3D-Fuel is dropping prices, again.
The North Dakota company is pretty unique in today’s world, where it seems that every price goes up the next time you check.
What exactly did they do? Well, the company produces 3D printer filament with four product lines: Standard PLA+, Pro PETG, Tough Pro PLA+ and Pro PCTG. They are also one of the very few manufacturers of PCTG filament, which is a kind of “super PETG” that more people should try.
This week they announced that each of these four product lines would have “permanently” lowered pricing. Here’s the specific changes:
- Standard PLA+ from US$25.95 to US$22.95 (-12%)
- Pro PETG from US$28.95 to US$24.95 (-14%)
- Tough Pro PLA+ US$32.95 to US$28.95 (-12%)
- Pro PCTG US$29.95 to US$28.95 (-3%)
3D-Fuel was explicit in explaining that these are permanent price changes, not a mere temporary discount or sale. They write:
“Cuts come from added production capacity, including new high-speed extrusion lines and automated winders, not from changes to its materials.”
CEO John Schneider explained:
“We’ve been telling our customers for a long time that we wanted to expand production so we could bring prices down, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. It’s the same material formulations. We haven’t switched colorant suppliers, and we’re not adding mineral filler to cut raw material costs. If you’ve printed with our filament before, it prints the same now. Your dollar just goes a lot further.”
They are also providing significant volume discounts, ranging from 5% off when buying five spools, all the way up to a massive 30% discount when buying 1000 spools.
We visited the company a couple of years ago when they had set up their initial production line, and it seems that since then they’ve added more lines. That scales up the production and introduces new economies. No doubt they are able to purchase input materials at even lower price points, and optimize labor costs over the new equipment, all of which has cascaded down to their product unit prices.
A reduction in prices is a rare thing these days in any industry, but here it is quite notable and deserves a mention.
If only the other manufacturers would do the same.
Via 3D-Fuel
