Crowdsourced 3D printing network 3D Hubs achieved a major milestone this week by accepting their 5,000th location. But there’s more to it than mere numbers.
The company said it now has 5,000 locations in more than 80 countries around the globe. Their research says that within 16Km (10 miles) of their sites are 750 million people. That’s about 10% of our world’s population – who now have access to 3D printing.
The concept of 3D Hubs is local delivery of 3D prints by local 3D printer operators. Their goal is to enable service to as many people as possible, and it seems they’re getting there.
While it will certainly be notable when 3D Hubs passes future milestones, such as accessibility to one billion people, or sites in all countries (except North Korea, of course), we’re wondering how this very large network can be leveraged with various value add services. Services that may not make sense for a small network can suddenly become viable when scale is achieved. One can imagine such services as automated massively parallel printing for pseudo-manufacturing, or more.
Congratulations to 3D Hubs!
Via 3D Hubs