ZHUHAI, China, Nov 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At a smart equipment fair held in Wuhu, Anhui province, China, Wuhu CTC Electronic Co., Ltd's ("CTC") new-generation smart stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer, RIVERBASE 500, became the eye-catcher despite the high selling price of 500,000 yuan.
In line with the 3D printer market's shift to industrial applications from strictly educational ones, China's domestic 3D printer makers, including CTC, have followed suit and redirected their research and development focus and market expansion efforts to industrial 3D printers. At the same time, foreign 3D printer makers, including 3D SYSTEM and STRATASYS, have retreated from the desktop printing market and returned to the industrial 3D printer segment.
China achieved breakthroughs in 3D printer technology once it started moving from open-source FDM consumer-level software and hardware to high-tech proprietary software.
The SLA 3D printer has changed the hand mold industry, enabling CTC to set an annual sales target of 500 units
He Siyi, an executive at CTC, said: "We have successfully increased our production capacity for industrial 3D printers following relocation of part of the production activities to the Wuhu facility. Monthly output is expected to reach 40 units starting from next month and we expect to be able to clear our backlog of orders in two months.
"Hand mold factories across the Pearl River Delta, for the most part, are using SLA 3D printers to replace traditional CNC machining and are reducing material processing. This has brought about a revolution in terms of 3D printers in the vertical segments. We did not expect to see such a rapid growth in demand," He said excitedly.
With an annual sales target of 500 units, CTC has set its sight on the domestic hand and footwear mold making segments
CTC's core product, the SLA 3D printer RIVERBASE 500, comes with a maximum printing size of 50cm x 40cm x 40cm, features high compatibility and uses a photosensitive resin as the consumable material. The unit is an ideal choice for hand and footwear mold making.
Thanks to the high stability and high-quality printing, the SLA 3D printer proved to be a pioneer that opened up the industrial 3D printer market. However, China lacks the proprietary metal 3D printing technologies. CTC's metal 3D printers deploy a proprietary software technology -- China's first homegrown dot-scan 3D operating system, RiverOS 1.0, in addition to its own hardware design.
CTC is a leading 3D printer manufacturer in China, and its desktop products hold a 10% share in the global market. CTC announced in the early part of the year that the firm had upped its production capacity to 500 units, a first in China's industrial printer market in China. The announcement signals CTC's commitment to that market. Notably, the company got off to a very encouraging start this year with the securing of a record-size order from a UK-based company for 30 of its industrial 3D printers, with an order value reaching 10 million yuan.
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