team is doing as the UK-headquartered company begins to move away from supplying filament to users around the world.

Instead of attempting to compete with mega-corporations with vast resources like BASF and Mitsubishi, Tyson is turning in a new direction, but not without paying due respect to those moving in on his previous territory—and at rapid speed:

“… their massive research and development resources will make competition extremely fierce in the not too distant future. This is a good thing however, as their truly innovative products will revolutionize the FDM (FFF) 3D printing market – and we’re excited to see what they come up with for extremely specialist and exciting applications.”

“And at a lower price point, disruptive companies like Prusa Research are stepping in with extremely affordable filaments made to a very dependable standard.”

Pretty gracious in conceding, Tyson goes on to explain that increased competition is not the only challenge his company has been dealing with as raw material costs have risen to untenable levels; in fact, margins for the small but dynamic company have been minimized to the point where rigid.ink had to face making changes or accepting a future of no growth, coupled with no profit.

“While we still believe we currently supply the world’s most reliable filament, we cannot viably guarantee this going forward. And that is not acceptable to us, or our customers,” explains Tyson further.

Upon seeing this massive transformation within the polymer filament niche, Tyson and his team have put thoughtful consideration into how they can continue to help the 3D printing community without staying in the game and providing an inferior product or selling out altogether. But upon looking back at the services they have supplied over the years, Tyson and his team realized how much time they spent helping customers with 3D printing overall. This led to a lightbulb moment, resulting in the idea to offer a ‘comprehensive 3D printing results acceleration program.’

“Processes outlined for virtually every 3D printer issue imaginable have been created to allow our knowledgeable experts to systematically help customers improve their results,” explains Tyson.

Hoping to offer users everything that was not available when he was just learning about 3D printing, Tyson and his team offer useful information in a training and mentorship package regarding core factors involved in digital fabrication, information about specific terms, as well as insights regarding 3D design and settings. They help users understand where to start with the 3D printing process, how to improve performance, reliability, and performance quality—along with troubleshooting. Find out more here, and also check out their Facebook page.

The rigid.ink team has been rolling with changes within the 3D printing industry for years now, along with offering plenty of dynamic filaments along the way, even to include monthly subscriptions for users in the past. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.