It has been two years since Printed Strong joined the Prusa household. Prusa CEO Josef Prusa and David Randolph, the CEO of Printed Strong, thought it made sense to affix forces to enhance the supply of Unique Prusa printers and filaments within the USA. They started with instructional, authorities, and enterprise contracts, leveraging David’s in depth expertise in these fields. Over time, the group, premises, product vary, and buyer base at Printed Strong have grown considerably. Printed Strong will now function as a US-based manufacturing facility for Prusa 3D printers.
Prusa Analysis shouldn’t be the primary European firm to make the transfer throughout the Atlantic. Whilst Shapeways – one of many first to make the transfer throughout the Atlantic (from the Netherlands) simply declared chapter, others like SLM Options simply introduced a USA-based manufacturing facility seeking to leverage the US’ typically a lot friendlier ecosystem for younger firms and likewise the potential to entry protection contracts. The US remains to be a really aggressive market however one which can also be very joyful to welcome producers to reshore (or on this case simply to “shore”) manufacturing and manufacturing jobs.
Printed Strong’s as soon as modest premises in Newark, Delaware, are actually bustling with exercise, that includes new areas for filament manufacturing strains, a print farm, a service space, and the newest additions: model new high-speed Prusament strains and workstations for assembling Unique Prusa MK4 printers. The objective is to change into the biggest producer of 3D printers and filaments within the USA inside a yr.
PR(int) USA
Within the early days, when the Prusa Mendel was the newest addition to RepRap, most interactions with the group have been by way of IRC chat. Then, after studying concerning the Maker Faire, Josef determined to attend, assembly many like-minded people for the primary time. Apparently, many individuals thought “Prusa” was quick for “Print USA,” which made numerous sense from an outsider’s perspective.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t till 2021/2022 that increasing abroad grew to become a severe consideration. The USA market is a significant marketplace for Prusa, prompting the seek for methods to streamline operations. Round 30 individuals are working within the American facility, with plans to create extra job alternatives within the USA quickly. The strategy is to keep up an affordable development fee, guaranteeing high quality and experience stay excessive. For example, regardless of an expanded group and product portfolio, Prusa’s tech help remains to be extremely praised. The corporate prefers a steadier, individualized strategy to onboarding, avoiding the pitfalls of fast, large-scale hiring.
European tech welcome
The identical ideas are utilized to manufacturing. Reasonably than outsourcing to satisfy excessive demand, Prusa expanded its manufacturing facility in Prague, sustaining high quality requirements. This strategy is now mirrored at Printed Strong.
Unique Prusa MK4 3D printers shall be assembled in Delaware with the identical ability, precision, and instruments as in Prague. All workbenches and testing instruments are similar, guaranteeing the identical degree of high quality for machines assembled within the USA. Moreover, efforts are underway to incorporate native American part suppliers.
Subsequent is Prusament manufacturing. With years of expertise making Jessie filaments, David and his group have the identical filament extrusion strains as these in Prague, down to each tiny tweak and alter. They may manufacture Prusament utilizing the similar manufacturing course of and high quality requirements acquainted to Prusa prospects.
Lastly, the official Prusa Analysis restore middle is increasing at Printed Strong, offering professional providers for Prusa 3D printers instantly in the USA.
