GoProto Buys 3D Systems’ Australian Site, Largest 3D Printing Service in APAC Region

With manufacturing facilities in San Diego, California and Melbourne, Australia, rapid manufacturing company GoProto offers quick-turn, on-demand, services and solutions for 3D printing, CNC machining, injection molding, sheet metal, and more, for applications in a variety of sectors, including aerospace, industrial, and medical. This summer, the company announced that it had achieved the highest ever ranking for an additive manufacturer on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies, thanks to its 5366% growth rate. GoProto attributes its massive growth to a large customer base, adaptive supply chain, and its own expertise, and in that vein is continuing to grow its Industry 4.0 presence, as well as its AM capacity in North America and Australia.

Now, the company has just announced the acquisition of 3D Systems’ Australian facility, which is the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region’s largest digital manufacturing service bureau, as well as the acquisition of 3D scanning and digitizing experts WYSIWYG 3D in the same region.

“The current global supply chain structure has shifted during the pandemic. Companies are looking to minimize their risk in procuring production parts.  With our business model focusing on Industry 4.0 principles, expansion of capacities for domestic rapid manufacturing with the latest technologies and materials and the complete end-to- end service model, GoProto is ideally situated to help our customers with assurance of supply,” stated GoProto President and CEO Jesse Lea.

L-R: Simon Marriott, Director of GoProto ANZ, welcoming James Sanders, GM at 3D Systems Asia Pacific, and his team to the GoProto Group.

With these acquisitions, GoProto can now call itself the Australian market’s largest digital manufacturer. The WYSIWYG 3D acquisition, which took place in November, is meant to help GoProto set up a cooperative 3D and laser scanning presence in order to grow the digital manufacturing space.

“We’ve already been working on a number of projects with GoProto. Combining our expertise and resources shortens the time lag between scan data and production, putting ourselves exactly where our customers need us,” said Shane Rolton, the Managing Director at WYSIWYG 3D.

The Sydney-based 3D scanning services provider has been around since 2003, and will now offer its 3D CAD modeling, laser scanning, and photogrammetry expertise to customers through GoProto. This will create a solid, streamlined solution for the product development lifecycle, allow for further Industry 4.0 growth, and invite new customer opportunities.

Shane Rolton, Managing Director at WYSIWYG 3D, scanning a museum artifact.

GoProto’s critically important acquisition of the Melbourne-based 3D Systems’ on-demand manufacturing facility was official as of this week, and will help the company reach its goal of becoming the region’s largest Industry 4.0 participant. The facility was only commissioned two years ago, and is home to an experienced operations and management team, as well as many 3D Systems production 3D printers.

The sale of the site falls in line with the strategy of 3D Systems’ new CEO, Jeff Graves, described both in a written interview and on the 3DPOD. Graves mentioned he was aiming to sell off assets that he didn’t see as critical to the business. By divesting these assets, Graves aims to remove $100 million in costs from the company over 18 months, with the $60 million mark to be achieved by the end of 2020.

“This acquisition is a significant leap forward in our growth plans for the region with an experienced management team that pioneered the introduction of 3D printing into APAC,” said Simon Marriott, Director at GoProto (ANZ) Pty Ltd. “The benefits to our manufacturing customers will be significant as they transition to Industry 4.0 and seek to build agile supply chains that are resilient to global influences.”

GoProto is also expanding its production capacity in other parts of the world as well, which really shows the company’s commitment to being a digital manufacturing and Industry 4.0 leader. The North American facility just installed two high-productivity 5210 Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers, which is the latest in HP’s MJF systems following its 4200 series, and is being scooped up quickly by service bureaus, including 3DPrintUK and Weerg Italy.

The 2 new HP 5210 Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printers (white) at GoProto’s San Diego, CA location (existing 6 HP 4200 MJF printers are in the background).

HP’s 5200 series offers 150% more output than a single 4200 system, and also addresses many of the cooling, heating, and efficiency issues with that line. GoProto was one of the first six members of HP’s Digital Manufacturing Network, and by adding the two new 5210 systems to the existing range of six 4200 MJF printers that are housed at the San Diego facility, the company is expanding the location’s production capacity by about 50%. In addition, build units at the site are up from 30 to 34, which means all eight of its HP MJF 3D printers are capable of achieving 24/7 production.

(Source/Images: GoProto)