MakerBot 3D Printers Enable SMBs, Designers to Make the Future, Now

by Michelle Maisto

MakerBot’s young, T-shirt-wearing staff makes the workroom of its new Brooklyn factory—which still smells of fresh paint—seem like the greatest-ever high-school science team production. The factory employs approximately 100 people.

In one particularly colorful corner, products—offering a sense of what’s possible—are made for the MakerBot retail store. The orange, white, green and yellow pieces on top of the printer in the foreground are called “corner mounts” and are included with each printer. They help secure the machines during shipment, but also add a bit of joy—purchasers receive not just a printer but something already printed.

The colorful spools are the filament that’s fed into the printers. MakerBot also sells the filament. Spools of ABS, a thermoplastic made from corn, sell for $48. Spools of water-soluble PVA are $90. Like the rest of MakerBot, the filament is made in the United States.

The “Mix Tape” in the background is a working MP3 player.

The factory floor is divided into sections. Everyone who works at the factory starts here, in subassembly, getting a bottom-to-top understanding of the printers. Pettis, who considered moving production to Asia, said he loves that every printer is made in Brooklyn, “by people who take pride in their work.”

The LED lights inside the printers serve the practical purpose of enabling users to clearly see the printing process. But, like the corner mounts, they also add a bit of fun, lighting the stage, as it were. Each printing run “is like a little theatrical experience,” said General Manager James Gunipero.

In another area, application reliability and filament feed life are tested. “If you have a camera, how many times does it click before it stops clicking? That’s the kind of information we want [about the printers],” said Gunipero.

MakerBot won’t say how many printers it ships a day. “But you can say we can’t keep up with demand,” said a spokesperson.

“The MakerBot factory is a factory that makes small factories,” said Pettis, during a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Every box that we ship out of here is a bundle of potential energy that has the potential to change the world, to shift the world in a direction where it’s more creative, people are more empowered and the world is better.”

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and a representative from Mayor Bloomberg’s office were on hand to help cut the ribbon—using scissors made by MakerBot, of course. “What I do know is this is the future,” said Markowitz. “The world is changing, and [MakerBot] represents where the world is going.”

During the event, a tropical storm lashed at the factory, which is on a gritty Western edge of Brooklyn. Zoning wasn’t an issue, since the new factory is in what was an empty factory building. “This is not just the future of manufacturing, but the future of New York City’s economy,” said Bloomberg’s representative. “New York City is on its way to becoming the No. 1 technology city in the world.”

Pettis said that for tinkerers, who are people who like to go to hardware stores, MakerBot is a “holy grail.” His favorite inventions are the RoboHand—an inexpensive prosthetic—and an adapter that makes it possible to connect Brio’s train track toys with Lego Duplo bricks. Both are on MakerBot’s Thingiverse site, where inventors share their designs.

Pettis dismissed a question about where the market will be in five years, saying that MakerBot is launching its 3D scanner later this year. “And then it’s game on,” he grinned. “You want to know where your industry will be in five years? Make it happen right now.”