Stratasys and HP Sign Definitive Agreement for Stratasys to Manufacture HP-Branded 3D Printers

Stratasys :  , Inc. (Nasdaq: SSYS), the leading manufacturer of 3D printers and 3D production systems, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with HP for Stratasys to manufacture an HP-branded 3D printer. Used by product designers and architects, Stratasys 3D printers create three-dimensional plastic models directly from 3D digital designs.

Under the terms of the agreement, Stratasys will develop and manufacture for HP an exclusive line of 3D printers based on Stratasys’ patented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. HP will begin a phased rollout of the 3D printers in the mechanical design (MCAD) market in selected countries later this year, with the right to extend distribution globally.

“We believe the time is right for 3D printing to become mainstream,” said Stratasys Chairman and CEO Scott Crump. “We also believe that HP’s unmatched sales and distribution capabilities and Stratasys FDM technology is the right combination to achieve broader 3D printer usage worldwide. HP has made a similar move in this market before, capturing a dominant position in large-format 2D printers. Together we hope to repeat this success with 3D printers.”

“There are millions of 3D designers using 2D printers who are ready to bring their designs to life in 3D,” said Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager of HP’s Large Format Printing Business. “Stratasys FDM technology is the ideal platform for HP to enter the 3D MCAD printing market and begin to capitalize on this untapped opportunity.”

HP’s Graphic Solutions Business – part of the company’s $24 billion Imaging and Printing Group – will execute the distribution agreement. HP is a leading provider of Designjet and Scitex large-format printing solutions, Indigo digital solutions for commercial and industrial printing, inkjet high-speed production solutions and specialty printing systems.

Industry Background

Designers and architects that design with CAD (Computer Aided Design) use 3D printers as peripheral devices to “print” or create a tangible 3D model from plastic or other material. The model is created directly from the CAD digital design. The models are used by designers, engineers and architects to verify the form, fit, and functional characteristics of their designs prior to committing those designs to production or construction.

The technology to produce 3D models directly from a digital design has been commercial for over 20 years, but recent advances in 3D printers have dramatically reduced their cost, and improved ease-of-use and reliability. Stratasys introduced its first Dimension 3D printer in 2002, priced under $30,000. Early last year, Stratasys broke the $15,000 barrier with its office-friendly uPrint 3D printer, which fits on a desktop.

Stratasys is the sales leader in 3D printing. Its printers are based on patented Stratasys FDM technology. FDM is the only technology to use high-performance industrial thermoplastics to make prototypes. Click on FDM Process :  for a video demonstration of the FDM process.

Stratasys, Inc., Minneapolis, manufactures additive fabrication machines for prototyping and manufacturing plastic parts under the brands Fortus 3D Production Systems and Dimension 3D Printers. The company also operates RedEye On Demand, an online service for part prototyping and production. According to Wohlers Report 2009, Stratasys supplied 43 percent of all additive fabrication systems installed worldwide in 2008, making it the unit market leader for the seventh consecutive year. Stratasys patented and owns the process known as FDM. ® The process creates functional prototypes and manufactured goods directly from any 3D CAD program, using high-performance industrial thermoplastics. The company holds more than 250 granted or pending additive fabrication patents globally. Stratasys products are used in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, business & industrial equipment, education, architecture, and consumer-product industries.
Online at: www.Stratasys.com :  

Stratasys, Dimension, uPrint, and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) are registered trademarks of Stratasys, Inc. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Forward Looking Statements

All statements herein that are not historical facts or that include such words as “expects,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “estimates,” “vision,” “planning”, “believes” or similar words constitute forward-looking statements covered by the safe harbor protection of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except for the historical information herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These include statements regarding projected revenue and income in future quarters; the size of the 3D printing market; our objectives for the marketing and sale of our Dimension ® 3D Printers and our Fortus TM 3D Production Systems, particularly for use in direct digital manufacturing (DDM); the demand for our proprietary consumables; the expansion of our paid parts service; and our beliefs with respect to the growth in the demand for our products. Other risks and uncertainties that may affect our business include our ability to penetrate the 3D printing market; our ability to achieve the growth rates experienced in preceding quarters; our ability to introduce, produce and market new materials, such as ABSplus and ABS-M30, and the market acceptance of these and other materials; the impact of competitive products and pricing; our timely development of new products and materials and market acceptance of those products and materials; the success of our recent R&D initiative to expand the DDM capabilities of our core FDM technology; and the success of our RedEyeOnDemand TM and other paid parts services. Actual results may differ from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. These statements represent beliefs and expectations only as of the date they were made. We may elect to update forward-looking statements, but we expressly disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our beliefs and expectations change. In addition to the statements described above, such forward-looking statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties described more fully in our reports filed or to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

This release is also available on the Stratasys Web site at www.Stratasys.com :  .

© Business Wire 2010

2010-01-19 12:14:13 - 

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Mold the rapid prototyping business to fit your company

When you use rapid prototyping and manufacturing in your product development, you speed up overall development to get your products through final production and into the market place. 
Today's prototype manufacturing allows you to turn out replicas that are much closer to final product than ever before.

