The Aurora
Group, Taiwan's leading manufacturer of office furniture and automation
equipment, on Tuesday unveiled a three-dimensional printer for business use.
Developed
jointly with the state-run Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the
Aurora F1 3D printer will go on sale next month in 166 Aurora stores at a price
of under NT$100,000 (US$3,400), according to the company.
Print
quality and stability can be achieved without connecting the printer to a
computer, using an SD card. The printer was built with the use of fused
deposition modeling technology and a biodegradable plastic material called
Polylactic acid.
The target
market comprises mainly consumer electronics manufacturers, professional
designers and academic institutions in Taiwan, which amount to some 200,000
customers, said Alice Lin, executive director of the Aurora Group.
"We
will bring our distribution advantage to bear on the new business, creating
higher value for our customers," Lin said at the product launch.
The F1
printer will be distributed later in overseas markets such as Japan and the
United States, according to Tony Tsai, senior division manager of the company's
3D printing business department, but did not give a timeframe.
Aurora, in
partnership with the ITRI, is also aiming to launch a cloud-based service for
office applications, hopefully by the second half of 2014, Tsai said.
In
September, Aurora inked an agreement with US 3D printer maker Stratasys to
become the sole distributor of the American firm's Idea line of 3D printers in
China.
With the
unveiling of the F1, dealers forecast that Aurora's 3D printer sales in Taiwan
and China will account for 10% to 15% of the group's total revenues in three
years.
Global
shipments of 3D printers priced at less than US$100,000 will show 49% annual
growth this year, reaching 56,507 units, market research company Gartner
forecast in an October report.
Shipments
will increase further by 75% next year to 98,065 units, followed by a near
doubling of unit shipments in 2015, Gartner said.
"The
3D printer market has reached its inflection point," said Pete Basiliere,
a research director at Gartner.
"While
still a nascent market, with hype outpacing the technical realities, the speed
of development and rise in buyer interest are pressing hardware, software and
service providers to offer easier-to-use tools and materials that produce
consistently high-quality results," he said in the report.
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