Stratasys Profile
Stratasys Ltd. (Stratasys) operates as a global leader in polymer-based 3D printing solutions, which it provides at every stage of the product life cycle, with multiple technologies and complete solutions for superior application fit, across industrial, healthcare and consumer fields.
The company focuses, in particular, on polymer 3D printing solutions that address the fastest-growing manufacturing solutions, which it views as the biggest potential growth opportunity in the 3D printing industry.
The company’s approximately 1,700 granted and pending additive technology patents held (in addition to many others previously held) have been used to create models, prototypes, manufacturing tools, and production parts for a multitude of industries, including aerospace, automotive, transportation, healthcare, consumer products, dental, medical, fashion and education. The company’s products and comprehensive solutions improve product quality, development time, cost, time-to-market and patient care. The company’s additive manufacturing ecosystem of solutions and expertise includes materials, software, expert services, and on-demand parts production.
The company’s acquisition, of Origin, a provider of photopolymer solutions for production-oriented applications, expanded its leadership through innovation in the fast-growing mass production parts segment by providing it with a next-generation photopolymer platform. Origin’s pioneering approach to additive manufacturing of end-use parts enables the company to serve a large market with manufacturing-grade 3D printers, utilizing P3 Programmable PhotoPolymerization technology. This technology precisely controls light, heat, and force, among other variables, to produce parts with exceptional accuracy and consistency and enables a broad range of chemistry which turns into unique production grade properties.
The company’s acquisition of RP Support Ltd. (RPS), which closed in February 2021, has enabled it to leverage RPS’ industry-leading go-to-market infrastructure to offer their Neo line of systems to the global market with an expanded set of applications. The company’s Neo line of 3D printers feature dynamic laser beam technology that enables build accuracy, feature detail, and low variability across the full extent of a large build platform. As an open resin system, the Neo products provide customers materials with a wide range of properties, such as chemical resistance, heat tolerance, flexibility, durability, and optical clarity, and can produce large parts up to 800 x 800 x 600 mm, providing a significant build area in a small footprint.
The company offers a broader range of systems, consumables and services for additive manufacturing. The company’s wide range of solutions, based on its proprietary 3D printing technologies and materials, enhances the ability of designers, engineers and manufacturers to visualize and communicate product ideas and designs; verify the form, fit and function of prototypes; manufacture tools, jigs, fixtures, casts and injection molds used in the process of manufacturing end-products; manufacture customized and short-to-medium-run end-products more efficiently, with greater agility, and more sustainably; and produce objects that could not otherwise be manufactured through subtractive manufacturing methodologies.
Stratasys Solutions
The company provides integrated solutions throughout a product’s lifecycle for designers, engineers, manufacturers, and medical professionals, including compatible products and services designed for its customers’ use to effectively solve their specific application needs. The company’s solutions consist of 3D printing systems, consumables, software, paid parts, and professional services and encompass everything from prototyping and design all the way through mass production.
The company’s solutions allow its end-users to print 3D models and parts that enhance their ability to visualize, verify and communicate product designs, thereby improving the design, development and validation processes and reducing time-to-market. The company’s systems create visual aids for concept modeling and functional prototyping to test fit, form and function, permitting rapid evaluation of product designs. Using presentation models developed with its systems, designers and engineers can typically conduct design reviews and identify potential design flaws earlier in the process and make improvements before incurring significant costs.
The company’s systems aid in the communication of ideas otherwise communicated in abstract or 2D media. For example, physicians use visually and/or biomechanically accurate 3D printed Stratasys models to plan surgical procedures. A model produced with the company’s systems may be used as a sales tool, as a model or part display, or simply for use in conducting a focus group. It may also be used for accelerated collaboration in product design and manufacturing cycles at multiple locations, enabling visualization and tactile response, which can be critical to product development or sales process.
The company’s solutions also empower end-users to quickly and efficiently deploy parts to incorporate into their manufacturing process and improve its effectiveness while at the same time lowering costs. For instance, the company’s solutions enable the production of manufacturing aids and tools, such as jigs, fixtures, casts and injection molds aiding in the production and assembly process. These solutions are often faster to produce than through traditional methods, and frequently cost less. Materials like nylon carbon fiber enable these printed products to be both exceptionally strong and lightweight.
