BEEVERYCREATIVE seems to be taking steps to transform their market direction.
The Portugal-based company launched in 2013, just before the peak of the desktop 3D printing craze. At the time it was considered one of the more interesting options for hobbyists and educators. Its curious open design was radical at the time, when other machines were typically minimalist mechanical frames offering little visual appeal.
But then things changed. The shine of desktop 3D printing future potential faded, and as a result many desktop 3D printing companies failed – or shifted their directions toward other markets. While some manufacturers focused on the education market, others focused on what we call the professionals market, composed of industrial designers, engineers and architects. It’s a profitable market that has enabled many companies to survive and expand.
We’ve noticed a couple of things recently undertaken by BEEVERYCREATIVE to join this shift in focus. The company has been focusing on the education market, but it may be they’re working on another strategy to get into the professional market as well.
First, we saw a prototype of an array-based system that could in theory provide a near-continuous supply of 3D printed parts. They’re using software called “ProdSmart” to coordinate manufacturing activities, where the BEE machine is just another manufacturing machine.
Now, we hear that BEEVERYCREATIVE has teamed with two other companies to deploy what they’re calling “i-Experience Centers 4.0” in Portugal. Their partners are no less than Siemens, one of the leading manufacturing software providers CadFlow, one of their representatives in Portugal.
The purpose of these centers is to increase the awareness and understanding of Industry 4.0 concepts. This initiative proposes a deep integration of digital capabilities directly into manufacturing processes to enable speed, quality and efficiency benefits.
It can be a big step for many manufacturers to understand, and thus explains the need for these centers. BEEVERYCREATIVE explains:
The i-Experience Centers 4.0 are experimentation centers created to promote Industry 4.0 projects in Portugal. These centers represent the integration of a large industrial process, from drawing to production, and will connect and promote differentiation initiatives to modernize the industry.
These centers will be open to companies, start-ups and universities, amongst others, and all the equipment will be accessible to anyone who wants to experiment with it.
I think this is a very good project that should provide considerable benefit to those who participate. While this particular project seems to be limited to Portugal, there is no reason similar efforts could not be undertaken everywhere.
Via BEEVERYCREATIVE
