Recap: TCT 2017, Birmingham

The 22nd TCT Show, held in Birmingham, UK, continued to set the agenda for the industry, bringing together dozens of companies, engineers, and designers who came together for insight, education, and innovation.

Held between 26th - 28th September 2017, the mix of expert speakers, real-world applications, innovations, and product launches created an event that bristled with energy. Ultimaker was among the exhibitors once again this year, where we showcased a selection of printers, materials and software products, as well as professional and industrial use cases.

Cura milestone and Ultimaker’s new software strategy

We were proud to celebrate our print preparation software Cura reaching one million users globally, which was announced by the Co-founder and CTO of Ultimaker, Siert Wijnia, and VP of Product Management Paul Heiden, with a special cake cutting ceremony at Ultimaker’s booth.

In addition, Siert and Paul announced our new software strategy, with our product ecosystem shifting to include more software products which aim to upgrade the existing hardware over time.

In line with this strategy, two new products were announced which will launch soon: Ultimaker Cura 3.0 and Cura Connect.

Ultimaker Cura 3.0 is the latest edition of our print preparation software. With a refreshed UX, new features, and open to third-party plugin development to improve 3D printing workflow, Ultimaker Cura 3.0 is the most intuitive 3D printer preparation software available.

The second product announcement was Cura Connect - a software feature that enables print queuing and control of an array of 3D printers, providing an accessible solution for prototyping, tooling, and small-scale production.

Paul Heiden had this to say: “Even customers that bought the very first Ultimaker 3 can benefit from the new software solutions provided in Ultimaker Cura, now, and in the future. We are proud to be providing future-ready solutions. Ultimaker Cura opens up the possibility of third-party plugin development that ensures seamless workflow integration with industry-standard CAD software to make 3D printing even more accessible.”

Siert added: “Furthermore, we will continuously develop new applications for our 3D printers, creating an even more integrated solution for our one million Cura users, including professional designers, engineers, researchers, and manufacturers. This will help users get the most out of their Ultimaker 3D printer.”

More information about this can be found in TCT magazine.

Ultimaker in the automotive industry

Our booth showcased a selection of business cases that demonstrated the value of desktop manufacturing in industry.

Our Volkswagen Autoeuropa case stood out among visitors, and we were exceptionally happy to discover that it won us a TCT automotive application award.

This is an incredible achievement for us at Ultimaker. We competed against other prominent industrial 3D printing players, some who had sponsorship from well-known Formula One teams. Clearly, rapid design and cost saving achieved using 3D printed jigs and fixtures in Volkswagen Autoeuropa's workflow was an impressive application to many.

Featured Ultimaker cases

We had several other cases at our booth that demonstrate the potential of desktop manufacturing across varied industry sectors, including manufacturing, robotics, automotive, architecture, and dental.

• Cost efficient custom nozzles for high-value snow machines by Snow Business International
• Custom functional prototypes for YuMi industrial robot by ABB Robotics
• Award-winning end-use parts for a Ford Fiesta by Tucci Hot Rods
• Rapid design iterations for custom components by Honeybee Robotics
• Precision dental models produced by OpLab
• Custom architectural models to demonstrate concepts by Matt Architecture

We thoroughly enjoyed the TCT show and look forward to attending again next year. We would like to thank our UK sales partners 3DGBIRE, our community, and everyone who attended the show - it was great to connect with you all. In case you missed this event, we will see you in just a few weeks at Advanced Engineering!