Additive manufacturing of end-use-parts, using the company’s solutions, is a growing focus of its offerings to customers, and is attractive in applications requiring fast, short-run or low-mid-volume parts. The company’s solutions enable the production of objects that generally could not otherwise be manufactured through subtractive manufacturing methodologies.
In addition, the company’s solutions enable doctors to train and plan medical procedures based on medical models, created by its printers, as well as create surgical guides to support complex surgeries. In the dental space, its PolyJet solutions enable dental labs to create dental and orthodontic, patient specific models and guides and devices for various applications, based on digital dentistry workflow.
The company’s solutions are driven by its proprietary technologies, which it has both developed organically and acquired over time through targeted acquisitions. The company holds approximately 1,700 patents and pending patents internationally, and its 3D printing systems utilize its patented extrusion-based FDM, inkjet-based PolyJet, powder-bed-based SAF, photopolymer-based P3, and stereolithography technologies to enable the production of prototypes, tools used for production, and manufactured goods directly from 3D CAD files or other 3D content. The company’s broad range of product and service offerings is a function of its 3D printing technology leadership.
The company offers a wide variety of office-friendly resin consumables, including rigid and flexible (rubber-like) materials, materials for medical applications that simulate the biomechanical properties of human tissue, and bio-compatible materials for dental applications. Using its PolyJet digital materials technology, the company’s solutions offer unique quality 3D printing systems depositing multiple materials simultaneously. This enables users, in a single build process, to print parts, assemblies, and composite materials made of multiple materials-each retaining its distinct mechanical and physical properties. For example, users can print objects with both rigid and flexible portions in a single build or mix different base colors to achieve a desired color tone. The PolyJet technology enables on-demand mixing of a variety of resins to create a broad range of pre-defined digital materials, which are composite materials with modified physical or mechanical and color properties. This includes ‘Pantone Validated’ colors, allowing the company to support more than 600,000 color and texture combinations, including the industry’s clearest material, nearly as clear as glass, with a wide range of color and texture combinations, which is a key differentiating attribute of its 3D printers. In 2022, the company began offering tailored PolyJet solutions with 3DFashion technology designed specifically for end-use apparel applications.
The company’s stereolithography technology enables the production of high-quality, durable parts that meet the requirements of a wide range of applications, as well as additive manufacturing prototypes and tools. Industrial stereolithography systems are well-established in the 3D printing industry for applications, such as large prototypes, tooling, investment casting patterns, and orthodontic clear aligner molds. The company’s latest acquisition of the Covestro Additive Manufacturing business unit (which is expected to close at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023) completes its stereolithography offering with the strong Somos materials portfolio for stereolithography printers. Somos materials are widely known and appreciated for their mechanical properties, printing performance, high quality, and repeatable builds.
The company’s P3 resin-based 3D printing technology, which it added to its solutions portfolio through its acquisition of Origin, provides a best-in-class combination of detail, mechanical properties and throughput for mass production parts. The company has the strongest materials portfolio in the category - including everything from aerospace-grade flame-resistant materials to biocompatible materials from leading companies like BASF, Henkel and Covestro. The company announced that the P3 printers can use its GrabCAD Print software, which simplifies 3D printing workflows and brings a more consistent user experience across its technologies. Recently, the company has also demonstrated automated large-scale production using its P3 technology together with post-processing units.
SAF Selective Absorption Fusion technology was developed via the company’s joint venture with Xaar plc, Xaar 3D Ltd., which the company acquired in 2021. SAF is an industrial-grade additive manufacturing technology designed to deliver production-level throughput for end-use parts. Representing the culmination of more than 10 years of research and development, SAF-based 3D printers can deliver a competitive cost per part with the part quality, consistency, and reliability that ensures satisfaction and high production yield. The SAF technology uses a counter-rotating roller to coat powder bed layers onto a print bed and prints absorber fluid to image the part layers. The imaged layers are fused by passing an infrared lamp over the entire span of the print bed. SAF technology executes these key process steps in the same direction across the print bed to provide a uniform thermal experience - and therefore part consistency - for all printed parts regardless of their placement in the build. H Series 3D printers using SAF use materials by leading third party materials providers, including PA11, which is derived from sustainable castor oil. The company also plans to develop SAF materials internally via its prospective acquisition of Covestro Additive Manufacturing.
