Australia-based Aurora Labs announced an interesting deal that should provide them with a significant boost.
The company is the designer of a very intriguing 3D metal printer that we took a look at some months ago. This design incorporates a way to dynamically mix up to three different metal powders in mid-print, enabling you to have different alloys in different layers of the print.
As interesting as that is, Aurora Labs is still a relatively small player in the growing 3D metal printing market. The space is currently occupied with a number of long term players and most notably General Electric, who own TWO 3D metal printer manufacturers and untold numbers of 3D metal printers in their global operations. Oh yeah, and HP is set to enter the 3D metal printing market eventually, too.
What’s a smaller startup to do?
In the case of Aurora Labs, they’ve signed an interesting deal with WorleyParsons, an Australian engineering firm, to do two things. First, they are apparently setting up a service center, through which they will be able to provide 3D printed metal parts to clients who are still experimenting with the concept and don’t want to commit to buying a machine outright.
This is a very good strategy as their initial clients might eventually become machine buyers later. And as this operation is located in Australia, it will serve that region well due to shipping costs.
The second strategy is to have WorleyParsons actually become a distributor of Aurora Labs’ equipment. This is a fantastic move as an established firm like WorleyParsons (began in 1971) would certainly have a large number of clients, many of which could use such technology or services. It’s a way for the startup to gain access to a very large client base.
Finally, the parties also agreed to work on sources for bulk metal powder production, which is another profitable business in the 3D metal printing space.
This is all very good news for Aurora Labs, and demonstrates the steps one must take to keep up with the big guys.
Via Aurora Labs
