By Yoon Sung-won
DALLAS ― Sindoh, Korea's leading office replicator maker, said Tuesday it will expand its presence in the consumer three-dimensional (3D) printing market by launching easier-to-use printers.
At the global 3D design and engineering conference SOLIDWORKS World 2016, the company launched its 3D printer named 3Dwox DP200 globally through Amazon, aiming at individual users and educators.
"For ordinary users, most 3D printers available in the market are not easy use," Sindoh's strategic business development general manager Thomas Kim said in an interview during the SOLIDWORKS World 2016 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Tuesday.
"Sindoh's 3D printer supports plug-and-play and has been design to be easy to set up and use for those without professional knowledge."
Kim said the company has adopted concepts of 2D printers to 3D printers to make them ea sier to use. Unlike other 3D printers, which users have to manually supply printing material called filament to their nozzle, Sindoh's product is automatically set up, once a cartridge package is inserted.
Sindoh also stressed that the 3Dwox is the world's first 3D printer that is integrated with the 3D design software SOLIDWORKS, which has more than 5 million active daily users worldwide.
"Before the 3Dwox, SOLIDWORKS users had to convert their design into a different type of file compatible with certain 3D printers because the device does not support universal computer-aided design (CAD) software," he said.
As the 3Dwox is fully compatible with SOLIDWORKS, users can directly print the item they designed using the CAD software, monitor the printing progress using the camera in the printer and check the residual quantity of the filament.
Kim said Sindoh has used SOLIDWORKS to design its 2D printing devices s ince 1996 and sought for a bigger partnership with CAD software vendors to diversify its business to the 3D printing sector.
"Though the 2D printing sector is the largest income source for us, the market has already been saturated and the world is becoming increasingly paperless after smartphones and tablet computers," Kim said. "We have sought for a breakthrough in the 3D printing business."
The company said it will concentrate on entry-class consumers rather than rushing to expand to expensive industrial models. Kim said the company first aims at customers in the United States and Europe, which hold the largest 3D printer markets, and will widen the target to other regions such as China.
Sindoh said it will boost price competitiveness and make their 3D printers easier to use to survive in the market.
"We understand that the 3D printer market is already starting to become saturated as major businesses world wide are making heavy investments in this technology," Kim said. "But we have strong price competitiveness as we share many common parts for both 2D and 3D printers. We will also upgrade our printers to support cloud-based remote printing functions to make them more convenient to use."
