Stratasys Ltd. unveiled new technologies and partnerships with heavyweights Siemens, Boeing and Ford Motor Co. in a move that could accelerate the 3-D printer's prominence in lightweight auto and aerospace parts manufacturing, company officials said.
Stratasys CEO Ilan Levin told investors and trade writers from eight countries Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza Bloomington that from now on Stratasys would rely on partnerships with industrial customers to help solve manufacturing problems, drive innovation and grow the company.
To that end, Levin introduced what he called "game changers" — technologies that can make industrial-strength but lightweight parts for cars and planes and can print parts in extremely large sizes for the first time.
The Infinite-Build 3-D Demonstrator — made to satisfy specifications from Boeing and Ford Motor — can seamlessly print large lightweight components that are the size of a building or the length of an entire airplane.
The new Robotic Composite 3-D Demonstrator combines Stratasys' advanced 3-D printing composite materials and extrusion capabilities with Siemens' motion control hardware and product management software.
The new machines also speed up the painfully slow 3-D printing process by about tenfold. Officials emphasized that the new technologies introduce a new phase of "additive manufacturing" for the auto and aerospace industries, but declined to disclose development costs or say when or how much revenue will be generated by the new technologies.
If successful, however, analysts said the new partnerships and products might help struggling Stratasys gain marketshare in the competitive 3-D printing marketplace and also make some money. Stratasys, which lost $1.4 billion last year and has lost $41 million for the first half of this year, is recovering financially after years of heavy technology investments and after one bad and costly stumble in the consumer 3-D printing realm.
Forty investors were bused Tuesday from the Bloomington hotel to Stratasys' Eden Prairie U.S. headquarters to see Stratasys' new machines in action. While investors snapped away cellphone picture and videos, the new Robotic Composite 3-D Demonstrator rotated, changed axis and continuously spiraled, laying molten composites into various patterns without stopping and without using traditional chopped up plastic filaments. That seamless capability differs from regular 3-D printing methods that deposit chopped strings of molten plastic in straight lines.