US 3D printer manufacturer3D系统has announced two acquisitions, through which it stands to significantly enhance its extrusion additive manufacturing capabilities.
In buying medical-grade 3D printing specialistKumovis, 3D Systems believes it will now be able “expand its addressable market” within personalized healthcare. With its泰坦机器人技术acquisition, meanwhile, the firm has also bought into pellet extrusion for the first time, in a move that could allow it to better meet the needs of consumer, automotive, aerospace, defense and service bureau clientele.
“As the leading additive manufacturing solutions partner across industrial and healthcare markets, 3D Systems is committed to meeting the widest possible range of our customers’ AM production needs,” said Dr. Jeffrey Graves, President and CEO of 3D Systems. “With the addition of Titan Robotics’ unique extrusion technology, we will be able to address our customers’ need for large build volumes, superior performance and improved productivity at a significantly lower cost.”
进一步进入工业FFF
3D系统’ Titan Robotics acquisition is significant, in that the move sees it buy a leading developer of hybrid configuration systems, which can be set up for both pellet and filament extrusion, with a flagshipAtlas HS3D printer that also has subtractive finishing capabilities made possible by its spindle toolhead, making it a ‘hybrid’ in more than one sense of the word.
Collectively, the firm’s modular Atlas machines provide manufacturers with the flexibility to find the best possible FFF format to meet their application. The configurable setup of the systems also allows them to be continually upgraded by users, as a means of introducing new materials and product iterations, in addition to meeting specific cost and performance goals.
Another benefit of adopting direct pellet-fed technologies is that doing so opens up a wider range of materials, with hundreds of formulations ranging from low durometer (soft) to highly-filled resins on the market. Titan Robotics itself has poured a huge amount of R&D into developing its own materials as well, working with the likes ofBraskemto推出新的聚丙烯树脂two years ago.
由于其ATLAS系统的可伸缩性，该系统的构建量高达50“ x 50” x 72英寸，该公司长期以来一直在使用大型砂纸，以及其工具，夹具和固定装置生产潜力，并通过获取其背后的技术，3D Systems认为它将能够将其覆盖范围扩展到世界各地的新市场。
“Through the innovative modular approach of their printers, we believe the adoption rate of industrial 3D printing will continue to accelerate,” explains Graves. “By combining the engineering and applications expertise of Titan Robotics with the global reach of 3D Systems’ sales, service and applications teams, we are well-positioned to support our customers across the full range of our markets.”
For his part, Titan Robotics’ CEO Rahul Kasat says that both he and the rest of the firm’s leadership are “thrilled to become part of a world-class organization” like 3D Systems, and they are “excited by the synergies” between the two companies’ technologies, which could enable them to “expand the adoption of industrial 3D printing” into new areas.
In 3D Systems’ case, the deal, which is set to be wrapped up in April 2022, is also significant as it could trigger a battle for market leadership with Stratasys. While the firm has often focused on SLA, it has now taken another step to reinforce its FFF offering, in a space traditionally occupied by FDM-inventor Stratasys, which in turn,买了RPSlast year, allowing it to better address the SLA market.
3D系统’ Kumovis acquisition
另一方面，通过收购Kumovis，3D Systems已购买了面向医学的发明者”融合层制造’（FLM）技术。目前已集成到KumovisR1 3D打印机, this extrusion process is effectively designed to enable the precision deposition of high-performance polymers like PEEK, into clinical parts such as surgical instruments and human implants.
Given the polymer’s thermal and ionizing radiation resistance, lightweightness and bone-like properties, 3D Systems sees expanding its PEEK processing capabilities as a way of building on its medical offering. Through buying Kumovis, the firm therefore anticipates being able to address further point-of-care applications, including craniomaxillofacial modeling, spinal cage and trauma plate 3D printing.
Additionally, 3D Systems has establishedFDA-registered, ISO 13485-certified facilities in Littleton, Colorado, and Leuven, Belgium, which have manufactured over 2 million implants and instruments to date. Once the deal is completed in April, the company intends to install Kumovis systems, both at these facilities, and other point of care providers, to enable the more rapid production of patient-specific devices.
Graves补充说：“库莫维斯团队的增加 - 他们的专业知识和技术 - 将与我们的医疗业务模式高度协同作用。”“我们经过验证的能力，可以通过我们的杰出渠道合作伙伴提供受到监管批准的，可植入的3D印刷医疗设备，以改善患者的结果，以改善患者的结果，向世界各地的外科医生提供，将有助于确保可以将基于Kumovis Peek的产品快速地和市场推向市场有效地。”
3D系统’ realignment continues
Both 3D Systems’ latest purchases align perfectly with the ‘strategic refocus’ it announced in August 2020. Unveiled fresh off the back of aH1 2020的收入下降20％, the company revised strategy has since seen it concentrate on its core healthcare and industrial verticals, and divest any areas of its business that don’t align with this plan.
最初，这种重组主要集中于剥离主导的精简，并以Cimatron being sold for $65 million和itson-demand production arm bought for $82 millionbyTrilantic North America之前,being renamedQuickParts.
但是，作为3D系统财务状况开始改善in late-2020, it started to consider reinvesting in companies that advance its medical and industrial objectives. By May 2021, the firm had announced the购买Allevi和添加剂作品, and it went on to以1.8亿美元的价格购买Oqton和acquire Volumetric Biotechnologiesin a deal that could eventually cost it up to $400 million.
What’s clear, is that with its newest acquisitions, 3D Systems appears to be moving further into the FFF space just as Stratasys has diversified its portfolio into SLA, via moves that could see them become more direct competitors in the years to come.
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特色图显示了Titan的Atlas-H 3D打印机中使用的双挤出机系统。雷电竞app下载通过Titan Robotics的照片。
