Xometry – Europe’s one-stop (additive) manufacturing shop
Xometry Europe gives customers access to a production capacity of more than 2000 manufacturing workshops, and more than 5000 3D printers and CNC machines, from more than 25 European countries
After Xometry’s IPO in 2021, the company reported a Q1 2022 revenue of $83.7 million – a 90% year-on-year growth. Although Xometry is already enormously successful, the company’s services have, until recently, been fairly limited to the North American market. Now, however, the company has expanded its service offerings – with the launch of Xometry Europe.
Using its proprietary technology, Xometry has created a marketplace that enables buyers to source on-demand manufactured parts, efficiently, and empowers sellers of manufacturing services to grow their businesses. Through this platform, Xometry’s team of engineers, sales people, partners, and other stakeholders have built a name for the company as one of the leading AI-enabled marketplaces for on-demand manufacturing, in the world – with customers ranging from self-funded startups to Fortune 100 companies.
A continent of manufacturing at your fingertips
Xometry Europe gives customers access to a production capacity of more than 2000 manufacturing workshops, and more than 5000 3D printers and CNC machines, from more than 25 European countries. In addition to 3D printing and CNC machining, the company also offers laser cutting, plasma cutting, metal bending, sheet metal forming, injection moulding, insert moulding, overmoulding, and die casting.
In terms of 3D printing services, Xometry offers an impressive portfolio of seven different AM technologies, including Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), HP Multi Jet Fusion (HP MJF), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Stereolithography (SLA), Carbon DLS, Direct Metal Laser Sintering and PolyJet.
Through Xometry Europe’s online platform, users can choose from over 46 materials to 3D print with, including rigid and flexible plastics, rubbers, silicone, and metals that enable and encourage the creation of parts with unique mechanical properties and aesthetics. Of course, Xometry also offers various finishing options for their 3D printed parts, such as chemical vapour polishing, dyeing (in black, blue, green, red, and yellow), spray painting, bead blasting, and media tumbling.
One of the most notable points about Xometry is its access to a global network of service providers – the company already enables access to over 2000 manufacturers in Europe, and has a much larger total network of over 5000 manufacturers around the world. This notably large network gives Xometry’s customers the advantage of mitigating supply chain distributions, as Xometry is able to source the necessary production capacity.
Though one may feel almost overwhelmed by this extensive service offering, the company has taken that into consideration – by seemingly eliminating the potential challenges with the company’s Instant Quoting Engine, or IQE – a powerful, AI-based interface that gives users quotes in a matter of seconds. The user, whether looking for prototyping or serial production, simply has to upload the CAD file, select the manufacturing process, materials, and quantity, and the IQE automatically calculates the cost of the project – making it easy for the user to compare materials and technologies and see the effect of quantity on the total cost. Through the IQE, users can upload up to 20 files in the same quote, order parts in just a few clicks, and follow the order’s status on the UX-optimized platform.
In addition to all of this, Xometry provides an extensive list of online 3D printing-focused resources – from blog posts to YouTube videos – ranging from additive manufacturing for industrial applications, the medical industry, and the dental industry, to 3D printing food safety, 3D printed waterproof products, 3D printed colour products, how to apply additive manufacturing to the automotive industry, and how to reduce the cost of 3D printing altogether (and this is just barely scratching the surface).
“Having a partner we could rely on… was essential”
The best way to truly understand Xometry’s offering, and how European businesses can take advantage of the company’s new European leg is, as with many things, through case studies.
One elementary case study is that of Cyfac, a “Living Heritage Company” (awarded by the French government) that has been handcrafting bicycle frames for 40 years. Recently, Cyfac won the Concours de Machines, an annual event focused on the French artisanal manufacturers of bicycle frames, components, and accessories – with their bold all-carbon bike, AKA the “Paradox”. The Paradox stood out at the event due to its 3D printed titanium suspensions that were produced thanks to Xometry’s instant quoting platform, and the responsiveness of the Xometry team, which enabled Cyfac to source the bike’s key parts on time.
Cyfac’s quotes and orders were processed directly online using Xometry’s instant quoting platform. “This tool is really useful for us since we occasionally need small series or even one-off parts. Without it, we’d have to wait a solid week just for a quote,” said Riegel, a Cyfac team member. “It’s an invaluable tool that helps us streamline the process even more with Xometry. We quickly get information on prices and deadlines, which is an important factor for confirming our choice. On top of that, we have the personal touch that really strengthens the collaboration. Hadrien Comsa, our dedicated account manager at Xometry, contacts me every time I create an online quote to fully understand what I need and in what quantities. It’s brilliant to have someone available to answer all my questions.”
Xometry then coordinated the production of the 3D printed parts (swingarms for the suspension, connecting rods, and inserts at the end of the seatstays), and also for some machined parts (two closing half-caps, and a small brake adapter).
“Having a partner we could rely on and could deliver high-quality parts was essential. There was so much at stake financially. We needed to be certain that we would have top-quality parts on time for the competition,” said Le Brun, another Cyfac team member, about why the team chose to use Xometry. “If things had gone wrong, we wouldn’t have won the competition.”
This case study is merely one among a notably large pool of Xometry’s customer success stories, and certainly only the beginning for the company and the ease of access to manufacturers that Xometry has finally brought to Europe.
