3D Hubs and Protolabs join forces to create the world’s most comprehensive manufacturing portfolio
Become a Manufacturing Partner
What is a Manufacturing Partner?
3D Hubs is a distributed network of manufacturing services all over the world. The individual companies within the network who produce the parts ordered via the 3D Hubs website are our Manufacturing Partners.
Our Partners offer various manufacturing services like 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, injection molding and more. There is a wide variety of companies with different focus and skills but they all have in common their high quality.
Requirements
In order to be considered as a Manufacturing Partner with us, you have to meet these minimum requirements:
- You are an established and registered business
- For 3D printing: you operate at least an industrial additive manufacturing machine (no desktop 3D printers only)
- For CNC machining: you have professional milling / turning machines (ideally including 5-axis machines) and you are used to work with fast lead times
- For sheet metal fabrication: you have at least one laser cutter and one press brake
- For injection molding: you do either mold manufacturing and/or injection in-house (not only mold management)
- You and your team follow QA/QC procedures with supporting documentation
Additional qualifying criteria:
- ISO certifications: ISO9001, ISO 13485, AS 9100, or any other industry-specific certifications
- Internal post-processing/surface treatment capabilities
- Expedited lead time service, our time to fulfill orders ranges from 5 to 25 days
Our vetting process
- Information Form
This first step allows us to discover your manufacturing capabilities and ensure you meet our minimum requirements. - Preliminary meeting
If we think your capabilities are a good fit for our needs, we will contact you to schedule a meeting or conference call to get to know each other and exchange questions. - Audit
A factory audit is conducted by an 3D Hubs auditor to assess the potential Manufacturing Partner’s Quality Management System and Environmental/Social compliance. - On-boarding
Once you have completed the previous steps, we sign a Manufacturing Partner Agreement and Code of Conduct with you. We also provide documentation about our technical requirements and guides explaining how to work with us. After successfully completing the onboarding process you will get access to our Manufacturing Partner portal and receive your first orders.