MakerBot Inks Deal with D&H Distributing

MakerBot has signed on with D&H Distributing for that company to distribute MakerBot 3D printers and scanners in the US.

D&H focuses on critical vertical markets for 3D printing like education, medical and healthcare, government, and manufacturing applications, and MakerBot says the deal will result in market penetration in those spaces through the D&H network of dealers and resellers.

The details of the deal mean will D&H will distribute MakerBot Replicator 3D printers like the MakerBot Replicator, MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact, MakerBot Replicator Z18, and MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental, as well as the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner, along with MakerBot PLA and ABS Filaments, and a variety other MakerBot 3D printing accessories.

As a result, the MakerBot line of printing and scanning solutions will become part of D&H’s comprehensive K-12 education offerings through dandh.com and via avenues such as the Solutions Lab Training Center.

“We’re excited to partner with D&H to help expand the availability of MakerBot 3D printers and scanners in areas such as education, medical and healthcare, which we at MakerBot see as crucial for the growth of the 3D printing market. We’re especially thrilled about D&H’s strength in the education vertical,” says Mark Schulze, General Manager of the Americas and Emerging Markets for MakerBot. “Just as it was for computers in the 1980s, we see educational use of 3D printers as an important catalyst for the broader adoption of the technology. D&H also reaches the top 100 consumer electronics and IT resellers in the United States, which we think will help us expand our sales channels across the U.S. to reach designers, educators and engineers.”

According to MakerBot, their Replicator 3D printers are already at work in more than 5,000 universities, schools, and libraries across the US. The company says the D&H deal will succeed due to the company’s reseller network and more than 2,100 bookstores and campus retailers.

MakerBot believes this latest deal will be crucial in helping them benefit from a unique showcase of 3D printing to the tech-savvy college marketplace.

Jeff Davis, Senior Vice President of Sales at D&H Distributing, says MakerBot and his company are an excellent fit as “MakerBot is a true market pioneer.”

“The company’s strategy to deliver a breadth of support and instructional materials, from software apps to educational sessions to its MakerCare program, is aligned with D&H’s own mission to help communicate the terrific potential of this burgeoning category,” Davis says. “MakerBot’s 3D printers and scanners offer high-performance solutions for a range impressive applications, from creating spare equipment parts, to producing in-house 3D models, to creating prosthetic equipment and materials for surgeries and reconstructions. We want to help proliferate MakerBot’s 3D printing products throughout the U.S., leveraging the brand through our small business and mid-market value-added resellers who sell into a range of sectors.”

With 80,000 MakerBot desktop 3D printers already sold and supported by what the company calls the “MakerBot 3D Ecosystem,” the company says that by combining hardware, software, and apps like MakerBot PrintShop and MakerBot Mobile with materials, training, support, consulting, retail stores, partnerships, and Thingiverse (the world’s largest online community for 3D printing), the company can “make 3D printing easy and accessible for everyone.”

D&H ships products from five separate locations in North America. Those locations include a US headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; a Canadian headquarters in Brampton, Ontario; and warehouses in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; and Fresno, California.

What do you think of this deal between MakerBot and D&H Distributing? Will it help MakerBot gain further market share among educational and medical users? Let us know in the MakerBot and D&H Distributing Ink Deal forum thread on 3DPB.com.