| Benjamin Tan, vice president of Asia Pacific at Dutch 3D printer manufacturer Ultimaker, speaks during a press conference at Parnas Tower in Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of Ultimaker |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Ultimaker, a Dutch-based manufacturer of 3D printers, rolled out its new products that have enhanced reliability and productivity, aiming to secure more corporate customers and research institutions, the vice president of the manufacturer said Thursday.
Three-dimensional printers were considered an innovative tool helping companies produce their products faster. But many of them have been hesitant about using the tool due to worries about the product being too complicated.
However, Benjamin Tan, vice president of Asia Pacific at Ultimaker, said the company's new 3D printers ― the Ultimaker S3 and the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle ― are designed to alleviate such worries as they can produce ready-to-use products and samples easily and reliably.
He said the S5 will be suitable for big companies while the S3 is a smaller version designed for novice users.
“The S5 Pro Bundle will give you more opportunity to make more applications, with a higher production capacity. For beginner companies, they want to have a 3D printer with low costs of ownership, reliable output, easy adoption and wide application range,” Tan said.
Established in 2011, Ultimaker has quickly become a leading 3D printer maker in Europe and one of the top three makers in the United States thanks to its cutting-edge 3D printing hardware and software. The company produces its 3D printers in the Netherlands and the United States.
Tan said the company sold 125,000 3D printers in the global market and has been creating more use cases in Korea as major companies in the electronics, construction and automotive sectors have already adopted their devices to produce samples or tools.
Tan said the company expects a lot from Korea which has its competitiveness in many industrial sectors such as the automotive industry.
“Korea is a very important market for us and it has a strong automotive industry. That's why we have been putting emphasis on this country,” he said.
Tan introduced Dutch brewing company Heineken as an example of companies which could improve their productivity and save costs by using 3D printers.
“Heineken could see a reduction of costs in the applications up to 90 percent by printing spare parts with our 3D printers,” Tan said adding the brewing company was also able to replace metal parts of its beer making machines with plastic parts produced by the 3D printers.
U1 University in Yeongdong, North Chungcheong Province, also has been using 3D printers made by Ultimaker to let its students learn about printing high-quality products and related 3D printing technologies.
Brule Korea, which is responsible for sales and after-sales service of Ultimaker products, started to sell the S3 and S5 3D printers Thursday. The S5 Pro Bundle is priced at 15.9 million won ($13,300) while the S3 is sold at 7.9 million won.