UPS has partnered with CloudDDM, a provider of direct digital manufacturing, to offer a same-day delivery service for 3D printed parts out of the 3D printing factory operating at UPS Worldport air hub, in Louisville, USA, and has taken a minority stake in the company through the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund.
Mitch Free, CloudDDM co-founder and CEO, highlighted the importance of same-day delivery for its customers. “For product designers and manufacturers, the success or failure of a project can come down to how quickly they can get their prototypes and end-use parts produced, and delivered. CloudDDM has started offering same-day shipping in an effort to provide customers with the responsiveness they need to stay competitive, meet critical deadlines, and get products to market faster.”
This way, customers could avoid outsourcing the 3D printed parts, CloudDDM said. UPS has taken over the whole packaging and delivery processes of the parts.
“Every aspect of our digital factory was designed for speed. First, from the moment a user submits a print job to our automated production system the priority (or desired lead-time) is checked against our production queue. Orders specified as one business day are automatically routed to the front of the queue and begin printing immediately. Once printed, our automated system routes the part(s) throughout the rest of the process from finishing to packaging and shipment,” Free added.
For shipping purposes, CloudDDM’s factory is directly linked to the logistics system at UPS Worldport, which not only allows the industrial scale direct digital manufacturer to quickly move from printer to plane but also gives it an extra six hours of production time per day. As a result, most small part orders and low volume production runs can be shipped the same day.
UPS’ acquisition of a minority stake in CloudDDM was financed through the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund. The corporate venture capital fund focuses on developing critical partnerships and acquiring knowledge that returns from its investments in information technology companies and emerging market-spaces.
“Our strategic relationship with UPS is really beginning to expand our value to industry. With same-day shipping, CloudDDM is demonstrating the unique benefits of industrial scale additive manufacturing and helping customers not only transform the ‘how’ of bringing products to market, but the ‘how-fast’,” Free concluded.
