Makerbot to stop manufacturing its own 3D printers

Within a year of opening a sprawling 170,000 sq ft factory in New York, MakerBot has said that manufacturer Jabil will be building its 3D printers. Jabil is headquartered in the US, but its production facilities are overseas."We are taking another step towards positioning MakerBot for the future. We have decided to partner with Jabil, one of the world’s largest design and manufacturing solutions provider, for the production of all MakerBot 3D Printers going forward," Makerbot wrote in a blogpost."We expect that adopting a flexible manufacturing model will allow us to quickly scale production up or down based on market demands, without the fixed costs associated with maintaining a factory in New York City," the blogpost further explains.This makes sense considering there hasn't been new hardware from the company since 2014. "It's been a rocky few years for the 3D printer company. First it was swallowed up by the business-focused 3D printer company Stratasys in 2013. Then in 2014, it lost its maverick CEO Brett Pettis, soon after it shut down much of it retail presence in 2014 and then shuffled through a couple of CEOs until the appointment of Jonathan Jaglom in 2015," points out Mashable.The transition in production from the factory to Jabil will take place over the coming months. Makerbot has also revealed that it will also mean some factor workers will be losing the jobs.