Web to prototype service
3D printing is revolutionising product development cycles and model creation says Ben Bartholomew
Ben Bartholomew left the safety net of a family business to follow his belief in the potential of 3D printing and set up 3D Creation Lab with a small office, an Objet Alaris30 3D printer and a well thought-out strategy.
Through its Bristol location, 3D Creation Lab had a readymade market for rapid prototypes from local aerospace, medical and automotive companies. But Mr Bartholomew saw a whole raft of other potential customers as his target.
“3D printing is revolutionising product development cycles and model creation,” he says. “It is faster and less expensive than other forms of rapid prototyping and 3D Creation Lab makes these benefits much more accessible with a Web-to-Prototype (WtP) service, which is not only fast, efficient and cost effective but has no geographic boundaries.”
Ben Bartholomew models his business on a similar level of customer service to that provided by the Alaris, using the 3D Creation Lab website as a Web-to-Prototype interface helping customers understand the process, upload files and even self-calculate the price.
“Our strategy depends on an efficient and easy-to-use website which gives us access to a wide variety of customers from anywhere in the world. When you offer a faster turnaround to a customer in Germany than he can get down the road, you need to be sure that your equipment is ‘bullet proof’. We set the Alaris30 printing overnight and dispatch perfect parts the next day, so far Alaris30 quality has more than resounded with our customers – 100% satisfaction to date.”
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
