A German startup company has a unique method of delivering 3D print services: by subscription.
There are plenty of 3D print services available today, both global and regional. There are very different business models, ranging from large factories containing multiple 3D printers to virtual networks of independently operated machines.
However, they tend to operate on a transactional basis: you want this printed, you get this price. Most services have extensively developed quoting systems to account for the variability of incoming requests.
There are even meta-services that sit above all these service options and help you shop between them to find the lowest price.
3Dock is doing it quite differently. Instead of providing quotes on each incoming print request, they instead simply offer a flat-rate subscription to their services. As long as you stay within the limits of the subscription, you are good to go.
The pricing is tiered, as you might guess, and the capabilities vary by printing process, material options, storage, material quantity, and shipping.
The lowest subscription is €400 (US$412) per month, which gets you 2kg of FFF printing per month with common materials and two-week shipping. At the other end of the scale, we have their “XL PRO” subscription tier, which costs €3300 (US$3400) per month. At that level, you receive a 5kg material quota, 10GB storage, FFF, and SLA printing in a wider variety of materials, including certain engineering materials.
There’s more than just print services available, according to 3Dock’s CEO, Santiago Ferrer:
”This newly launched platform is designed to streamline projects and support teams at every stage of the process, from conceptual design to final production. Companies can upload their CAD files, select suitable materials, and monitor their print jobs in real time. Beyond these core features, optional services such as design consulting and engineering support are also available. Rather than merely acting as a technology provider, 3Dock positions itself as a strategic partner, assisting businesses in exploring innovative product development pathways.”
One other factor that varies between tiers is the number of users, and that’s really what the subscription is all about. It’s targeted at low-use organizations that only occasionally need 3D prints made. These organizations would not have sufficient print usage to justify acquiring their own equipment and training their staff, making a service much more attractive. It’s also possible that the organization may not have technical staff capable of dealing with their own 3D printers.
The typical set-up would be a small business where everyone is aware that there is a company subscription available to make prints, and they’d use it when necessary. It would be much like buying a fancy 2D printer for the office, except it’s offsite.
This approach is quite different, but will it work in a business sense? It’s hard to know how many organizations would be in this niche, but it’s likely that 3Dock has done their homework to quantify the market potential.
I’m interested to see how this venture proceeds. It may be that they’ve unlocked a new zone of users for 3D printing that haven’t been able to participate in the past.
Via 3Dock (German)
