Mar.20, 2014
Hewlett-Packard Co will outline plans to enter the commercial 3D-printing market in June, Chief executive Meg Whitman told shareholders on Tuesday. HP claims to have solved a number of technical problems that have hindered broader adoption of the high-tech manufacturing process.
Critics have accused the sci-fi-like technology of being over-hyped and still too immature for widespread consumer adoption.
The systems available now have two big challenges, Whitman said. One is that they're deathly slow.
"It's like watching ice melt," she said.
The other, according to Whitman, is that the quality isn't as good as it should be. "The surface of the substrate is not perfect," she said.
Industry observers have long expected HP, the largest of several printer-making companies from Canon to Xerox, to eventually get into the business.
Whitman said HP's inhouse researchers have resolved limitations involved with the quality of substrates used in the process, which affects the durability of finished products. She said HP will make a "big technology announcement" in June how it will approach a market that has excited the imagination of investors and consumers.
HP will target the business market first. "The bigger market is going to be in the enterprise space," manufacturing parts and prototypes in ways that were not possible before.
"We're on the case," she said without elaborating.
HP executives have estimated that worldwide sales of 3D printers and related software and services will grow to almost $11 billion by 2021 from a mere $2.2 billion in 2012.
Industry Analyst firm Gartner considers consumer 3D printing at the 'Peak of Inflated Expectations' and expect that enterprise 3D printing will become mainstream within the next two to five years.
HP expects consumers will first use print service providers - companies similar to FedEx Office -where people will send their 3D print jobs for high-quality fulfillment. "And we'd be the ones to provide the equipment." CTO and HP Labs director Martin Fink said in a February blogpost on HP's website.
"HP is currently exploring the many possibilities of 3D printing and the company will play an important role in its development," Fink said.
"The fact is that 3D printing is really still an immature technology, but it has a magical aura. The sci-fi movie idea that you can magically create things on command makes the idea of 3D printing really compelling for people."
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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Elgambitero: HP was merely licensing the uPrint from Stratasys and putting their own sticker on it
Elgambitero wrote at 3/20/2014 6:39:36 PM:
This is nonsense. Wasn't HP the original creator of the Stratasys Uprint? It was called HP designjet3D before. What's happening?
jd90 wrote at 3/20/2014 6:34:48 PM:
Maybe the technology for zero learning curve exists (not certain what that technology is), but among that technology, what of that isn't patented by the incumbent players, Stratasys and 3D Systems? I'll see what they have to offer. It sounds like they're initially targeting service bureaus, which is sensible. Eventually it will trickle down as technology usually does.
Pottertown wrote at 3/20/2014 4:47:29 PM:
The learning curve on commercial printers is nearly 0. The technology is there it just needs to be adapted and scaled to the mass market.
AMnerd wrote at 3/20/2014 11:29:42 AM:
Can't wait!
JaB wrote at 3/20/2014 10:35:02 AM:
If they plan to release this to the wider market, then how are they going to make it easy for the average person the use 3D printers? Lets face it the learning curve is pretty steep.
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