Desktop Metal announced it will begin accepting international pre-orders of its metal 3D printing system, the Studio System™, from companies throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Canada and Mexico. The announcement comes as Desktop Metal is experiencing tremendous interest and demand from manufacturers and strategic partners around the globe, including BMW Group, which will be the company’s first international early partner to receive a system. These strategic partners will be a source of critical user feedback on benchmark parts, materials, training and system usage.
“Our vision is to make Desktop Metal 3D printing solutions accessible to engineers and manufacturers around the world,” said Ric Fulop, CEO and co-founder of Desktop Metal. “We plan to begin offering our metal 3D printing technology internationally and will be accelerating production to meet worldwide demand, first for our Studio System and later for our Production System. Our partnerships with best-in-class resellers in each of these geographies bring us closer to making metal 3D printing solutions available to all who want to realize the benefits of rapid prototyping and mass production of metal parts.”
Fostering the startup ecosystem in order to take the automotive world to the next level is the mission of BMW Group’s independent venture unit: “As an early investor in Desktop Metal, we saw potential in its 3D printing technology and vision for redefining manufacturing,” said Uwe Higgen managing partner of BMW i Ventures.
BMW Group’s additive manufacturing team works closely together with Desktop Metal to accelerate market adoption. “Metal additive manufacturing has already impacted the automotive industry mainly in prototyping. Currently, we are further expanding the use of metal additive manufacturing in multiple applications. Starting with design to cost-effective mass production, which is the most challenging application where material and process qualification, design, performance and cost-per-part are crucial for our success. Together with Desktop Metal, we are working on challenging the status quo of metal additive manufacturing. We are looking into uncovering the potential for both the Studio System for functional prototypes and the Production System for high-speed prototyping and mass production of BMW Group automotive parts,” said Jens Ertel head of BMW Group’s Additive Manufacturing Center in Munich.
“It’s an honor BMW Group chose to both invest and now partner with Desktop Metal as an early pioneer of our metal 3D printing technologies,” said Fulop. “We look forward to learning and benefiting from BMW Group’s legendary engineering, manufacturing and production expertise.”