3D Systems announces expansion amid rising healthcare application needs

May 5, 2021

3D Systems, headquartered in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, has announced an expansion of its presence in Denver, Colorado, in order to support its healthcare solutions business and expand the industrial application development capabilities for its Application Innovation Group (AIG). This is a continuation of the investment phase of the company’s plan to focus on its strategic purpose in enabling Additive Manufacturing solutions for applications in growing markets that demand high-reliability products.

For more than a decade, 3D Systems has delivered a portfolio of healthcare solutions, including patient-specific surgical instruments and implants, manufactured at its FDA-registered and ISO 13485-certified location in Denver. This expansion will increase the company’s Denver footprint by over 50% and the company anticipates it will be completed in the second quarter of 2022.

In addition to providing critical working and collaboration space for growing teams, the expansion will enable the addition of multiple Additive Manufacturing machines – including forthcoming products – and large scale post-processing equipment that will automate key aspects of the production workflow for parts as large as those of the DMP Factory 500. This will enable the development and demonstration of the technical and economic viability of a greater range of AM solutions for both healthcare and industrial market segments.

Through this next phase of AM investment, the company hopes to be able to accelerate time-to-market, expand its offerings, and better support the needs of its growing customer base. This positions 3D Systems to continue its growth trajectory for patient-specific craniomaxillofacial applications through expanded production capacity and ongoing product innovations. It will also enable the company to increase its participation in the larger patient-specific orthopaedics market through the development and deployment of new joint replacement solutions.

The services provided by the company’s AIG are said to be critical to accelerating the journey from proof-of-concept for new customer applications to full-scale workflow definition and initial production. The team employs their experience to understand the customer’s needs and jointly innovate potential application solutions that are subsequently developed into full manufacturing workflows. From there, the AIG validates and, where necessary, supports obtaining certification and regulatory approvals. With this complete, the parts are then ready for production either at a 3D Systems manufacturing facility or the customer’s site.

Additionally, through this infrastructure investment, the company will add knowledge and the most advanced polymer and metal AM technologies to address new, more complex industrial applications, such as those for aerospace.

“The combination of maturing industrial-scale metal and polymer printing technology and advanced material solutions with a customer base that increasingly seeks the performance, flexibility and cost benefits of large-scale Additive Manufacturing, is driving significantly increased demand for our products and services,” stated Dr Jeffrey Graves, president and CEO. “Our Application Innovation Group has demonstrated tremendous benefits for enabling the adoption of complex applications for customers across our healthcare and industrial businesses.”

“We pursue a consultative approach with our customers that starts with understanding their unique application performance and cost needs and develop a custom solution to address that need,” he continued. “It’s about bringing to life a customer’s understanding of what is possible with Additive Manufacturing, then producing the parts, scaling the initial production volumes, demonstrating the economics, and ultimately enabling them to continue high-volume production in the future.2

“From joint application development to qualifying and validating parts and processes, manufacturing, and then installing a complete solution at the customer site – we partner with customers to solve their most difficult design and production challenges and empower them to maintain that momentum. This is the heart of our growth engine for the future,” concluded Graves.

www.3dsystems.com

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