The full-color HP Jet Fusion 580 3D Printer from HP is a great machine with a lot going for it. Professional media platform 3dprint reported that HP stopped producing this series of printers. So, what led to HP's decision? What does the eventual discontinuation of this product portend?
The design team for the HP 580 is quite different from other series in the Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) portfolio. This series of printers are mainly designed and manufactured in the United States and Canada, compared to the 4200 and 5200 lines designed mainly in Spain, the group has created a compact product with a smaller volume, does not require additional processing stations, and has a powder automatic recycling system. The 580 is also very efficient, and common parts can be manufactured within 24 hours. Color printing is becoming more and more valuable in various fields, especially in the medical industry. So, what made HP decide to discontinue the 580?
R&D Team in MJF 3D Printing: Europe & North America
There has been controversy within HP's 3D printing division over the development of MJF technology. Visionaries outside the company could see the importance of the technology, yet those inside were slow to see its importance. It's mostly a leadership thing because it's not a 2D product, but HP is trying to get 2D people to lead it. In 2018, HP introduced the HP Jet Fusion 580.
With the HP Jet Fusion 580, users have a printer that can 3D print through 2D technology, including full color and pure white! It's an inherently incomprehensible product that has to do with a lack of creativity in leadership. Instead of focusing on hardware development, HP tried to create demand for the product, which hindered printer growth and adoption.
Over the next few years, the MJF 580 became known as a very expensive printer to operate. In a conversation on LinkedIn, David Tucker, a business development consultant at MasterGraphics, said: "Although it is relatively expensive, I think it is a cool product that needs a market and an application to develop."
For a project to be successful, it must have the entire team aligned in the same direction. There was a disconnect between the 4200/5200 series teams in Europe and the 580 series teams in North America. Meanwhile, companies like i-Solids began to have success with the MJF 580, which Kason Knight calls "the technology's best salesman." The 580 was a great mover for MJF, i-Solids continued to grow and Knight has eight production machines. Even ABCorp and Airbus have adopted HP's full-color MJF.
Rather than viewing the 580 and 4200/5200 series as complementary products, HP management viewed them as competing products. This determines that there is a product that must be eliminated!
The 'end' of full-color 3D printing
With the printer only a year and a half old, HP laid off nearly all of the employees who worked on the 580. COVID was the ostensible reason for this action by HP, whereby the company was able to quietly discontinue the machine.
Francois Minec, Global Head of 3D Polymers, HP P3D “We are no longer selling the HP Jet Fusion 580 series, which was designed to support prototyping with full-color capabilities. We continue to support our customers using the Jet Fusion 580 printers to design, develop and Iterate amazing applications. Although we have discontinued the 580 series, we continue to leverage technology and knowledge to develop new machines. We have committed to helping our partners and customers to scale up production as a priority. Centered on this goal, Investments are being made in industrial-grade digital manufacturing solutions, such as the new modular Metal Jet S100 solution and the new Jet Fusion 5420W for polymers, which deliver production quality and performance and support demand for white parts."
No one knows what the company discussed during the meeting that led to the decision to discontinue production. But we can guess some reasons from HP's management: lack of vision, lack of stable 3D leadership (HP has 6 managers in charge of AM department since 2016), and lack of listening to consumers. The decision can be chalked up to "arrogance" and the HP Jet Fusion 580 has been mishandled, mishandled, and mismanaged multiple times. HP has changed its strategy over the past two years. Instead of focusing solely on developing hardware systems or consumables or services around the hardware, they see a need and an opportunity to build more end-to-end applications.
If the spirit of "technology accessibility" preached by Bill Hewlett and David Packard still guides HP, the 580 will never be obsolete.
Profit from full-color prosthetics
For the orthotics and prosthetics segment, this machine offers fast turnaround and durability at an affordable price. HP has 3-4x margins on printers and other margins on consumables and powder costs. In fact, the margins on the 580 consumable as a source of revenue are even more meaningful than the meager margins on the top-tier 5210 Pro consumable.
If 10% of US clinics have 580 in their office, that's a total of about 300 printers. Sales of the machines alone amounted to $42,000,000, sales of renewable service contracts were approximately $6,000,000, and sales of consumables and powder for all locations running the machines only twice a week were approximately $30,000,000. A small industry totaling almost $200 million over the next 5 years, not including machine sales.
There are nearly 5,000 hospitals across the country. What if 20% decided to do medical modeling and surgical planning in-house through the many software and support companies in the market? That would mean $135,000,000 in machine sales, $20,000,000 in annual renewable service contracts, and annual Sales of consumables and powders were $100,000,000.
What if HP really invested in the software that helps create these models and devices to build another revenue stream? Revenue is conservatively estimated at $100-200 million, not including machine sales over a five-year period. What about the lives changed or even saved through the use of this technology? priceless. In addition, HP stands as one of the most influential companies committed to benefiting humanity while creating sustainable income and jobs around the world.
With all of this in mind, HP should bring back the MJF 580 and let consumers use it in productive and creative ways that HP probably never considered. HP's 3D printing division shouldn't just be making 4200/5200 series machines that most people can't afford. It should also focus on small businesses, points of care, etc. At the same time, HP released the HP Jet Fusion 5420W solution for 3D printing white parts, an industrial machine that is needed in the healthcare industry because there is no other similar option for 3D printing white parts other than SLS.