3D-Fuel has found a way to reduce their filament pricing.
This is quite astonishing, as we now live in a world of unpredictable tariffs, rising inflation, product shortages and other crises too severe and numerous to mention.
3D-Fuel explains:
“Over the past year, we’ve invested in expanding our production capacity and optimizing our extrusion processes – and now, we’re passing those savings directly on to you.
We’re proud to announce new, lower standard pricing on our most popular materials:
Standard PLA+ (13.2% lower)
Tough Pro PLA+ (5.6% lower)
Pro PETG (17.0% lower)
Pro PCTG (24.9% lower)”
I’m particularly interested in the lower PCTG price. PCTG is a relatively unknown material in the 3D print world, but it is quite incredible. It’s as easy to print as PLA, yet it provides far more strength, thermal resistance and chemical resistance. It’s ideal for all kinds of applications, and 3D printer operators should be using it a lot more. The price decrease here should help that happen.
I wondered how 3D-Fuel was able to reduce prices so substantially. In their press release, they say:
“With the addition of new extrusion lines and continuous upgrades to our production systems, we’ve dramatically increased our throughput while improving energy efficiency and process control.”
I reached to 3D-Fuel’s John Schneider to find out more. He explained that they’ve increased the number of production lines due to sales growth — although he wouldn’t tell me how many they currently operate. This allows them to operate the equipment on a higher economy of scale, which contributes to the price drop. They are also able to obtain raw materials at good costs due to the expanded operations.
However, Schneider also said that a notable portion of the savings is also due to “supply chain optimizations and process improvements.” These include changes such as a lower cost spool, process automations and more. They have been able to expand production operations without adding any additional headcount, apparently.
Costs don’t have to go up, at least if you’re able to optimize the business. That seems to be what 3D-Fuel is doing.
Via 3D-Fuel
