For those who have been following the 3D printing, Additive Manufacturing market for a while, today’s news that Stratasys, Inc. and HP have agreed to discontinue their manufacturing and distribution agreement for 3D printers, effective at the end of 2012, is not too surprising.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement signed in January 2010, Stratasys developed and manufactured for HP an exclusive line of 3D printers based on Stratasys’ patented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM®) technology. Later that year, HP began a phased rollout of the 3D printers in the mechanical design (MCAD) market in select European countries.
However, the results of these distribution efforts were not what either company had hoped for. At the introduction of the Mojo desktop 3D printer in May, you could see the potential change in the relationship between HP and Stratasys coming. Stratasys product managers commented that they expect the Mojo unit to sell into the same market areas as the uPrint line, in effect cannibalizing it. Since the HP units are based on the uPrint line, the “hand writing was on the wall.” (The Mojo units are lower priced, have a slightly smaller build area, but offer very similar capabilities as the uPrint units.)
Leslie Langnau
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Filed Under: 3D printing • additive • stereolithography, Make Parts Fast