500+ clients. 10,000+ parts printed. 98% on-time delivery. Houston-made, engineer-reviewed, and accountable to your deadline. Here's what sets us apart from the alternatives.
Get a Quote See Our Process48-hour rush production is real — not a marketing claim. We stock materials, maintain production capacity, and have a team that works around deadlines when they're tight. Same-day Houston delivery available on most orders placed before 10am.
Every part we quote is produced in our Houston facility. No outsourcing to a network of shops. No wait-to-see-which-shop-picks-it-up. You know exactly where your parts are being made and who's accountable for them.
FDM, SLA resin, SLS nylon, multi-material, and large-format printing — all under one roof. We select the right technology for your application, not just the one we happen to own. One vendor, full capability spectrum.
Every client is offered a mutual NDA before files are transferred. Your IP, your designs, and your project details are treated as confidential. We don't post client work without permission. File security is a baseline requirement, not an upgrade.
Most print services print what you send them. We review what you send and make it better. Our engineering team reviews every file for printability, flags DFM issues, and suggests improvements before production starts. We catch problems before you see them.
Repeat clients get a dedicated account manager — a single point of contact who knows your projects, your preferences, and your standards. No re-explaining your requirements on every order. Just call your contact and get it done.
| Feature | Export Commodity | Online Services (Xometry / Shapeways) | Typical Local Competitors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quote turnaround | 2–4 hours same day | Instant (algorithmic) — no engineering review | 1–3 business days |
| Production location | In-house, Houston TX | Distributed network — unknown shop | In-house or outsourced |
| Rush availability | 24–48 hour rush standard | Limited, expensive, shop-dependent | Case by case |
| Engineering file review | Every order, included | None — print as submitted | Sometimes, for extra fee |
| NDA / IP protection | Standard on every engagement | TOS-based, limited protections | On request |
| Technologies available | FDM, SLA, SLS, multi-material, large format | Wide but distributed, no single-source | Usually 1–2 technologies |
| Same-day local delivery | Yes — Houston metro | No | Sometimes |
| Account management | Dedicated contact for repeat clients | Online portal only | Varies |
"We had an RFP deadline in 72 hours and needed a 1:100 site model for our planning presentation. Export Commodity had it printed, finished, and delivered with 6 hours to spare. The quality was outstanding — the review board thought it was a professionally contracted model house piece."Lisa R. — Project Manager, Houston Architecture Firm
"As a mechanical engineer, I'm particular about tolerances and material specs. ExCom was the first local print shop that actually spoke my language — they reviewed my GD&T callouts, flagged one feature I'd missed, and delivered parts that hit spec on the first run. That's rare."James M. — Senior Engineer, Oilfield Equipment Manufacturer
"I'm a startup founder with a hardware product. I went through four prototype iterations with ExCom over six weeks. Every round came back fast, on budget, and better than I expected. When I walked into my seed round with a physical prototype in hand, investors took me seriously immediately."Karina L. — Founder, Consumer Hardware Startup, Houston TX
"Our university research lab needed custom apparatus for an experiment — something commercial suppliers didn't make. ExCom produced it from my sketches, had a prototype to me in two days, and iterated twice to get it exactly right. The educational pricing made it work within our grant budget."Raj P. — Research Scientist, University of Houston College of Engineering
Online services like Xometry and Shapeways use algorithmic quoting and distributed manufacturing networks. You upload a file, get an instant price, and wait for a shop somewhere in their network to pick up your order. There's no engineering review of your file, no relationship with the people making your parts, and no one accountable to your specific deadline. At Export Commodity, a human engineer reviews your file before production starts, we produce everything in-house in Houston, and you have a direct contact for your order. For simple commodity parts, online services are fine. For anything where quality, timing, or IP protection matters — we're the better choice.
Yes. While same-day delivery is a Houston-only benefit, we ship nationwide and have clients across Texas and across the country. We communicate via email, phone, and video call for clients who aren't local. Files are submitted digitally, quotes are emailed, and finished parts ship via FedEx or UPS with tracking. For large or fragile items, we arrange freight shipping with appropriate packaging. Being Houston-based means you get the benefits of a local shop's accountability and quality even when you're ordering remotely.
Three things: pre-production file review, in-process monitoring, and post-production dimensional inspection. We review every file before printing — catching errors that would produce a bad part. We monitor prints in progress for failures that waste your time. And every finished part goes through a dimensional spot-check against your nominal geometry before it ships. If something doesn't meet spec, we reprint it before telling you it's ready. Our 98% on-time delivery rate reflects a process designed to prevent problems rather than react to them.
Yes. Facility tours and in-person consultations are available by appointment. Seeing the equipment, meeting the team, and understanding the production environment firsthand is something we encourage for new clients working on complex or sensitive projects. Contact us to schedule a visit — we're in Houston and happy to walk you through our capabilities in person.