A Year in Review with UltiMaker: Key Highlights and Future Outlooks

From groundbreaking product launches to strategic partnerships and industry recognition, we have achieved significant milestones in 2024 that will shape the future of our business. We highlight the key moments that defined our year and set the stage for even greater success in the year ahead.

Industrial-grade 3D printing with UltiMaker Factor 4

UltiMaker’s next generation 3D printer was launched with much anticipation and fanfare. To support a wide variety of manufacturing applications, the Factor 4 3D printer combines industrial-level 3D printing with the quality, reliability, and ease of use for which UltiMaker printers are known.

From features like a temperature-controlled build volume of 330 x 240 x 300 mm and uniform bed heating, to direct drive dual extrusion, to support for high-performance materials like PPS CF, a high-temperature composite material, Factor 4 is designed to ensure consistent, repeatable results across the entire print. The machine was thoroughly tested to achieve over 95% print completion success and dimensional accuracy within ± 0.2 mm or ± 0.2% of the feature nominal length–optimal for producing validated parts for distributed manufacturing.

Accelerating learning with MakerBot Sketch Sprint

Sketch Sprint blazed onto the scene as the fastest classroom 3D printer on the market today with the most comprehensive 3D printing for education ecosystem. With high print speeds of up to 5x faster than the standard desktop 3D printer, Sketch Sprint is designed to take learning to the next level and allow students and teachers to focus on what’s important.

The heated build plate, mesh leveling, and vibration compensation enable the printer to deliver more detailed and precise prints. The compact design and efficient printing process make it ideal for 3D printing across multiple subjects and grade levels. Sketch Sprint has a fully enclosed structure, an integrated and active HEPA + carbon filtration system, and safety precautions, including a digital PIN to prevent unauthorized access.

Sketch Sprint underwent rigorous testing and is certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a nationally recognized test laboratory and a global leader in applied safety science. Sketch Sprint has been independently verified to meet the safety levels of the UL 2904 standards for particle and chemical emissions from 3D printers.

Sketch Sprint comes with classroom-friendly PLA and Tough PLA filaments and industry-standard training resources to empower educators to implement safe and effective 3D printing.

Manufacturing quality, reliability and trust with ISO certifications

We have reaffirmed our commitment to manufacturing excellence by renewing our ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. Ensuring trust and quality for our customers is our top priority. These industry-recognized standards ensure that we continue to meet high levels of product quality and operational excellence. The recertifications underscore our commitment to building customer trust through consistent, reliable performance while adhering to rigorous environmental standards. This reinforces our ongoing focus on delivering superior, trusted 3D printing solutions.

Achieving print success with software enhancements

Cura and Digital Factory saw major updates over the year to ensure users had the best 3D printing experience. These include user interface and usability improvements, improved print profiles, advanced features for advanced users, performance and speed enhancements, cloud integration and remote monitoring updates, new printer compatibility, and bug fixes and stability.

2024 ended with the latest Cura 5.9 stable release and Digital Factory updates to include support for the new Sketch Sprint, new material print profiles for Method and Sketch series materials, and upgraded features for higher quality and more reliable prints. Not to mention the new Cura Cloud on Digital Factory for Sketch Sprint users, enabling them to utilize slicing and print management all in one place.

The Method series had several firmware updates, simplifying onboarding, adding dual PLA printing, enhanced Digital Factory integration, improved translations and languages support, new materials compatibility, and additional features for Method XL such as build plate detection, jam tracking, time zone fixes, and more reliable nozzle cleaning options.

A new face for Thingiverse

Thingiverse saw some major updates to key features last year as we continued to improve the user experience. The platform introduced new layouts across the site, including updates to the homepage, search pages, upload and edit pages, and profile pages.

The 3D model preview feature was enhanced, providing users with a more interactive and detailed view of their designs. There were several reliability and usability updates aimed at improving the management of "Things" on the site, such as the ability to open 3D models directly from Thingiverse into Cura and Orca slicers without the need for downloading the files first, streamlining the design-to-print process for users.

We launched a new "Discover" page along with personalized recommendations to help users easily find relevant designs. Additionally, the platform now allows users to upload zip or PDF files, broadening the types of content that can be shared. Thingiverse also introduced regular community challenges, encouraging users to get involved and showcase their creativity. The platform also launched a newsletter, keeping the community updated with the latest news, features, and design highlights.

Supporting customer success

In 2024, our commitment to customers remained at the forefront of everything we accomplished. Seeing customers like Royal Netherlands Navy, Audi, Krones, IMES3D, IME Automation, Calcasieu Parish School Board, createMPLS, Elektrolas, Canadian Academy, Desert WAVE, ERIKS, and more, utilize our solutions has shown us not only what users need but also how we can be better at supporting their ongoing 3D printing efforts.

Looking towards the future

We are excited for 2025, as we see steady usage and growing adoption across various sectors like education, defense, medical, automotive, and more. Advancements in tech will enable even broader adoption. But at the same time, we need to tackle some of the ongoing challenges - standardization, security and privacy, training and support - so it will take some more time and more effort from companies in the industry to help customers discover the opportunities in 3D printing.