PRUSA Research has announced an update on the production and delivery of its Prusa XL large format 3D printer. The Czech manufacturer claims that it has taken a number of actions – including a significant increase in employment, to meet orders placed (and still undelivered!) in 2021…
Prusa XL was presented for the first time in 2021. This is a professional 3D printer, intended for a completely different audience than the manufacturer’s other flagship models – Prusa i3 Mk3 / Mk4 and Mini. It is the first CoreXY printer in the company’s offer and has a large working area of 36 cm in the XYZ axes. It can be equipped with up to 5 independent printing modules, based on a new generation extruder – Nextruder, improving nozzle temperature monitoring and overall safety of the production process. The worktable consists of 16 independent modules with expansion joints. When printing smaller details, users can heat only selected segments, saving time and electricity.
This all sounds very nice, but unfortunately PRUSA Research has a huge backlog of devices delivered to customers. In 2021, he received a huge number of preorders, which he still cannot account for. The first shipments actually started only in March this year. and included only the most stripped-down, single-head versions. The manufacturer explains the delays by the fact that building XL version 3D printers requires much more time and efficiency than other models. It has now announced a staffing increase of almost 100 new employees.
The company expects to deliver the majority of 2021 orders by the end of this year, 2023. 2022 pre-orders should be fully fulfilled by April 2024. The remaining orders – including those placed in 2023 – are to be completed by June next year. PRUSA will batch orders to enable more accurate forecasts.
The Czech manufacturer informs about the introduction of further improvements and refinements to the structure, but unfortunately it must be clearly stated that from the point of view of the end of 2024, the information on the deliveries of the 3D printer designed in 2020-2021 concerns slightly outdated equipment… At the moment it seems that the Prusa XL project has a chance to become for the company what the Tesla Cybertruck became for Elon Musk…
On yesterday’s call with investors, Musk said he wanted to “temper expectations” and said that Tesla “dug our own grave with the Cybertruck.”
Source: www.wsj.com
Source: www.prusa3d.com