Having shipped more than a quarter of a million 3D printers worldwide, UltiMaker is embarking on a decisive strategic shift. The Dutch company, renowned for its versatility and the quality of its FDM printers for education and prototyping, now intends to establish itself as a major player in two sectors with high technical requirements: defence and manufacturing. The UltiMaker S6, the brand’s latest model, has been designed to meet the requirements of these highly technical markets. The company’s new direction is supported in Europe by Andy Middleton, recently recruited as Senior Vice President for the EMEA region.
With almost twenty years’ experience in the additive manufacturing sector, Andy Middleton has a proven track record at Hewlett Packard, Stratasys and XJet. His track record, marked by commercial expansion and the adoption of additive manufacturing in new industrial segments, makes him the right man for the job to support this move upmarket.
An open source philosophy
UltiMaker’s strategy is based on several pillars. Firstly, to capitalise on the robustness of the hardware with reliable, field-proven printers that are compatible with a wide range of materials. Andy Middleton insists that UltiMaker remains faithful to an open source philosophy when it comes to materials, refusing to restrict its users to proprietary filaments. “Our core competence is hardware – it works with an open source for materials. We do not lock our machines in terms of materials,” he explains. The open system of the new S6 model allows the use of materials reinforced with carbon fibre or nylon, prized for their thermal and mechanical resistance properties, while remaining accessible and easy to integrate into existing production lines. The brand intends to consolidate its reputation for reliability while establishing itself as a benchmark in the 3D printing of final parts in composite materials.
Andy Middleton sums up the challenge: “We want to increase the proportion of premium materials used.” The decision to invest in technical materials reflects the brand’s desire to move beyond the traditional 3D printing sectors and into the heart of production.
This differentiating positioning is particularly attractive to the defence and industrial sectors, where the flexibility of materials is key to meeting mechanical, thermal and abrasion resistance constraints.
UltiMaker’s aim is not only to strengthen its growth, but also to secure its place in a fast-changing market, where local production and the resilience of supply chains are becoming strategic imperatives.
In the military sector, this strategy is already bearing fruit. Ultimaker now equips the French army, the Swedish armed forces and the US navy and air force, with several hundred systems deployed. The ability to print spare parts on site, even in demanding operational environments, is becoming a major strategic asset. In particular, the brand’s FDM printers make it possible to overcome supply disruptions by producing parts locally for older equipment whose components are no longer available. In addition to maintenance, UltiMaker supports the development of customised solutions for field operations, including the manufacture of drones and specific tactical devices.
In industry, the success is just as tangible. “Heineken, for example, uses Ultimaker printers in 70 of its 200 production sites around the world to reproduce parts in reinforced nylon or carbon fibre,” explains Andy Middleton, emphasising that these applications involve parts intended not for prototyping but for direct production: “For UltiMaker, composite materials are not prototypes for production but lines’, he notes, citing the example of BMW, which deploys hundreds of UltiMaker printers in its factories to produce robust final parts used in production or maintenance.
Composite materials at the heart of the strategy
The UltiMaker S6 has therefore been designed to meet the requirements of these cutting-edge applications. In terms of materials, the S6 accepts more than 300 types of filament thanks to its open source approach, from standard polymers to carbon fibre- or nylon-reinforced composites. The 3D printer inherits the versatility of the S5, but introduces innovations such as the Cheetah motion planner, a flexible platen, a dual extrusion system and improved calibration. The Cheetah motion planner optimises movement and reduces print times, while guaranteeing accurate trajectories. The heated flexible table makes it easier to remove parts and extends the range of manufacturing options. Capable of speeds of up to 500 mm/s, it quadruples productivity compared with the previous generation.
The fused filament deposition (FDM) technology is based on dual extrusion with automatic nozzle change, flood detection and inductive probing.
Capable of reaching a nozzle temperature of 300°C and a platen temperature of 140°C, the printer features a closed printing chamber to maintain a constant temperature.
It is produced in the Netherlands to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards.
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