3D-MODEL specializes in the sale of 3D printers, 3D scanners and 3D software as well as services related to additive manufacturing and 3D scanning.
Interview with Philipp Binkert, CEO & Founder at 3D-Model.
Easy Engineering: How do you see sustainability and what are your efforts in this direction?
Philipp Binkert: To us sustainability is a fundamental factor to secure a well-functioning environment, economy and society for future generations. It is not an isolated term but rather a holistic concept that touches various areas in our daily lives – both at work and at home. At 3D-MODEL we try our best to use all our resources in a reasonable way. We keep track of our energy consumption; we choose sustainable materials and re-use packaging whenever its possible. Generally speaking, we try to avoid any kind of waste. This holds also true for the products that we sell to our customers. We offer high-quality 3D-printers and 3D-scanners with a long lifespan. Our certified service technicians and CAD specialists take over the inspection, maintenance and repair of our customers’ products. This helps to spare resources since the machines are not being thrown away easily but instead are used over a long period of time. This approach also saves money, which is a nice side-effect that all our clients approve of.
E.E: Tell us about the sustainable solutions that you offer (if any).
P.B: A part of our portfolio consists of 3D-printers. Production with 3D-printers is in most cases faster and thus more energy efficient, less expensive and requires less materials than conventional manufacturing. Therefore 3D-printers can be seen as an innovative, sustainable production solution. Some of our printers, for example the Formlabs Fuse 1, can even recycle nylon powder from previous printing jobs.
Post-processing station which is, among other things, for recycling the powder
E.E: Do you offer solutions for reinvigorating old equipment with new solutions?
P.B: We are proud to distribute products that operate with long-lasting, state-of-the-art technology. Regular software updates ensure that even older equipment still delivers the best results for our customers. This helps to increase the lifespan of our products. Additionally, a lot of our 3D-printers are constructed modularly. This means you can change some of their parts when newer versions are available while keeping the rest of your original machine.
E.E: Tell us about sustainability in production & distribution.
P.B: We are a reseller of 3D-printers, 3D-scanners and 3D-sofwares. Sustainable production is very important for us. We will only add a new brand to our portfolio when we are sure that its production ways match our sustainability criteria.
E.E:Tell us about R&D and innovation.
P.B: We are in a steady exchange with our manufacturers. We report back all the feedback we are given by our clients and technicians. All this information is used in the manufacturers’ R&D and innovation process. We can confirm that feedback concerning sustainability aspects has increases a lot during the last years.
E.E: How do you promote this clean culture in your company?
P.B: We aim to be a paperless office. We prefer equipment from companies that are known to have sustainable production ways. We encourage our employees to switch off devices or put them in power saving mode when they are away from their work space. We subsidize public transportation tickets for commuters and use telephone or video calls to reduce personal meetings and the drives that come with them.
E.E: Tell us about preserving resources and driving circularity.
P.B: When parts of our office furnishing or devices are not needed anymore, we give them to charities or recycle them. Needless to say, we separate our waste and we use environmentally friendly cleaning agents. We use environmentally-friendly, recyclable materials to ship our goods. We avoid plastic whenever possible and also ask our partners, suppliers and manufacturers to use environmentally-friendly packaging and only as much as really needed.
E.E: How do you drive focus on sustainability of operations?
P.B: As mentioned before, it lies in the nature of our products to improve sustainability of operations. 3D-scanners and 3D-printers operate much more efficient than conventional methods. Take once again or 3D-printers as an example: You can use them inhouse which eliminates long transport ways. They also need much less material and energy to produce the good you want while also generating less waste. In total, it is a win-win situation. Companies save time and money with our products by shortening their supply chains and optimizing their production processes. Our environment profits simultaneously from less pollution and exploitation.
E.E: Tell us about sustainable energy solutions used.
P.B: We chose an electricity supplier that offers renewable energies to cover the power consumption at our office. We track our power consumption and think about ways we can further reduce it. We collect the orders of our customers to prevent multiple shipping with multiple packaging. We cooperate with a shipper that actively works towards reducing its emissions and carbon footprint. It uses bikes as well as cars that run on electricity or natural gas and develops innovative delivery solutions that reduce unnecessary waiting times or drives.
E.E: How do you see sustainability in the future?
P.B: The climate crisis and current worldwide situation have proven that sustainability is not a marketing trend. We need to take it seriously and must think of ways we can reduce our power and resource consumption. Sustainability and economical success don’t exclude each other. We strongly believe they are mutually dependent. Our products show that innovative solutions benefit both the companies and the environment and this is the path we need to follow.
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