Does anyone else find it ironic or disingenuous that Stratasys is now offering refurbished Fortus 360mc and 400mc machines? For two years the OEM was telling their customers these platforms would no longer be serviced and were being declared End of Life, ostensibly to garner trade ins and sell a new “upgraded” machine. Now the OEM is offering refurbished systems and calling it “logical manufacturing” to keep the machines out of landfill. Pivot has been offering refurbished Fortus machines for over five years and we are committed to supporting these “end of life” machines for five more years.
On the “upgrade” to a new machine concept, as the English say: bollocks. These new machines have been cost engineered such that the older platforms are more robust and reliable. New is not always better.
The funny part if you buy a refurbished machine from the OEM you MUST buy a two year Service contract with it, albeit without a parts component: parts are extra. So you pay the OEM for half the normal service contract cost, get the labor covered, are open ended on part cost and no response level defined. I guess by not offering parts the OEM can save face on their end of life ruse these past two years. But let’s face it, if they don’t have parts to service the machines why would they sell refurbished systems in the first place? At the end of the day the End of Life on Fortus 360mc and 400mc was nothing more than Stratasys strong arming their customers to drive sales: good for Stratasys, bad for their customers.
You’re better off dealing with Pivot AM Service for FDM materials, machine service or refurbished Fortus machines. At least our Prime maintenance contract is a fixed price and includes travel, labor and replacement parts. We have your best interest in mind, not ours. We win if you win.
