While this might not sound like a big deal if you aren’t a 3D printer of filament vendor or supplier, this news is likely to have tremendous ramifications for desktop 3D printing, in particular for the companies looking to push into the FFF market this coming year.
A large number of the desktop 3D printer manufacturers and filament vendors manufacturer their 3D printing filaments at Village Plastics and then sell the material under their own label — if you have participated in desktop 3D printing in the past four years within the United States, there is a strong possibility that you have printed with material manufactured at Village Plastics.
One of the interesting positive developments is that the new ownership by a company with an emphasis on desktop 3D printing might rapidly stimulate the development new types of printing filament options as the emphasis on that aspect of their business increases — which could well benefit other existing customers as well as the Cube/CubeX 3D Systems line of products.
From the press release:
3D Systems (DDD) announced today the acquisition of Village Plastics Co., a leading manufacturer of filament-based ABS, PLA and HIPS 3D printing materials. Through its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Norton, Ohio, Village Plastics delivers the highest quality, precision 3D printing filaments. 3DS plans to immediately integrate Village Plastics materials and manufacturing technologies to accelerate its development of advanced filament-based materials for its growing Cube(R) and CubeX(TM) 3D printers. Additionally, the company plans to support all of Village Plastics’ existing customers by providing full access to its complete portfolio of design-to-manufacturing products and services.
“Village Plastics brings significant filament-based material development know-how and large scale manufacturing expertise that are vitally important to our Cube 3D printer consumer and prosumer growth initiatives,” said Avi Reichental, President and CEO, 3D Systems. “With the Village team on board, we expect to be able to enhance the profitability of this growing category and fast track the delivery of new high-performance filament-based products for the benefit of our users worldwide.”
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