EDITOR ’ S CHOICE TEN YEAR REVIEW
3DPRINTUK
Celebrating a Decade of Providing Quality 3D Printed Parts
This month 3DPRINTUK is ten years old , which provides a great opportunity to look back at what the company has achieved and to look ahead to the next 10 years .
This article highlights some of the major milestones across the last decade of 3D printing from 3DPRINTUK .
10 YEAR REVIEW :
It was September 2011 when founder and Managing Director , Nick Allen , officially opened the doors of 3DPRINTUK to provide a fast and efficient ‘ rapid prototyping ’ service . Back then , Rapid Prototyping — or RP — was the more widely recognised umbrella term for the range of additive , layer-by-layer processes that were slowly but surely penetrating into a range of industrial sectors as a way of speeding up product development . But Nick , who has always had his finger on the pulse , was convinced 3D printing was going to be an even bigger deal — both in terms of terminology and as a technology set for manufacturing — and he built it into the company name , and its DNA .
The following year , in December 2012 , with 3DPRINTUK as the parent company , Nick opened MAK3D , London ’ s first 3D printing co-working space in Brick Lane . MAK3D provided a range of 3D printing services and parts utilising an Objet ( now Stratasys ) PolyJet system .
2013 had a few memorable highlights . In April of that year , 3DPRINTUK moved to a new facility in Bermondsey , London and acquired its first industrial EOS Selective Laser Sintering ( SLS ) 3D printer utilising Nylon material . That same month , Nick featured on the BBC ’ s One Show , sharing his knowledge of 3D printing to a much wider audience .
The passion for sharing knowledge and raising awareness pragmatically has never dimmed , and in October 2013 Nick delivered a memorable TEDx Talk . It ’ s definitely still worth a watch and holds great value today .
Another major milestone came in September 2014 , when 3DPRINTUK printed its 100,000th part . The company saw a notable trend as
Nick Allen , MD & Owner , 3DPRINTUK
it started to scale up part volumes , with a wide range of applications . As Nick noted at the time , “ We ’ ve sent stuff to the edge of space , to the bottom of the ocean and to the Dragons Den as well as many other places in-between .” This was only set to continue , and did .
The start of 2015 really saw Nick ’ s vision for 3D printing coming to fruition . With accumulated knowledge and experience 3DPRINTUK really started to focus in on what 3D printing is really good at — low volume batch production applications . The company continued to provide the very best quality in prototyping services , and still do today , but the launch of the batch production service where 3DPRINTUK could demonstrate repeatability , on-demand manufacture , and tool-less manufacture of production parts opened up new business opportunities — for the organisation , obviously , but also for its growing number of clients .
And just over two years from the time that it printed the 100,000th part , 3DPRINTUK was delighted to print its 1 millionth part in Nov 2016 . This exponential growth of part volumes was significant , and is continuing year on year . It is not an accident , but rather comes from managing growth — and expectations — through acquiring knowledge , expertise , experience and , of course , more machines ( capacity ).
One interesting result of the knowledge vault at 3DPRINTUK came in October 2018 , when it represented British manufacturing during the parliamentary review . This was an important step for the company , to be included in this important governmental review as an additive manufacturer , alongside some of the most successful companies in the UK .
In November 2019 , just as the pandemic was about to hit , but before the world understood what it meant , 3DPRINTUK completed its final move of the decade . This was a big deal , as it expanded into new and dedicated premises at Unit D9 , Leyton Industrial Village , London .
2020 was obviously the Covid Year . Nobody had it easy , but the company adapted and forged ahead , taking the opportunity to complete a £ 1 million internal investment into new AM systems and processes , new materials and new post-processing equipment and capabilities . This involved the introduction of the MultiJet Fusion ( MJF ) process , flexible materials , a wide range of colours & shot peening . These new dedicated facilities have enabled 3DPRINTUK to streamline its internal processes , further improving the quality , repeatability and traceability of parts .
And for anyone interested in an update on that exponential growth — 3DPRINTUK has printed more than 1 million parts THIS YEAR alone !
That just about wraps it up , and so , we have been in business for 10 years .
LOOKING AHEAD :
Anniversaries are great for reflection , but also to place a stake in the ground for future planning . 3DPRINTUK already has some amazing plans set in motion to take it to the next level . None of them involve a move ( thank goodness ) – but who knows , there might be an extension . And the company ’ s capacity / part volumes will almost certainly continue on their upward trajectory .
Thank YOU for being part of our history , here ’ s to the next 10 years …..
For further information , please visit www . 3dprint-uk . co . uk
10 PECM Issue 53