Customers ordered more than 7 million cubic inches of materials from Z Corporation, maker of 3D printing, rapid prototyping, and 3D scanning technologies. This is a record sale for the company of the build materials used to print 3D models. In Q4 2010, Z Corp. sold more consumables than in any previous quarter in the company’s 16-year history. Based on an average size model such as a coffee cup, this would be the equivalent of printing 25,000 new design ideas every week.

John M. Kawola, Z Corp. CEO viewed this development as an indication that “more models are being printed on ZPrinters than any other 3D printing technology, making our customers the most productive in the world. It’s important to us that our customers experience the productivity they hoped for. The more models they produce, the more ideas they communicate and the more value they create.”

Independent industry analyst Todd Grimm supported that stance. “Z Corp.’s findings are consistent with findings in my ‘3D Printer Benchmark’ report last June that the ZPrinter had the highest speed, more than double the throughput, and the lowest average materials and part cost with respect to comparable 3D printers.”

Other milestones for the company pointing to a strong 2011 include:

6,000th ZPrinter® – The company shipped its 6,000th ZPrinter in Q4. Z Corp. introduced the first ZPrinter 3D printer in 1996 and has sustained growth by continuously setting benchmarks for 3D printer speed, quality, affordability, color and office friendliness.

Revenue growth – The company saw strong revenue growth in 2010 with increasing momentum in the second half of the year.

New products – The company introduced three rapid prototyping systems in 2010, the ZBuilder™ Ultra for creating functional plastic prototypes, and two value-priced 3D printers, the ZPrinter 150 and the ZPrinter 250. The company also introduced ZScan® 5.0 software expanding the functionality of its ZScanner® 3D laser scanners.

Z Corporation
www.zcorp.com

MPF