3D Systems Corporation is getting bigger, now going from the NASDAQ Global Select Market to the New Your Stock Exchange, new ticker symbol will be DDD. This move will likely bring greater investment in the company, and greater growth opportunities. Recent “Twitterverse” posts from services bureaus and end users have been teasing 3D Systems about buying up everything, but then again, it’s clear that 3D Systems intends to be a big player in the AM market.
With all of its recent acquisitions, 3D Systems is placing a bet, so to speak, that customers (defined here as individual, non engineers) will drive the 3D printing/additive manufacturing market to high levels of growth. A lot of those customers would strongly agree. They see lots of uses for low-cost (less than $3000) 3D printers.
Other big players in the 3D printing/additive manufacturing market may offer devices for individual 3D printing, but they are still focused on professionals (defined here as engineers) and engineering-driven applications.
What I think we have here is the development of two markets. One–the engineering one–is firmly established. The non-engineer market is just getting started.
Executives from some of the companies focused on non-engineering users are the ones who are predicting the creative destruction of traditional manufacturing and distribution functions. It will be very interesting to watch what happens.
Back to 3D Systems announcement: The company expects to begin trading on the NYSE on Thursday, May 26, 2011, subject to the satisfactory completion of its listing on the NYSE, under a new ticker symbol “DDD.” The company expects to continue to trade under the ticker symbol “TDSC” on NASDAQ until the transfer is completed. The company is planning to ring the opening bell of the NYSE on May 26, 2011, which will be broadcast live on the company’s website.
3D Systems Corporation
www.3DSystems.com
It appears that even the engineering “market” is splitting, as the current commercial high end AM machines are for those who don’t want to service their own equipment and can afford expensive materials. They have small build spaces, are restricted in the materials they can use, don’t combine additive with other modalities (like CNC), don’t do well with mixed material or mixed assembly, and don’t cater to iterative design, training, or building really big or really small, or anything food grade or biological. The market is fragmenting away from this core in all directions, high end, low end, engineering, non-engineering professionals, home. The race is not so much to find more volume users for existing printer systems willing to pay premium prices, fronted by design houses and service bureaus, but rather to build new systems that address the market interests of folks that presently aren’t significantly involved. None of these commercial high-end AM companies report more than 5000 units in the field. Reprap alone has 10,000+ units and has much greater potential for innovation. Even if the big companies copy each improvement in sub $400 Reprap design, can they implement the changes in their $15K+ product lines as fast as Reprap folks can?
You make some good points, especially about how many systems are out there. The low end machines will get better as far as accuracy and tolerance. I think they could challenge the higher end machines. Then it will be a very interesting industry to watch. I don’t think the big companies ever thought that the average person would love a system for their own use. But remember, AM is 25 years old. This industry has only had this much attention focused on it once, when a couple of companies, like Stratasys, first came up with and AM machine. So the idea that “everyman” would like such a system is a bit of a surprise to them, in my view. They did not anticipate it.
A good service must be worth of its price. Could you image a quality rapid prototype service only cost your half pirce? Seeing is believing. Latest technologies ,unparalleled skill and best service, will help you have a good rapid prototyping.