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Time to go international?  

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MKEMike
(@mkemike)
Eminent Member
Time to go international?

    I just read Josef's 2019 recap and all I can say is WOW!  450 employees, Over 68,000 printers and 180,000 spools of filament.  Those are great numbers.  So it got me thinking.  As Prusa Research is growing, could adding some production capability and marketing in the US help with their bottom line?  If one of the goals of commercial 3d printing is to bring production closer to consumption, why not start with 3d printers themselves. 

    Here is how Prusa Research could do just that:  Look at how many of which of their products are ordered the most in North and South America and start producing as much of them as possible in the US.  Cutting down on shipping times, costs,  and perceived hassle of ordering from "overseas" would increase North American sales dramatically.  I'm thinking starting slowly maybe with a single line to make filament, a small print farm, and assembly and testing departments.  Then either add the metal parts fabrication in house, or contract that out if quality can be maintained.  Import the electronics, motors, and other purchased parts from the current suppliers.  Add local customer service and marketing only when and if it makes sense.  The US Midwest is flush with vacant medium to large industrial buildings with affordable rent if you look hard enough.  We're also finally turning out tons of "light blue collar" workers from our high schools, tech schools, and colleges again.  These are the kids that can code, run a mill, and provide technical support.  I mentor a number of them in my local schools' FIRST Robotics teams, and they're phenomenal.

   It would also really open up the US educational market, which is currently dominated by the inferior and over-priced Dremels and Makerbots, purely because they're recognized "American" names.  Every time I bring up Prusa printers to schools, all I hear is "if it breaks, I'll never be able to get parts all the way from Prague", "I'll have to call for support at midnight our time", etc. etc.  Of course we know this is not accurate, but that is the perception.  And this is when you can buy 2 - 5 Prusas (Mk3's or Mini's) to 1 of the competitors.  That is the key, because making kids line up to submit a print to one of the two printers in a lab, and school's "having" to buy proprietary filament at 2-3 times the cost of Prusament means there is never enough time or budget to get past keychains and refrigerator magnets for projects.  Then the kids lose interest, because they can't actually print the cool things that they can design.

    Now here's the part where I say I'm just a gear-head and not a business guy.   What do you guys think?

Posted : 21/01/2020 12:18 am
Nikolai
(@nikolai)
Noble Member
RE: Time to go international?

Hi Boris. This is a forum from users to users. Everybody who is located in NA would love to see either a branch in north america or at least shipping from NA. This was already mentioned in couple of threads. Maybe PR will make the step some day. So far I see them only expanding in CZ. 

Often linked posts:
Going small with MMU2
Real Multi Material
My prints on Instagram

Posted : 21/01/2020 8:24 am
MKEMike
(@mkemike)
Eminent Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Time to go international?

Hi Nikolai,

   I understand that this is a user-to-user forum.  I'm just throwing this idea out there for discussion, not trying to  make a specific recommendation to PR.  I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of  the business side of 3d printers is only about the same as the average hobbyist that helps out in his local schools.

   While I am from the US, my logic for proposing North America for expansion is because North America looks to be largest concentration of orders more than a couple days shipping time away from PR headquarters in Prague.   This view is from looking at the word map of Prusa users and the waiting list spreadsheet for Mini's here on PrusaPrinters.org, 

 

 

Posted : 21/01/2020 4:26 pm
gruagach
(@gruagach)
Eminent Member
RE: Time to go international?

@boriswernerski

It would make sense only if they could expand to the US without gutting their production line in Prague, which is a huge source of pride to them (understandably so IMHO).   Investing printer production in the US is unlikely to produce a large enough increase in sales to justify the cost, however production of Parusament might be an altogether different story.  They keep having to expand their existing line and will likely need to source new production facilities if demand continues to rise.  Localized production might make sense in this case.

Posted : 28/01/2020 1:09 pm
kinlawjason16
(@kinlawjason16)
New Member
RE: Time to go international?
Posted by: @boriswernerski

Hi Nikolai,

   I understand that this is a user-to-user forum.  I'm just throwing this idea out there for discussion, not trying to  make a specific recommendation to PR.  I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of  the business side of 3d printers is only about the same as the average hobbyist that helps out in his local schools.

   While I am from the US, my logic for proposing North America for expansion is because North America looks to be largest concentration of orders more than a couple days shipping time away from PR headquarters in Prague.   This view is from looking at the word map of Prusa users and the waiting list spreadsheet for Mini's here on PrusaPrinters.org, 

 

 

Thanks for sharing such an amazing Blog.

Myfedloan
Posted : 18/02/2020 10:30 am
towlerg
(@towlerg)
Noble Member
RE: Time to go international?

There is a Canadian outfit that sells real Mk3s and carries a bunch of spares.

Posted : 18/02/2020 12:22 pm
Colin Alston
(@colin-alston)
Active Member
RE: Time to go international?

There is something curious about the Prusa business model. If their goal was just to crank out printers they could easily just outsource their components for injection molding which would probably be much cheaper. 

I think there is a point to not doing this, faster R&D iteration and evolution of the product is the kind of spin I’d put on it if I had to explain it to an investor. But I get the feeling there is more to it in terms of whatever Joes vision is for his business. For one thing proving that 3D printer farms can be a viable production technique builds on the products own value in a self fulfilling prophecy kind of way.

Only he knows, but I’d be very surprised if people hadn’t already tried to court his business with partnerships and distribution offers and been turned down.

This post was modified 4 years ago by Colin Alston
Posted : 19/02/2020 9:29 pm
towlerg
(@towlerg)
Noble Member
RE: Time to go international?

@colin-alston

Your comment accepted, but injection molds cost plenty as does modifying them. Also print farm is great test bed.

This post was modified 4 years ago by towlerg
Posted : 20/02/2020 2:56 pm
Colin Alston
(@colin-alston)
Active Member
RE: Time to go international?

@towlerg

Yes that was my point.

Posted : 20/02/2020 3:06 pm
johndave010
(@johndave010)
Member
RE:

Nice Post,

Thanks for sharing this useful information with us

This post was modified 10 months ago by johndave010
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