Alumni :      GAN YU HAN , MASTER OF ENGINEERING SCIENCE (STRUCTURE A)    

                                                 Batch of AUG 2013                                                  

                                                MAK KWAN WUEY, BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (HONS) ELECTRONIC

                                                AND COMMUNICATIONS  ENGINEERING,

                                                Batch of SEP 2011

When we started - it was all about 3D printing technology

The year was 2012, somewhere in October. Our founder, Mak was walking around in a mall, looking for a unique birthday present for his girlfriend. One shop had the perfect gift but there were a few similar looking ones sold too, so it wasn't unique. Another gift shop also had a suitable present but it wasn't special either because the item could not be customized or personalised. After shopping for the next one hour in the mall, Mak ended up buying a functional item for his other half but was not overly satisfied with it and thought that this problem could be solved.

On the same night, Mak tried looking online again for customized gifts and souvenirs but did not find many options. Mak is naturally a technology enthusiast and consistently follow technology related news every day. A few days later, Mak came across an article about 3D printing technology and how it has the potential to revolutionize the rapid-prototyping industry. More importantly, it can empower people to self-manufacture their own products and customize them in any way they want! So, since it was 2012 and 3D printing technology is still in its infancy in Asia, Mak decided to quit his day job as an engineer and venture into the world of 3D printing ..... and Makerzone.net was born!

To build Makerzone successfully was not easy. During the early stage, Mak teamed up with Jacky and Yu Han, both engineers where all three of them have known each other since their university days and won numerous nationwide competitions and awards together. Therefore, this time, they are working together again to build Makerzone into an end to end 3D printing solution for consumers. The original idea was to create a website that provides customized gifts and presents to consumers using 3D printing technology. This would be the marketplace for people to look for very unique and specialized gifts for their loved ones.

Over the past one year, Makerzone has evolved as a brand. In addition to just providing a marketplace for consumers to look for customized gifts, Makerzone has evolved and expanded into an online platform which provides 3D printing and design services, an end to end solution from designing your own 3D blueprint to printing it out into an actual functional product.

So here is the vision:

-          One day, everyone will own a 3D printer and have the capability to self-manufacture their own products

-          However, not everyone knows how to create their own 3D blueprints and will need a professional 3D designer to produce it for them

-          Currently, users can download pre-designed 3D blueprints online and print them out using their own 3D printer but the blueprints are limited and may not be what the user wants

-          Makerzone will be that online platform which brings consumers and 3D designers together into one place where they can collaborate safely to build their very own 3D blueprints

We believe that by providing a safe and reliable platform for users to produce their very own personalized 3D blueprints by working together with designers, Makerzone has truly empowered consumers to self-manufacture their own products and probably along the way, also producing some very successful micro-entrepreneurs.

Makerzone is the first 3D printing company in Malaysia providing 3D printing and design services. Makerzone is an online platform which focuses on crowd-sourced 3D design services. Their vision is to bring consumers and 3D designers together to create awesome 3D blueprints. The problem is, not everyone with a 3D printer can turn their ideas into a 3D blueprint. Users can only print out pre-design items from the internet (example thingiverse.com). Therefore, Makerzone will enable users to post their 2D sketch with description and some monetary bounty to 3D designers. The platform will include 3D rendering engine, star rating system, commenting system and many more features to systemize and automate the communication between the consumer and 3D designer. This platform is simple, convenient, safe, and unique.

Makerzone is co-founded by three former UTAR students, Mak Kuan Wuey, Liu Chee Wei and Gan Yu Han. They have won the Schneider Electric 2010 Green the World Competition, a national competition as First Runner-Up together and IEEE STUDENT Conference 2010 best exhibition award winner. Mak is the Chief Executive Officer of the company. He was a First Class graduate from the Bachelor of Electronic and Communication Engineering degree. He is involved in the vision and future company directions and technical aspects of 3D printing technology and machine acquisitions of Makerzone. Liu Chee Wei is a graduate from the Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and is the Chief Operating Officer of the company. He is involved in the web development and design of makerzone.net, organizing and planning the road map of the company directions and handles the B2B businesses. Currently, Liu is in-charge of coming out with new 3D printed products to be sold to the Malaysian consumer market. Gan Yu Han was a Master of Engineering Science graduate, patent holder and has recently won the Best Young Technopreneur Award at the Best Technopreneur Competition 2012. He is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer and involves in the marketing, sales, networking, finance, supply chain, and the business development aspects of Makerzone. For those who are interested, feel free to contact Makerzone at Makerzone.net@gmail.com. To follow Makerzone, join them at their Facebook page www.facebook.com/makerzone.

Makerzone's booth at the Yuan Carnival