There's something about holding a model that moves a product beyond the abstraction of a CAD screen, both for you and your customers.

When you incorporate rapid prototyping into your development process, you can make adjustments more accurately, since you can fit the model into the rest of the project.
You can determine which variations to an existing product work best by quickly generating multiple versions that look or work very much like the final product. And, you can strengthen the feedback loop between you and your customers, by showing them the prototypes rather then just drawings or rough mock ups.

The business of rapid prototyping allows a lot of flexibility in establishing your production process, from using only engineering consultation to full-scale outsourcing of the entire process, up to and including rapid manufacturing. Determine how much you would need rapid manufacturing service providers by answering these questions:

1. How much of your corporate resources can you allocate to rapid prototyping and manufacturing?

2. How centralized is your process - are you under one roof or do you have multiple sites, and spread apart how far?

3. How much control or security do you need around the process - are you in a highly 'sensitive' industry, or produce high-precision products that require considerable fine tuning before final production?

Action Steps 
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Take your rapid prototyping business to a pro
Partner with a company that specializes in the prototyping business, especially if the prototype manufacturer is located close to the facility where final manufacture will occur.

Take your prototype manufacturing in-house
To gain more control over your product lifecycles, handle the prototype manufacturing internally by purchasing rapid prototype builder machinery.

I recommend: Stratasys, Inc. has developed a system called Fused Deposition Modeling that manufactures prototype parts in three steps with thermoplastics used in regular production, and requires no special ventilation. Solidscape, Inc. offers equipment that literally fits on your desktop, like a large laser printer, for high-precision products.

Take a turn-key approach to rapid prototyping and manufacturing
If you want to concentrate on in-house design and product marketing, use rapid manufacturing service providers that can handle the whole process, from prototype to final production.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
• Like any business, the business of rapid prototyping continually adapts and adopts technologies, from raw materials development to higher-resolution digital equipment and Internet convergence. As rapid prototyping matures, the industry will grow further into rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing. Partner with companies that have prepared for this expansion.

By John Williams, Business Writing and Research
http://www.business.com/

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SolidWild; 3D Printing in Progress

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FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a solid-based rapid prototyping method that extrudes material, layer-by-layer, to build a model. The system consists of a build platform, extrusion nozzle, and control system. 

The build material, production quality thermoplastics, is melted and then extruded through a specially designed head onto a platform to create a two-dimensional cross section of the model. The cross section quickly solidifies, and the platform descends where the next layer is extruded upon the previous layer. This continues until the model is complete, where it is then removed from the build chamber and cleaned for shipping. 

Fused deposition modeling, which is often referred to by its initials FDM, is a type of additive fabrication or (sometimes called rapid prototyping / rapid manufacturing (RP or RM)) technology commonly used within engineering design. The technology was developed by S. Scott Crump in the late 1980s and was commercialized in 1990. The FDM technology is marketed commercially by Stratasys, which also holds a trademark on the term.

Like most other additive fabrication processes (such as 3D printing and stereolithography) FDM works on an "additive" principle by laying down material in layers. A plastic filament or metal wire is unwound from a coil and supplies material to an extrusion nozzle which can turn on and off the flow. The nozzle is heated to melt the material and can be moved in both horizontal and vertical directions by a numerically controlled mechanism, directly controlled by a computer-aided design software package. The model or part is produced by extruding small beads of thermoplastic material to form layers as the material hardens immediately after extrusion from the nozzle.

Several materials are available with different trade-offs between strength and temperature properties. As well as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer, the FDM technology can also be used with polycarbonates, polycaprolactone, polyphenylsulfones and waxes. A "water-soluble" material can be used for making temporary supports while manufacturing is in progress. Marketed under the name WaterWorks by Stratasys, this soluble support material is quickly dissolved with specialized mechanical agitation equipment utilizing a precisely heated sodium hydroxide solution.

Commercial applications
Most available commercial printers using FDM technology utilize positioning systems employing either stepper motor or servo motors to move the extrusion head.

In 2006, FDM was the best-selling rapid prototyping technology.

FDM systems include two different product lines. The "high-end" FDM systems include the FDM 900mc, FDM 400mc, FDM 360mc and FDM 200mc. These systems are the highest performance FDM systems capabale of producing parts from the largest range of thermoplastic materials, feature detail, surface finish, accuracy. FDM uses production-grade thermoplastics, such as ABS, ABSi, polyphenylsulfone (PPSF) and polycarbonate (PC), including PC-ABS. Because of the material properties, FDM parts typically withstand functional testing and have high heat resistance. Some companies have sterilized PPSF for medical applications, however material manufacturer Stratasys does not advertise that PPSF is sterilizable.

Stratasys also markets a line of 3D Printers that print 3D models using the same core FDM technology. Called Dimension systems, these 3D Printers don't have the same performance or material options as a "high-end" FDM system, but are much less expensive.

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