The Massachusetts 3D printing startup Desktop Metal has started shipping its Studio System to customers in the “Pioneer” program.  

Earlier today, the Massachusetts 3D printing startup Desktop Metal announced that it has started shipping its highly anticipated metal 3D printers to the first round of customers.

After unveiling two 3D printing systems and raising $115 million in funding earlier this year, Desktop Metal is finally ready to supply early adopters in the “Pioneer” program with the Studio System.

Read more: Interview with Desktop Metal: The Metal 3D Printing Hype is Real (And Made of Steel)

The first group that will receive the metal 3D printing system is Google’s Advanced Technology and Products Group. Other customers in the “Pioneer” program include the US Navy, Built-Rite Tool & Die, and Lumenium.

According to Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop, hundreds of orders have already been placed for the Studio System. The high demand for this metal 3D printer stems from the ability it gives engineers to design, produce, and test metal parts all within the workplace.

Desktop Metal Ships Out Studio System to First Customers

While much has been said about how Desktop Metal’s technology will make metal additive manufacturing more accessible and affordable, customers have waiting eagerly to have the Studio System on their own production floor.

“This marks the first time our team will be able to use metal 3D printing for rapid prototyping of our hardware parts,” said David Beardsley, manager of Google’s ATAP.

Other participants in the “Pioneer” program, such as the engine manufacturer Lumenium, have already started working alongside Desktop Metal engineers to streamline its industrial process. The company discovered that the Studio System enables them to produce a specific engine part at twice the speed and 20 percent of the cost.

All in all, the launch of the “Pioneer” program will likely be the first of many steps that Desktop Metal takes towards promoting the mass adoption of metal 3D printing.

“Desktop Metal is leading the way in bringing metal 3D printing into mass adoption. The Studio system marks the first end-to-end metal printing solution that can be used in a typical office environment, rather than requiring an industrial facility,” said Andy Wheeler, a general partner at GV, the venture capital firm that invested in the Massachusetts startup.

Desktop Metal is leading the way in bringing metal 3D printing into mass adoption.

Source: Forbes