Tag: printer

Industrial 3D printers grow as personal printers hit rock bottom

Posted on January 22, 2019 by - News

While the personal printer market is dying a significant death, Industrial 3D printing is growing.

Beancounters at Context have been adding up some numbers and dividing by their shoe size and concluded that sales of industrial 3D printers continued to grow during 2018 while the personal printer market once again saw a decline.

According to the market intelligence firm, machine shipments of industrial models are projected to show a 27 per cent increase year-on-year, having already posted a strong 19 per cent growth during the first three quarters of 2018.

By contrast, sales figures for desktop 3D printers, which revealed a 13 per cent decline globally during Q1-Q3, are predicted to have continued in the fourth quarter, resulting in an overall reduction in worldwide shipments when compared with 2017.

The professional and design segments are also expected to reach single-digit positive growth for the year overall, despite single-digit declines in shipments year-to-date Q1-Q 3 2018.

Within the industrial 3D printer segment, polymer (plastic) and metal printer shipments saw robust growth during the first three quarters of the year.

Polymer model shipments rose by 12 per cent over the period thanks to steady increases in the US and Europe, as well as growth from manufacturers such as Carbon (up 65 per cent) and HP (up 31 per cent) – while significant domestic sales from China’s Union Tech also contributed significantly.

Industrial 3D metal printer brands such as GE Addictive, 3D Systems and EOS saw “nice growth”, while new, lower-priced models from brands such as Markforged “saw shipments soar in 2018”, Context said.

The market intelligence firm added that, while unit volumes are dominated by sub–$2,500 personal printers, more than 70 per cent of global printer revenues are generated by the industrial segment.

Context VP Chris Connery said: “The industrial segment saw good growth both in polymer 3D-printer shipments – up +31 per cent year-on-year – and metals 3D-printer shipments which were up a phenomenal  increase of 62 per cent for the quarter.”

Despite final global shipping figures for personal 3D printers in 2018 being an unprecedented 370,000 plus, the figure could represent a “single-to-double-digit drop” on the approximate 400,000 total clocked up in 2017.

Sales stalled due to limited crowd source project wins, the impact of tariffs on Chinese goods shipping to the US, shipment declines for market leaders, as well as a shift back to DIY/kit solutions which only hobbyists find attractive, he said.

 

ASL prints a cheque for ICA Digital

Posted on March 7, 2018 by - News

history-of-print-16th-century-printing-companyASL has acquired Surrey-based reseller ICA Digital in what is its ninth buy-out in as many years.

For those who came in late, ICA is a managed print services (MPS) reseller providing document management solutions to over 650 businesses in the south. It has been at it for 25 years.

ASL MD Mark Garius said  ICA was a strong business with a loyal customer base in the south of England and they it adds strength and depth to his outfit’s coverage in those areas.

“We have made this acquisition as part of our ongoing plans for growth and expansion, and we chose ICA carefully because of their fit with ASL – particularly their high standards and commitment to customer service.”

ICA’s Surrey office and staff will keep their jobs and its managing director, Simon Whapshott, will join the ASL board.

“ASL are looking at further acquisition opportunities as part of our plan to grow significantly over the coming years”, added Garius.

ASL claimed it now services 5,000 customers in East Anglia, the Midlands, London and the South of England.  It has offices in Cambridge, Great Yarmouth, Milton Keynes, Cannock, Bromsgrove, Central London, Basildon and Surrey.

Spandex gets Zünd reseller work

Posted on July 15, 2013 by - News

spandexZünd has appointed Spandex as the authorised UK reseller of its S3 and G3 range of wide-format flatbed cutters.

According to Print Week,  Spandex will work alongside Zünd’s UK-based subsidiary, whose headquarters in St Albans is home to both its UK service engineers and spare parts.

The move is an expansion for Spandex. It scored the deal as a reseller for SwissQPrint’s UV flatbed printers in November 2011 and apparently the way that worked caught Zünd’s interest.

Zünd UK sales director Peter Giddings said that SwissQprint was founded by former employees of Zünd’s printer division and the two companies, share a similar pedigree and policy.

Steve Pridham, Spandex UK specialist, said that the addition of Zünd’s cutters to its range of SwissQPrint UV flatbed printers would allow Spandex to supply “full turnkey solutions” to any UK digital print business.

Zund does have a few other US dealers that it uses too.

Inkjet market going the way of the Dodo

Posted on February 5, 2013 by - News, Products

Dodo-birdIt is starting to look like inkjets are going the way of the Dodo and the Rubik’s Cube.

Figures from Context show that all-in-one inkjet sales in the UK slid 11.8 percent by volume in 2012. That figure is better than the rest of the EU where all-in-one inkjet sales fell by 14 per cent.

Wireless versions of InkJets are doing slightly better because they are popular in homes and small offices because they can be located easily, connecting to multiple devices without cabling.

As you might expect, HP is still the leading vendor of wireless all-in-one inkjets, although Epson and Canon are doing a little better. However, the InkJet market has been looking shaky for a year.

In August Lexmark announced that it was pulling out of the market completely. Lexmark made its name on the “flog a cheap printer make your money back on the ink” model which was pioneered by HP. The fact that it left the market was seen as the beginning of the end. If Lexmark could kill off an entire business, unit sales numbers must have been dramatically bad.

Other companies have been seeing the writing on the wall for about three years. Consumer inkjet sales were proving so bad that it was better to try and flog the technology to corporate. Epson spent a fortune on its WorkForce high-end inkjets and did OK. HP, which has pitched its products to the business market for years, should have been doing fine too.

However, HP CEO Meg Whitman blamed part of the company’s recent and dismal earnings announcement as a steep decline in HP printer sales. She said that this lack of interest from consumers meant HP was going to de-emphasise products for lower-end customers. It seems business customers are no longer that interested either.

It is not quite so clear why the inkjet market has been so completely gutted. There have been moves to claim that the low end market and the consumer space have become completely paperless. Pictures which once would have been printed are now saved and shared across the net. Hard copy is less likely to be needed.

Some of that might be true, but the cost and quality of laser printing has also dropped. Cartridges require filling less often and are frequently cheaper than inkjets. Mostly it is because in the consumer market inkjet sales were tied to PC sales. Cheap inkjets were often sold as packages with PCs.

It also might indicate that there was a gradual realisation among consumers that inkjets really are a waste of cash in the long term. While the high-end inkjet technology was good, particularly for photographs, most of the great unwashed would not pay over £250 for a decent inkjet with all the sub-$100 models floating around. The cheap and nasty machines poisoned the market for the others.