MakerBot, a worldwide leader in desktop 3D printing, has announced the expansion of its global footprint to the African continent with the addition of Rectron South Africa as its first distribution partner in Africa.
Rectron is one of South Africa’s leading ICT and consumer electronics distributors. it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mustek Limited. Rectron has offices across South Africa and a channel extending into Southern Africa. MakerBot is leading the Next Industrial Revolution by setting the standards in reliable and affordable desktop 3D printing. MakerBot sells desktop 3D printers to innovative and industry-leading customers worldwide.
Under the agreement, Rectron will distribute all MakerBot® products, including the newest generation of 3D printers: the award-winning MakerBot Replicator® Desktop 3D Printer, the MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer, and the MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printer with its massive build volume and the best price/performance in the extra-large professional 3D printer category.
MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers are powered by the user-friendly MakerBot Replicator 3D Printing Platform, which offers an onboard camera, plug and play features, app- and cloud-enabled workflow, and available Wi-Fi connectivity. Rectron will also distribute the MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer, the MakerBot Digitizer™ Desktop 3D Scanner, and MakerBot Filaments and accessories.
“We are excited to partner with Rectron SA to add to MakerBot’s growing network of authorized international distributors and resellers,” noted Mark Schulze, vice president of sales for MakerBot. “Expanding our global footprint and accessibility to our products is a very important step toward the goal of providing access to MakerBot 3D printing products throughout the world.”
As the first company to bring MakerBot products to South Africa, Rectron will offer the growing capabilities of MakerBot’s 3D Ecosystem and Real-Time Prototyping to a wide community of individuals and businesses. MakerBot’s 3D printers and scanners are used as part of the design process to create models, prototypes and end products. 3D printing in real time on the desktop, with a MakerBot Replicator 3D Printer, revolutionizes the design process and allows engineers, architects, industrial designers, artists, entrepreneurs and educators to recognize cost and time savings that significantly improve upon the expense and wait times involved in traditional design processes. With a MakerBot Replicator 3D Printer, Real-Time Prototyping enables creators to design and 3D print in a matter of hours or days rather than weeks, which MakerBot believes speeds up the innovation process by empowering users to develop new designs at a much faster pace.
What also makes MakerBot products stand apart is the fact that the MakerBot 3D Ecosystem has been designed with the future in mind. While MakerBot 3D printing and scanning hardware is the center of the MakerBot 3D Ecosystem, the power comes from MakerBot’s continual updating of its software and apps to work toward constantly improving the 3D printing process and experience. Likewise, the MakerBot Replicator Smart Extruder, a new feature of its newest generation of 3D printers, was designed to be easily swappable and replaceable not only to minimize downtime caused by filament clogs but also to ensure that a new extruder can be easily swapped in when new filament materials become available.
“We are excited to work with a global leader in the desktop 3D printer category such as MakerBot and are committed to providing our customers with products that embrace the spirit of innovation and creative thinking,” said Bruce Bradford, group business unit manager, printer category, with Rectron SA. “The popularity and usefulness of 3D printing has been growing tremendously over the past several years. The possibilities that 3D printing offers the local education, engineering, architecture and healthcare industries are enormous. We are delighted to be named MakerBot’s South African distributor and offer MakerBot 3D printing and scanning products to our customers and resellers.”
