3D Systems: A Look Into The Company’s Future Strategies

Last week we briefly touched on 3D Systems’ 2014 Investor & Analyst Day, where they revealed, in more detail, some of the racetrack architecture which will power their recent partnership with Google, for Project Ara. With the company’s stock down substantially in the last year, many investors have questioned their long term strategy.

Last week, however, seemed to have put many doubts to rest. 3D Systems revealed a whole slew of projects they are working on for the second half of 2014. Below is a general overview of some of the more notable information revealed last week to investors.

Purpose of Raising $300 Million With Secondary Offering
Late last month 3D Systems diluted shareholders as they announced a secondary offering, raising $300 million in cash for the company. Last week, they revealed that the funds will be used to focus on ‘the 3 M’s’: Materials, metal, and medical, as well as for the global expansion of Quickparts.  Initially many investors believed that an acquisition had been planned, however, it appears that a general expansion within the company is about to take place, with the help of this additional funding.

Broad Consumer Adoption on The Way
3D Systems discussed, in detail, why the second half of this year will see continued broad consumer adoption of their 3D printers and accessories. Teaming with companies like Hershey, Hasbro, Staples and Mattel, 3D systems will continue to make strides within the consumer market for 3D printers, and 3D printed items.  These partnerships are also expected to bring the technology further into the mainstream by year’s end.

World’s First Digital Bakery
3D Systems unveiled something very interesting. They will soon be launching the world’s first digital bakery. It will be opened this fall in Los Angeles, California. The company believes that such a storefront will help promote their 3D sugar printer, the ChefJet. Further details on this bakery are forthcoming.

Large Fab-grade 3D Metal Printer

3D Metal Printing, Growing Fast
One of the fastest growing segments of 3D Systems’ business is laser sintering of metals. The company literally can not keep up with demand. They also revealed that they have plans to produce fab-grade, larger, faster metal printers which will be unveiled in November at Euromold 2014. These printers will help increase the adoption rate of laser sintering devices within direct manufacturing.

“Given that additive manufacturing only accounts for 0.1% of the $10.5 trillion manufacturing market at present, the company sees an open-ended growth opportunity in its production-grade technology,” the company stated in a press release.

Google’s Project Ara, and the Technology Behind Mass Manufacturing With 3D Printing
In previous articles we have discussed the amazing racetrack architecture of the new 3D printing technology, which 3D Systems will be utilizing in the production of millions of Google Project Ara smartphone modules. Last week 3D Systems revealed further details on just how this technology will function, as well as their plan to not only use the new system with Google, but also within other manufacturing sectors.

It’s certainly an exciting time to not only be an investor within the 3D printing space, but also a fan of the technology. We are seeing seismic changes within methods of manufacturing, which we have not seen in nearly a century. It will be interesting to see where the next decade leads us. Discuss this latest update in the 3D Systems forum thread at 3DPB.com