HP Marks 10 Years of MJF, Launches Compact MJF 1200 Industrial Printer

Ten years ago, HP introduced Multi Jet Fusion to the manufacturing world at RAPID. This year, the company marked that anniversary at the same show with a new product and a clear message: the business is growing, and it wants to make industrial 3D printing cheaper to adopt.

The centerpiece of the media day was the HP Multi Jet Fusion 1200, the company's most accessible MJF system to date. HP has priced it below $60,000 in the US and EU, including the printer, material management system, natural cooling unit, two material tanks, and Magics Print for HP software. The 12-liter build volume is small compared to HP's production-line MJF 5600, but that is intentional: the 1200 is aimed at early-stage product development teams that want to prototype, qualify, and even run short production runs on the same machine before scaling up.

HP's SVP and GM of Additive Manufacturing Solutions, Alex Monino, said the machine closes a gap that has frustrated customers for years. Teams often prototype on one process, then find their part lacks quality, tolerance, or volume for production, and must redesign it entirely before sending it to a service bureau running a different technology. The 1200 uses the same MJF process as HP's larger production systems, so the qualification step happens on the same machine.

The 1200 includes a higher-resolution optical camera that HP plans to pair with machine learning models to monitor parts as they are built. Built-in functionality on the larger 5600 already analyzes telemetry after a job finishes and flags potential defects. The short-term roadmap includes in-process quality inspection and AI-driven part predictability, plus dual-tone customization features that let users apply graphics, QR codes, or text to parts from a simple prompt.

Distinguished Technologist Sascha de Pena Hempel said the initial technology was built from the ground up using HP's decades of thermal inkjet expertise, giving the company a foundation competitors have struggled to replicate. On desktop printer brands like Bambu Lab pushing deeper into the hobbyist market, Monino said HP views the trend as a net positive. Broadening public awareness of 3D printing ultimately works in HP's favor as long as the focus stays on consumer and desktop applications. The two companies are not playing in the same league for now.

On competition from Chinese SLA and SLS manufacturers, Monino said HP does not compete on price. HP's strategy is to compete on quality, machine reliability, and the quality of output. He acknowledged that lower-priced tiers will likely coexist with HP's premium position rather than be displaced by it. Defense, drone, data center, and robotics applications are the fastest-growing end markets. On the question of whether HP will ever revive full-color 3D printing after shelving the technology, Monino said the underlying inkjet infrastructure is ready if demand returns. No plans are in place, but the pipeline is intact.

HP's additive manufacturing business is growing at 25% year on year, Monino said. Automotive is expanding from a small base, orthotics and prosthetics continue to grow, and robotics customers at outside service bureaus are filling the queue with prototype orders. More than 20 years after HP first explored 3D printing as a possible line of business, the company is treating the MJF 1200 launch as proof that the bet is still paying off.