SINGAPORE — Southeast Asia's largest commercial 3D printing facility opened on Monday morning in Singapore.

The factory, owned by Ultra Clean Holdings (UCT), will provide services for both businesses and consumers, and targets aerospace and medical sectors.

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The facility was launched in a semi-operational state back in November 2014, according to a blog post by Lavi Lev, senior vice president for Asia at UCT.

He said the new facility is able to print in 17 materials, including precious metals like gold and brass, and ceramics:

Lev said the firm decided to invest in the facility because more needs to be done on the "serious" side of 3D printing. He said that much of the recent discussion around 3D printing has revolved around the consumer piece, but much more can be done on the manufacturing end and for businesses that rely on the production of parts.

These include construction sites, factories, and home parts suppliers such as washing machine makers, he said.

UCT decided to buff up its 3D printing capabilities in Singapore in order to reach manufacturers in Asia faster, said Lev.

For consumers and smaller firms, UCT offers a site called i.materialise.com.sg that lets designers submit their 3D models for printing.

UCT is a Nasdaq-listed firm that provides contract manufacturing services including assembly, machining and welding. It first opened its Singapore office, which also functions as its Asia-Pacific headquarters, in end-2008.

Outside of Singapore, the California-headquartered firm has five offices in the US, two facilities in Shanghai, and one in the Philippines.

UCT competes with a number of other large commercial 3D printing firms here, such as 3D Matters and Zelta 3D.

On the home DIY front, several consumer models have hit the market in recent years made by Singapore firms such as Pirate3D and Portabee.

In 2013, Pirate3D made headlines after it raised US$1.4 million — way beyond its US$100,000 goal — on Kickstarter for a home 3D printer. While it faced delivery problems to its crowdfunding backers, it managed to raise another US$2 million from investors in February 2015 for a more advanced model aimed at architects and designers.

The government has been eyeing the 3D printing sector as a key piece in securing Singapore's place in the global manufacturing industry. It announced in 2013 it planned to invest S$500 million (US$350 million) over five years to upgrade 3D printing skill sets here.