Standing Stone chosen to distribute 3D printer

May 6 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

NORTHUMBERLAND company Standing Stone has become one of five UK distributors of HP's new 3D printer.

The office supplies firm, which has offices in Matfen, Darlington and Cheshire, was selected by HP to distribute the new device, which allows users to create 3D models from computer designs within hours.

While 3D printing has been in development for several years, the prohibitive cost of buying machines and building models put it out of the reach of many businesses. Standing Stone’s national sales director Simon Buckton believes that the HP device, which retails for around £16,500 including the cleaning system, will pique the interest of businesses in the engineering, architecture and utility services sectors.

He said: “We’ve shown some architects, who are very excited about it, because it turns a visual concept into something substantial. The car-making and engineering industries will benefit from this too, and we’ve had Newcastle University looking at it very carefully because the cost of making the models themselves is just a few pounds once you’ve bought the machine.”

The Designjet 3D printers were co-developed by HP and Stratasys, and form shapes by piling up layers of semi-molten recyclable ABS plastic inside a box that can fit on a desk. HP will sell both standard and colour models, both using this process of fused deposition modeling.

Standing Stone is an HP elite group partner and elite business partner, and sells wide-format digital copiers, inkjet and laser plotters, scanners and plan copiers across the country. It was informed it had been chosen to distribute the product on March 1, and began selling it on May 1.

Mr Buckton said: “I was a wide-eyed admirer of what it could do. It could give a massive boost to manufacturing in the area in the same way as laser-jet printers did.

“We’re targeting four sales a month and we’re confident that this is achievable. HP says business for distributors across the UK could be worth £1m to £2m in the next 12 months.

“It’s about the size of a mini fridge and it doesn’t require any assembly. Other systems also used chemicals which meant they had to be handled in a safe environment but this is something that can go in your office.”

Standing Stone employs 11 staff and three consultants. It was purchased in September from its founder David Hall by Gary Ritson, Simon Buckton and Andrew Neal.

Mr Buckton said: “This is the best product portfolio we’ve had in 16 years. With this product as well, we’ve already taken on another consultant and we’re looking at a couple of apprentices. We’re proud of the fact that we didn’t make anyone redundant during the recession. If this product takes off like we expect, we’ll certainly be looking to expand.”