Tuesday, September 23, 2014
The UPS Store Expands 3D Printing Across the U.S.
UPS: Press Release: Following the successful launch of 3D print in six markets across the country, The UPS Store® is expanding 3D printing services to meet the growing demands of its small business customers to nearly 100 additional locations nationwide.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
I can see why the demand for 3D printing is so high, as of right now, it is a new technology that allows for people to create almost everything out of anything. Being a hot new commodity, of course UPS - one of the largest networked companies in the nation (world?) - would want to utilize its popularity to make money. My main concern, however, is what is going to happen when 3D printing is no longer the new thing in technology. Will UPS lose a bunch of money? How soon could this disinterest manifest the populous?
More and more companies are embracing 3-d printing technology and making it more available to the every day consumer. Recently Home Depot started selling consumer grade 3-d printers which I think is a great business move. Making technology like this more available is only a good move. In this case UPS is making professional grade printers available which is even better. If inventors and makers have access to higher quality printers it means the things they will be making are going to be better. The only thing missing from this article is the mention of price and how much printing costs. Since they are expanding I would guess they are low enough for people to want to use the service. It'll be interesting when other companies start offering comparable and competitive services. This kind of competition can only be good for 3-d printing in general by lowering cost and raising quality.
My immediate thoughts when I was reading this article was how awesome it is that UPS stores are providing high quality 3D printing access to the general public, but I immediately started wondering how much it would cost to print. And while it is really cool that they are putting them in 100 offices nation-wide, thats only 2 per state- and they have 4,400 locations total. It makes me wonder how they are going to off-set the start up price without making each printing super expansive.
I had no idea that UPS had begun a 3D printing and to know that it is supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs is great to know. I know that UPS has been a long time supporter of startups and logistics so it's awesome that they are willing to publicize a fairly private tool. I think it's interesting how Kim asked if UPS will lose money on this initiative on this project. I think to them it is more of the fact that they want to take the company in this new direction, regardless of it does well. They are taking the first step in making it a readily available, affordable tool.
I think it's great that UPS is starting to offer this service (although it would be nice to get some pricing/availability information). I'm sure there are many businesses that would be greatly benefited by having access to a quality printer, but don't have frequent enough needs to be able to justify buying a high-quality one of their own. However, I am surprised that the first business I've heard of doing this is UPS. UPS to me has always represented purely shipping, and while 3D printing is cool it doesn't seem to have much to do with that business model. I would have expected a company like Home Depot, Staples, or even FedEx (since they seem to be more focused on printing as well as shipping) to be the first to start offering this type of technology.
Like Sarah, I am also surprised UPS is the first to take on 3D printing. I am sure it wont be long before companies like FedEx and Staples jump on the bandwagon. 3D printing is a really cool technology that is now being sold on a consumer level. Recently, when I visited my local Microsoft store, I noticed they were selling a 3D printer. While this shouldn't have surprised me, it totally did. While Microsoft may sell their products on a large scale to big companies, I cannot see any companies who use Microsoft buying a 3D printer for their offices. I cannot imagine big corporate companies would have much use out of having their own 3D printer. In addition, I cannot see customers buying Microsoft's 3D printer for their homes. This is exactly why UPS is being very smart in offering 3D printing services in their stores. On a consumer level, many people may want to 3D print, but they probably do not want to make an investment in a 3D printer. UPS is making a great investment in offering 3D printing in their stores.
I guess I was wrong when I was skeptical about the success of 3D printers in a more public environment. I wasn't sure that people would have that vast of a knowledge of CAD programs, but it seems as though I've been proven wrong. There must be many more makers out there. The fact that engineering is such a large career option must also help with people's knowledge of CAD. I'm curious to see how other online 3D printers will compete with this new change.
It is so smart for UPS to get in the game as a provider of 3D printing because there is such an excitement over this relatively new technology, without much accessibility for it. I'm honestly surprised that Staples, or any other major printing services didn't catch onto this idea earlier as it truly is a great marketing scheme that will provide artists and inventors interested in this technology accessibility to it with lower costs. I personally always wanted to be able to utilize 3D printing, but with the extremely high costs for a good one, I'm very excited to hear that UPS is coming up with an alternative. Although they are expanding to 100 locations, I think this expansion is too small, and would do much better on a larger scale with more advertising and promotion. Better yet, as one of the biggest shipping companies in the U.S. the UPS should develop a service where you submit your 3D renderings online and pay to have them printed out and shipped to your door. While I think it will be some time before the full potential of this resource is realized and used, this push for accessible 3D printing is definitely a step in the right direction.
I didn't know UPS was doing this, but it makes sense. The demand for 3D printing is going up and up. From rapid prototyping to making unique or infrequently used parts, 3D printing is a great solution. I haven't looked up how much it costs, so I wonder how much they charge per print and what their metric is. I would also assume FedExKinkos will be adding soon too, since this is just another printing service. I think this will ultimately be successful, but only time will tell.
I think that it is great, that 3-D printing has become so popular with everyday consumers that UPS has chosen to make them more available. I think that in the past we have seen people do some amazing things with 3-D printing and increasing their availability will only make it more possible for people to come up with new and innovative uses for them. It is also great for people using 3-D printing for professional reasons, as it gives them greater access to the equipment they need. I do wonder how practically the use of these printers will be priced and how that will affect how great an impact they have on the community.
UPS is expanding 3D printing services to all over the country! Great. So what does that mean for us.
Nothing, I don’t really think. Any theatre that really needs 3D parts printed, probably has the means to buy a 3D printer. Maybe I’m wrong, but it just seems like this is an expensive endeavor for UPS to undertake, and I don’t really know who the new market will serve. It’s certainly not going to be entertainment.
Outside of the maker community, what real purpose does 3D printing serve at this point in the evolution of the technology? We use it occasionally for “rapid” prototyping, but most things that I would 3D print I could make in the shop almost, if not as, fast.
I think that this is a great idea, because it makes 3D printing more accessible to more people. Regardless of how much planning and PR work they do it will be interesting to see how many people that are going to be using this. In order to print something on a 3D print you have to know the process of how to make the file that can be printed. Also how will UPS be able to make the 3D printing process cheaper so that people can do it in a way that they are not going to loose a lot of money. If it works I will defiantly use the service.
Post a Comment