We were all very excited to get visitors at the Eindhoven Office. Models were put into place and desks and closets were tidied up.

At 3 o’clock we opened the doors to welcome our community who came all the way to our office. We hit it off with some chit chats while enjoying drinks and cake then it was time to show them around the office. First it was Customer Service’s turn, where fun is the key word, AC/DC on the wall, pictures of employees, decoration and lights give a positive vibe. Next stop the Supply Chain Department, Marcel (Supply Chain Manager) talked about our vision and how Shapeways is conquering the market. Then we hopped to the production department where Remco gave us an insight into how trays are built for your 3D prints. Moving downstairs to the most exciting part, the cages where our BEASTS, the 3D printers roar. Final stop was a visit to our Shipping Department where the models are in-bounded and sent to you with a love stamp.

The community members had a lot of questions which we could immediately answer. For all the European community members that couldn’t be there you know you missed out. See you at the next open day on Friday December 2nd.

Hi community, I have asked our head polisher Michel to explain more about the polishing process used for our Polished White Strong and Flexible 3D prints. 

One of our core values is fun, Michel is it fun working with the polisher?

Yes it is, as long as the small stones don’t get stuck inside bracelets and other stuff J

Do you have a special name for the two polishers?

No actually we don’t just the small and the big polisher…No big beast or something similar, but if you can come up with other names you can comment on this blog.

On average how much time a day do you spend on polishing?

Really depends on the amount of orders coming in from our production, I’d say 1 to 2 hours a day on average. And in total the models go in the polisher for about 3 hours. We’ll put in around 50 models but we’ve had around 200 models in it as well so it really depends on the kind of models.

We wished we could print new feet after standing a whole week at TENT but it was worth it! For the those who couldn’t be there with us, TENT was held in the OLD TRUMAN BREWERY as part of London Design Festival. A huge hall divided in different sections where you could get totally lost. There were a lot of very creative and cool objects self made and displayed; lamps, clocks, chairs, couches, art and so on.

We met thousands of people that we introduced Shapeways 3D printing to for the first time, the reactions gave us goose bumps: What do you mean with “all these models are printed”? Or “so you can print in metal that accurately”? Wow that is awesome! We have enabled possibilities for more people and that keeps the drive for us to work hard to make 3D printing accessible to all.

A quick update for those of you that ordered a necklace with your 3D print but have not received yours yet.  We are currently re-designing our process for such added features and will shortly be re-implementing a new approach to 'add on' extras to the 3D printed models. We are currently evaluating the best materials and supplies and will re-launch as soon as we can. As soon as we have the solution ready, we will be sending yours out.  Thanks for your patience.

We are proud to introduce Michon, another integral member of the Shapeways team based in Eindhoven.  Michon will be keeping you up to date on the blog with all things supply chain related.  She will let you know if you can expect any delays in your deliveries, the status of each of the materials as well as any new milestones such as installing a behemoth new 3D printer into our workflow (stay tuned).  Please join us in welcoming Michon to the Shapeways blogosphere and of course if you are in the area, take a tour of Shapeways and meet Michon in person..

Hi Shapers, my name is Michon and I work for the Supply Chain Management at Shapeways.  We are in direct contact with our partner production facilities and strive to deliver your models earlier than yesterday.