MakerBots are made with Brooklyn Pride! With its original roots in the Brooklyn community, MakerBot, the leader in the desktop 3D printing industry, has expanded its manufacturing capability with a new manufacturing facility in the Sunset Park district of Brooklyn.

The new facility has 55,000 square feet of production, warehouse and shipping space, and will be home to the manufacturing of the popular MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer, the MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental Desktop 3D Printer, and later this year, the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner.

The company held a ceremonial ribbon cutting on Friday, June 7, for invited guests and media. The MakerBot Factory, which boasts high ceilings and large windows, and is in a central location for transportation and shipping, currently employees 100 employees, out of the 267 that work for MakerBot.

The "productors," as they are referred to within MakerBot, are skilled employees that carefully and meticulously assemble the MakerBot desktop 3D printers by hand. While robots and automated assembly lines are not utilized for manufacturing MakerBots, the factory does offer other state-of-the-art facilities and works as a great incubator for innovation.

The site also houses one of MakerBot's "Bot Farms" where 3D prints are printed for the MakerBot Store in Manhattan and for other partners of the company, such as Autodesk, Nokia, OUYA, Printcraft, MoMA, and more.

"MakerBot is an innovation company. We innovate so others can innovate," said Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot. Pettis founded MakerBot four years ago in 2009 in the Boreum Hill section of Brooklyn, and the company has grown rapidly, with another recent move in January of this year of its administrative, engineering, and marketing staff to a larger office in the MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn, which is in the center of the Brooklyn Technology Triangle.

"Opening our new MakerBot Factory is a big step for us in being a growing company," noted Pettis.

"We have always made MakerBots with Brooklyn Pride and are really proud to be a part of the Made in NY initiative, so staying in Brooklyn and manufacturing in the U.S. is very important to us. We are glad we were able to find such a great spot here in the Sunset Park district of Brooklyn."

Special guests at the ribbon cutting ceremony included Brooklyn Borough president Marty Markowitz and Rachel Hoat, New York City's chief digital officer.

Hoat spoke at the opening and said, "MakerBot is shaping the future of manufacturing, and the decision to expand MakerBot's office and workforce in Brooklyn illustrates that New York City is the world's center of creativity and innovation. Now thanks to companies like MakerBot, New York City is fast emerging as the capital of 3D printing as well. MakerBot is part of the thriving community of over 1,000 Made in NY tech companies headquartered in New York City, and we are so proud that they call New York City home."