Abstract :
Although it is headquartered in New York and its website is largely in inches rather than millimetres, Shapeways was originally Dutch. It is a spin-out from Philips´ lifestyle incubator and has an operations and production centre in Eindhoven, where it has an EOS Formiga P100 selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printer able to produce in plastic and Alumide. A second production site in New York has a 3D Systems ProJet 3500, printing in UV-cured acrylic. Anything these cannot print, such as metal, glass, ABS and rubber, is farmed out to production partners.