2022 year in review: Big changes for UltiMaker in 2022!
Last year, Ultimaker celebrated its 10th anniversary. Ten years of continuous innovation and improvement. This year, we somehow became a company with a combined 24 years of additive manufacturing experience! It’s safe to say it’s been a big year. Read on to find out about our highlights from 2022, including how we became UltiMaker!
The biggest news this year was definitely the merger of Ultimaker and MakerBot into UltiMaker! The combination of two of the industry's oldest and most experienced additive companies has resulted in an incredibly exciting new company that is set to continue making 3D printing history!
In the short time since the merger closed in September, the new company has already released a new printer with the Sketch Large! And 2023 is set to be an even more fun year full of exciting surprises!
A year of incredible successes and collaborations
We had the opportunity to highlight a lot of inspirational success stories this year from the many companies out there that use UltiMaker printers. But, without a doubt, the most bombastic was our collaboration with the Dutch Navy and Covestro. Watch the video below to find out how a 3D-printed part holds up when trying to lift a 12-ton vehicle!
A huge leap forward with UltiMaker Cura 5.0
All of UltiMaker’s software services had multiple new releases this year that have introduced new features and functionality. The largest of those was undoubtedly UltiMaker Cura 5.0. With the introduction of a revolutionary new slicing engine, UltiMaker Cura became more powerful than ever. And since that landmark release, there have been two more Cura releases that have enabled, among other things, metal printing!
Simple and affordable metal printing
At the start of 2022, the UltiMaker S5 was already capable of printing with over 250 materials. From the industry standard PVA, to more exotic materials like nylon and composite filaments. Not content with the widest material selection on the market, we partnered with BASF Forward AM to create the UltiMaker Metal Expansion Kit, a way of printing stainless steel parts on the UltiMaker S5!
The PVA Removal Station washes away your support removal woes
After being announced at last year's UltiMaker Showcase event, the UltiMaker PVA Removal Station finally made its way into people's hands this year. Giving users of PVA support material an easy way to remove supports and clean prints up to 4x faster.
If you want to see some of the highlights from this year in action, make sure to watch the video below:
If you want to find out what else UltiMaker achieved in 2022, read through the dozens of blog posts that were published throughout the year!