Carbon has finally added third-party sales to its arsenal, as it looks to expand its presence in Europe – announcing strategic partnerships with Italy’s Selltek, and Solid Print3D in the UK.
Solid Print3D will initially be able to offer the Carbon M2 3D printers, partnering wash stations, as well as the recently launched Design Engine software for lattices.
Carbon cites Europe as a key market for 3D printing, quoting research by Wohlers Associates that says 29.2% of industrial additive manufacturing systems are installed on the continent.
“We’ve identified customer demand for our 3D printing innovations that provide unique advantages over design and manufacturing processes currently available,” said carbon CEO Ellen Kullman.
“Solid Print3D and Selltek are strategic partners that will support our go-to-market strategy while bringing a level of regional expertise to support customers on their journey to make better products in less time.”
Carbon’s new approach to take up a greater share of this sector looks to the tried and tested reseller model, with Solid Print3D already offering a full gamut of product development technologies – Its sister company Solid Solutions is already one of the country’s largest CAD resellers, while it stocks several brands of 3D scanners, desktop 3D printers, and industrial FDM and Markforged metal systems.
The addition of Carbon is another step in what Solid Print3D is able to offer its clients, says managing director Neil Sewell.
“We’ve got 600 [3D Printers] out there right now, and we need to be going back to those customers and helping them to the next level, and the next rung on their journey,” said Sewell.
“You can see the benefits now [of 3D printing] starting with your prototyping, and maybe a little bit of production parts – now lets have a conversation about what’s really possible with additive for production.”
With Solid Print3D already servicing a wide variety of design and engineering verticals across the UK, through both software and hardware, it seems likely that the move by Carbon will help it gain a better foothold among the nation’s thousands of SMEs.
The partnership with Carbon arrives at at a time where Solid Print3D clearly has further plans to develop its offering and help its customers expand into additive manufacturing at volume.
