UltiMaker Reveals its Brand Transformation Since Merger

Last year, the entire additive manufacturing community was taken by surprise when Ultimaker and MakerBot, two leaders in the industry, announced that they would be merging. Though unexpected, the move was a continuation of a wider trend we have been seeing for greater consolidation in a healthy 3D printing market as major companies are working together more than ever to combine their strengths to give superior offerings for communities. Something that is especially important as AM continues to industrialize. Now, the brand has officially announced its new strategic vision to drive adoption of desktop 3D printing solutions.

As mentioned, consolidation is a growing trend in additive manufacturing. Over the past year or so, we have seen more and more acquisitions and mergers as providers seek to deliver increasingly better solutions to users. And though many of these moves are between companies offering different kinds of products in order to provide a more complete solution, for example material or software providers working with 3D printer manufacturers, Ultimaker and MakerBot were already known for their end-to-end solutions. As such, what they are focusing on with this move is continuing to grow adoption in the desktop 3D printing market as well as combining strengths as they continue to build their 3D printing ecosystem, allowing for even more applications. This is perhaps not surprising either when you consider the size of the market itself. Grand View Research announced last year that the market was valued at 2.69B in 2022 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21%, reaching $12.39B in 2030.

Under the new brand vision, UltiMaker will gear its printers (with the Method, S and SKETCH ranges shown here) towards specific markets (photo credits: UltiMaker)

What’s New With UltiMaker?

Beyond the name change (combining the Ulti from Ultimaker and the Maker from MakerBot), there will be a few differences coming from the new UltiMaker now that the brand has officially been established. First, under the UltiMaker brand, the company will be focusing on manufacturing through the S and Method series 3D printers. Professional 3D printing will be key here, notably through the S series as it will allow for a wider variety of materials, while the Method series is more suitable for specific manufacturing applications that need strict requirements such as a heated chamber or the use of specialist thermoplastics. Though this will not actually change much for the average user, it is a move that hopes to continue to solidify the UltiMaker name in the manufacturing field.