1) Reseller: These are typically online shops who don’t make any products or even rebrand them, but merely collect (hopefully) good quality products from other manufacturers and place them for sale.
2) Small Manufacturer: A small operation dedicated to producing 3D printer filament using their own gear. Typically these companies employ radical approaches to differentiating their products.
3) Printer Manufacturer: Many 3D printer manufacturers also sell filament, but in almost all cases they are simply partnering with another manufacturer and re-labeling the product to the printer manufacturer’s brand.
4) Partner Manufacturer: Some filament manufacturers partner with larger plastics companies to jointly produce unique filament products unavailable to smaller manufacturers who don’t have access to chemists and labs to create new plastics.
5) Repurposed Manufacturer: Often an existing plastics manufacturer attempts to re-purpose their equipment to produce 3D printer filament as a sideline business. While sometimes successful, these ventures often need to acquire a deeper understanding of the 3D printer market.
6) Mega Corporation: Existing multinational plastics companies have begun producing 3D printer filament using their extensive production processes, innovative laboratories and long list of plastic patents.
THANKS FOR READING!