3D Systems

3D Systems Corporation

File:3DLogo06n - Red PMS 187 rgb.png
Company type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: DDD
Founded	Valencia, California, U.S. (1986 (1986))
Headquarters	Rock Hill, South Carolina , U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Abe Reichental (President & CEO) Chuck Hull (CTO)
Products	3D Printers Stereolithography Systems Sintering Systems Engineered Materials
Revenue	US$230 Million (2011)
Operating income	US$34.9 Million (2011)
Net income	US$35.4 Million (2011)
Total assets	US$462.9 Million (2011)
Total equity	US$254.7 Million (2011)
Number of employees	1000+ [1]
Website	www.3dsystems.com

3D Systems, headquartered in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is a global, integrated solutions 3D printing company specializing in 3D printers, print materials, professional and consumer custom-parts services and 3D imaging and customization software. Its products are meant to make manufacturing processes more efficient, without requiring tooling. 3D Systems creates product concept models, precision and functional prototypes, master patterns for tooling, as well as production parts for direct digital manufacturing. 3D Systems uses proprietary processes to fabricate physical objects using input from computer-aided design and manufacturing software, or 3D scanning and sculpting devices. 3D Systems' technologies and services are used in the design, development and production stages of many industries, including aerospace, automotive, architecture, health care, dental, entertainment, recreation and consumer goods. 3D Systems offers professional- and production-grade 3D printers, in addition to a line of personal 3D printers and 3D-printed consumer products, supported by the affiliated online forum Cubify. 3D Systems is notable within the 3D printing industry for developing stereolithography and the STL file format.

History

3D Systems was founded in 1986 in Valencia, California, by Chuck Hull, the inventor and patent-holder of the first stereolithography (SLA) rapid prototyping system. Prior to Hull's introduction of SLA rapid prototyping, concept models required extensive time and money to produce. The innovation of SLA was intended to reduce these resource expenditures while increasing the quality and accuracy of the resulting model. Early SLA systems were complex and costly, however, and required extensive redesign before achieving commercial viability. Primary issues concerned hydrodynamic and chemical complications. In 1996 the introduction of solid-state lasers permitted Hull and his team to reformulate their materials into the first Solid State Stereolithography System. Interest from engineers in transportation, health care and consumer products helped fuel early phases of 3D Systems' rapid prototyping research and development. These industries remain key followers of 3D Systems' technology.

In 2003, Hull was succeeded by Abe Reichental, the current president and CEO of 3D Systems. In 2012, both Reichental and Hull were listed among the top five most influential people in rapid technologies by TCT Magazine. Hull remains an active member of 3D Systems' board and serves as the company's Chief Technical Officer. In 2007, 3D Systems relocated its headquarters to Rock Hill, South Carolina, citing a favorable business climate, a sustained lower cost of doing business, and significant investment and tax benefits as reasons for the move.

Growth

In late 2009, 3D Systems began an acquisitions program that has expanded the company's technology in the form of access and ownership to collections of engineers, designers, software, materials, printers and printable content. The rate of 3D Systems' acquisitions (16 in 2011) has raised some eyebrows with regard to the task facing 3D Systems' management team. Other onlookers point to the encompassing scope of the acquisitions to indicate calculated steps by 3D Systems to consolidate the 3D printing industry under one roof and logo to become a comprehensive one-stop-shop capable of servicing each link in the scan/create-to-print chain.

3D Systems now employs over 1000 people in 25 offices worldwide. Through its acquisitions, 3D Systems has achieved a strong and growing presence in Asia-Pacific (China, Korea, Japan) and Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the United Kingdom), in addition to expanding its brand of print materials, printers, industrial and professional CAD software, on-demand custom parts services, data capture and scanning technologies, and customizable, ready-to-print consumer collections. 3D Systems' corporate statements indicate the company's desire to facilitate user creation and "remove expert/user friction between content creation and print."

In May of 2011, 3D Systems transferred from NASDAQ (TDSC) to the New York Stock Exchange (DDD). Company stock has risen with general consistency since its entry to the exchange, as have company revenues and profits. In 2012, a Gray Wolf Report predicted 3D Systems' rate of growth to be unsustainable, pointing to inflated impressions from acquisitions as a corporate misstatement of organic growth. 3D Systems responded to this article on November 19, 2012, claiming it to "contain materially false statements and erroneous conclusions that we believe defamed the company and its reputation and resulted in losses to our shareholders." One offending article was removed as a result. Sequential increases in earnings from actual sales and steady climbs in stock price per share provide reasonable cause for skepticism towards this report.

