Seeking to push harder into potential growth markets, HP Inc. has launched a global reseller program for its 3D printing products.The computing giant’s HP Partner First 3D Printing Specialization program already includes more than 30 trained and certified partners to help grow and scale the 3D printing business, the company said.The announcement came today at Rapid + TCT, an additive manufacturing and 3D printing conference in Pittsburg. The news is part of HP's overall channel push, which is led by Stephanie Dismore.HP also announced the opening of more than a dozen 3D Printing Reference and Experience Centers in North America and Europe, where companies can test and qualify HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing products. “Building on our experience of more than 500,000 Multi Jet Fusion-produced parts, we are now scaling our 3D printing business to the next level,” Stephen Nigro (pictured above), HP president of 3D printing, said in a statement. “Today we are expanding our solutions availability through new resellers and service bureau partners, opening new experiential facilities for customers and partners, and widening our open 3D printing materials ecosystem.”Companies such as BMW, Jabil, Johnson & Johnson and Nike are already looking to HP’s 3D printing products to “help reinvent their businesses for the digital manufacturing revolution,” he said.HP claims its Jet Fusion commercial 3D printing systems can deliver parts up to 10 times faster than current 3D printing systems for half the cost.European facilities are:
Global Partner Program
Initially focused on North America and Europe, the new reseller program allows manufacturing product providers to offer HP’s 3D printing technologies to their customers and help them scale up as needed, the company said.The 30 initial partners were hand-selected by HP. The majority of those - about 80 percent - are new to HP, Nigro told reporters during a Friday briefing.Resellers interested in joining the program or learning more about it are asked to connect with a local HP team member.Experience Centers
The new experience centers will provide companies hands-on experience with 3D printing products in production-level scenarios, HP said, giving customers a faster path from prototype to full-scale 3D production.U.S. facilities will be located in:- Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Alpharetta, Georgia
- Carlsbad, Milpitas, Palo Alto, and San Diego, California
- Corvallis, Oregon
- Livonia, Michigan
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Manchester, Connecticut
- Vancouver, Washington
- Raon-l’Etape, France
- Leonberg, Germany
- Eindoven, The Netherlands
- Barcelona, Spain
- Birmingham, United Kingdom