Ah, the unexpected, unasked-for switch to the industrial market... The hail mary swan song of dying giants.
Has this ever worked out for anyone in AM? I think moving from consumer to professional or professional to industrial can work well, but going directly from consumer to industrial is too big a jump. It conflicts with the brand image (in the case of Flashforge 'cheery and consumer-friendly'), and also doesn't give enough trust to potential customers.
It's like buying a laptop from a toy shop... Even if it's cheaper than the competition and has the right specs on paper, people will not take it seriously, especially professionals.
But what do I know, they have the millions and million of dollars, not me.
It is a very interesting case. Most companies that grew out of the consumer sector failed when trying to enter serious manufacturing. In fact, the only successful case is Formlabs. Apart from that - Ultimaker, MakerBot (with Method), Zortrax (with Endureal) didn't make it.
On the other hand, someone like Flashforge might think that if Xiaomi managed to do it (from smartphones to electric cars), why wouldn't they?
I think we agree, but we're working with different categorisations 😄
In my head Ultimaker and Makerbot made a successful jump to professional, but never really tried industrial.
Formlabs first made a successful jump to professional, and then when they were established there, they arguably moved to the industrial market too with the Fuse.
But I say arguably, because higher end SLS makers like Prodways wouldn't consider the Fuse an industrial machine.
Ah, the unexpected, unasked-for switch to the industrial market... The hail mary swan song of dying giants.
Has this ever worked out for anyone in AM? I think moving from consumer to professional or professional to industrial can work well, but going directly from consumer to industrial is too big a jump. It conflicts with the brand image (in the case of Flashforge 'cheery and consumer-friendly'), and also doesn't give enough trust to potential customers.
It's like buying a laptop from a toy shop... Even if it's cheaper than the competition and has the right specs on paper, people will not take it seriously, especially professionals.
But what do I know, they have the millions and million of dollars, not me.
It is a very interesting case. Most companies that grew out of the consumer sector failed when trying to enter serious manufacturing. In fact, the only successful case is Formlabs. Apart from that - Ultimaker, MakerBot (with Method), Zortrax (with Endureal) didn't make it.
On the other hand, someone like Flashforge might think that if Xiaomi managed to do it (from smartphones to electric cars), why wouldn't they?
I think we agree, but we're working with different categorisations 😄
In my head Ultimaker and Makerbot made a successful jump to professional, but never really tried industrial.
Formlabs first made a successful jump to professional, and then when they were established there, they arguably moved to the industrial market too with the Fuse.
But I say arguably, because higher end SLS makers like Prodways wouldn't consider the Fuse an industrial machine.
thanks for the reply