Vision

3D Systems' core corporate communication champions the possibilities enabled by 3D printing technology. The company supports and cheerleads the notion that 3D printing will revolutionize the way the world thinks and creates, and self-identifies as a leading innovator in a "disruptive" technology. The company believes 3D printing will positively impact global sustainability initiatives by reducing the carbon footprint of modern manufacturing's extensive need for shipping and inventory. 3D Systems projects a decentralized and re-localized future market in which private individuals or companies will be able to download digital designs for in-home or cloud printing.

3D Systems' CEO Abe Reichental predicts a future where "kids from 8 to 80" can design and print their ideas at home or locally. The company seeks to overcome design barriers of complex CAD software via 3D customization apps for mobile devices and the gamification of the design process to offer more intuitive software. The company claims it wants to bring "coloring book simplicity" to 3D printing.

Technology

3D Systems manufactures stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D jet printer systems, and fused deposition modeling(FDM). Each technology takes digital input from three-dimensional data to create three-dimensional parts through an additive, layer-by-layer process. The systems vary in their materials, print capacities and applications.

• Stereolithography, or SLA, was invented by 3D Systems’ founder Chuck Hull. Stereolithography describes the method and apparatus for making solid objects in a vat of liquid photopolylmer using ultraviolet curable material and a laser to trace the digital design. SLA systems print with supports and are advantageous due to the speed and possible size of prints (size depends on the build volume of the particular machine). SLA systems can also rapidly manufacture parts of different geometries at the same time and are designed to produce prototypes, patterns or end-use parts of versatile sizes and applications. SLA parts are strong enough to be machined and can be used as master patterns for injection molding, thermoforming, blow molding and various metal casting processes. (Full article: Stereolithography)

• Selective laser sintering, or SLS, is an additive manufacturing technique that uses a high power laser to fuse small particles together. Material options are wide, including plastic, metal, ceramic, nylon, polystrene or glass powders. In many cases, SLS is an efficient process because large numbers of parts can be printed in one session. SLS does not require any support structures, as parts are surrounded by unsintered powder at all times.

• 3D jet printing deposits a liquid binder across a powder bed using an inkjet-like printer head. Fresh layers of powder and binder are built up until the final geometry is achieved.

• Fused deposition modeling 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 the flow on and off. 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 manufacturing (CAM) 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. Stepper motors or servo motors are typically employed to move the extrusion head.

Products & Patents

As part of 3D Systems' effort to consolidate 3D printing under one logo, its products span a range of 3D printers and print products to target all potential consumers of its technologies. The three branches of printers offered by 3D Systems are personal, professional, and production. Though production-grade printers formed the early backbone of the company, 3D Systems' extension to professional and personal printers follows the company's reported desire to "level the playing field" in manufacturing and open up access to the resources that have traditionally been reserved for deep-pocketed companies. In addition to printers, 3D Systems offers content creation software to consumers unversed in CAD, with the expressed hope of making content creation "as simple and intuitive as a video game." Following a razors and blades business model, 3D Systems offers more than one hundred materials to be used with its printers, including waxes, rubber-like materials, metals, composites, plastics and nylons.

3D Systems is a closed-source company, relying on in-house innovation for product development and improvement, and a protective shield of patents to advantage its technologies over competitors'. Critics of the closed-source model have blamed seemingly slow development and innovation in 3D printing not on a lack of technology, but on a lack of open information sharing within the industry. Supporters of the closed source model argue that the right to patents inspires and motivates higher-quality innovations, leading to a better and more impressive final product.

In November 2012, 3D Systems filed a lawsuit against hobbyist 3D printer company Formlabs and the Kickstarter crowdfunding website over Formlabs attempt to fund a printer which it claimed infringed its patent on “Simultaneous multiple layer curing in stereolithography.”

3D Systems has applied for patents for the following innovations and technologies: the rapid prototyping and manufacturing system and method; radiation curable compositions useful in image projection systems; compensation of actinic radiation intensity profiles for 3D modelers; apparatus and method for cooling part cake in laser sintering; radiation curable compositions useful in solid freeform fabrication systems; apparatus for 3D printing using imaged layers; compositions and methods for selective deposition modeling; edge smoothness with low resolution projected images for use in solid imaging; elevator and method for titling solid image build platform for reducing air entrapment and for build release; selective deposition modeling methods for improved support-object interface; region-based supports for parts produced by solid freeform fabrication; additive manufacturing methods for improved curl control and sidewall quality; support and build material and applications.

Applications & Industries

3D Systems’ products and services are used across industries to assist, either in part or in full, the design, manufacture and/or marketing processes. 3D Systems' technologies and materials are used for prototyping and the production of functional end-use parts, in addition to fast, precise design communication. Current 3D Systems-reliant industries include automotive, aerospace and defense, architecture, dental and healthcare, consumer goods and manufacturing.

Examples of industry-specific applications include:

• Aerospace, for the manufacture and tooling of complex, durable and lighter-weight flight parts
• Architecture ,for structure verification, design review, client concept communication, reverse structure engineering, and expedited scaled modeling
• Automotive, for design verification, difficult visualizations, and new engine development
• Defense, for lightweight flight and surveillance parts and the reduction of inventory with on-demand printing
• Dentistry, for restorations, molds and treatments. Invisalign orthodontics uses 3D Systems' technologies
• Education, for equation and geometry visualizations and art schools and design initiatives
• Entertainment, for the manufacture and prototyping of action figures, toys, games and game components; printing of sustainable guitars and basses, multifunction synthesizers, etc.
• Healthcare, for customized hearing aids and prosthetics, improved medicine delivery methods, respiratory devices, therapeutics, and flexible endoscopy and laparoscopy devices for improved procedures and recovery times
• Manufacturing, for faster product development cycles, mold production, prototypes, and design trouble-shooting

For industries such as aerospace and automotive, 3D Systems' technologies have reduced the time needed to incorporate design drafts and enabled the production of more efficient parts of lighter weight. Because 3D printing builds layer-by-layer according to design, it does not need to accommodate the traditional manufacturing tools of subtractive methods, often resulting in lighter parts and more efficient geometries.

Facilities & Employees

In 2007, the company consolidated its offices, operations, and research and development functions into a new global headquarters in Rock Hill, SC, USA. About half of the headquarters’ 80,000 square feet (7,400 m²) consist of R&D laboratories with an 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m²) Rapid Manufacturing Center (RMC) with 3D Systems’ rapid prototyping, rapid manufacturing and 3D printing systems at work. 3D Systems has also opened a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m²) training center, 3D Systems University, in partnership with York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, to train prospective and existing customers.

With customers in 80 countries, 3D Systems has over 1000 employees in 25 worldwide locations, including San Francisco, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, China, Korea and Japan. The company has more than 359 U.S. and foreign patents.

Community Involvement & Partnerships

3D Systems is involved in a multi-year agreement with the Smithsonian Institution as part of a Smithsonian-wide effort to strengthen collections' stewardship and increase collection accessibility through 3D representations. This partnership is part of the company's attempt to broadcast the capabilities and applications of 3D printing while increasing "the visibility and accessibility of our national treasures."

In 2012, 3D Systems began partnering with the 90-year-old Scholastic Art&Writing Awards in the Future New category. For this branch of the Scholastic Awards, students will be challenged to express bold and innovative ideas using new technologies. 3D Systems will offer students free 3D design software to facilitate their creations and will award three winners with a $1000 scholarship. This money is in addition to the prizes and recognition granted winners by the Scholastic Awards.

3D Systems is a corporate underwriter of the National Children's Oral Health Foundation: America's ToothFairy® (NCOHF). NCOHF provides community programs to deliver educational, preventative and treatment oral health services to children in at-risk populations. 3D Systems contributes its 3D content-to-print solutions and Cubify capabilities to the NCOHF effort.

3D Systems has contributed two production-grade 3D printers to the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in Youngstown, Ohio, the first center of a federal initiative to enhance the competitiveness of US industry. The Youngstown institute is just one regional hub of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), which aspires to build "world-class centers for applied research, technology incubation and commercialization" to re-localize manufacturing and strengthen US competitiveness

See also

• Chuck Hull
• Stereolithography
• Selective laser sintering
• 3D printing

External links

• Official website
• 3D Systems RMC Tour on YouTube
• Professional Printers Website