The range of 3D printing consumable materials, together with the broad set of materials in the company’s materials ecosystem, that it offers, is the widest in the industry. The company’s consumable materials consist of over 61 FDM spool-based filament materials, 49 PolyJet cartridge-based resin materials, and 158 functional materials. These materials yield a large variety of digital materials that reflect over 600,000 color variations, transparency, opacity and flexibility levels.
Strategy
The company focuses on polymers, which it views as the biggest potential profit pool in the industry. The company’s solutions deliver value to every touchpoint across the product lifecycle. The key elements of the company’s strategy for growth include having the broadest technology offering in the sector; possessing an unmatched Go-to-Market infrastructure; possessing deep application engineering experience; having a resilient business model designed to scale as opportunities present itself; and adding more value through software, both from its partners and itself.
Products and Services
Products
The company offers a dedicated suite of products for applications, such as rapid prototyping (RP), tooling, and manufacturing parts. The company’s products include 3D printing systems, consumable materials, software and services.
Collectively, this portfolio of products offers a broad range of performance options for the company’s customers, depending on their application, the nature and size of the designs, prototypes, and/or final parts desired. The company’s products are available at a variety of different price points and include entry-level desktop 3D printers, a range of mid-systems for prototyping and end use parts production, and large production systems for additive manufacturing at scale. The company also offers a range of 3D printing materials. The company’s systems are integrated with its software and are supported by services provided to its customers, both directly and through its reseller channel.
Printing Systems
The company offers a series of printing systems that address the largest parts of the addressable market for polymer 3D printing.
The company’s 3D printing systems, which are based on its proprietary FDM-(Fused Deposition Modeling), PolyJet, P3, SAF and stereolithography technologies:
PolyJet Printers
The company’s PolyJet technology-based, high-end printing systems offer the ability to print eight multiple materials, including color printing in a single part build. The Stratasys J8 Series printers break restrictive technology barriers, enabling customers to print more than 500,000 different color shades and textures, including Pantone Validated colors, and multiple material properties- ranging from rigid to flexible, and opaque to transparent. They also 3D prints concept models twice as fast as its previous generation printers, supported by a DraftGrey material.
The company’s J55 3D Printer makes that same fast, full-color design realism accessible to designers and teams everywhere in an office-friendly format and smaller footprint. The company also introduced a complementary J35 Pro 3D printer in 2021, which is an all-in-one, multi material desktop 3D printer for designers and engineers needing up to three materials.
Both J8 Series 3D printers and the J55 printer support KeyShot 3D rendering software, enabling designers to save KeyShot designs directly in the new 3MF format and produce 3D printed models in a single day, when traditional modeling can take one-to-three weeks.
The J55 3D printer is also available in two industry-specific versions, the J5 DentaJet and the J5 MediJet. The J5 DentaJet is the industry’s 3D printer able to accommodate mixed trays of dental parts. The J5 MediJet is designed to produce anatomic visual models and drilling and cutting guides that are sterilizable and biocompatible.
The Stratasys J850 Digital Anatomy printer helps medical device companies optimize design throughout the product lifecycle. It 3D prints with GelMatrix resin, TissueMatrix resin and BoneMatrix resin -three new materials which, when combined, form over 100 new, unique digital materials to suit anatomical applications. These materials, when used for 3D printing, produce medical models and anatomies that achieve a true-to-life feel and response. This includes both soft tissues, including organs and blood vessels as small as 1mm in diameter, as well as porous bone structures, fibrotic tissues, and ligaments. Recently, the company released an additional unique software tool to its medical offering, the Digital Anatomy Creator, allowing seamless creation of different anatomical structures by customizing specific bio-mechanical properties and color using the available materials. This is an advanced differentiated extension of the company’s GrabCAD software for medical users.
FDM Printers
Stratasys’ market-leading FDM portfolio of printers has reached a milestone of 35,000 installed printers. FDM printers are designed to meet a wide range of applications, from prototyping to manufacturing tools, to production parts. The F-Series printers, made up of the F170, F370, F770, F190CR and F370CR models, are designed to meet end-to-end prototyping jigs & fixtures. The Fortus Series, made up of the F450 and F900 models, largely suit the production of end parts, as well as higher requirement jigs and fixtures, and tooling.
The F Series printers enable prototypes that range from rapid, economically-effective concept verification models in PLA material/ fast-draft mode, to advanced design validation prototypes using a 0.005-inch slice resolution and soluble support for unmatched precision, repeatability and aesthetics. The F Series product line allows users to create parts in PLA, ABS plus, ASA, TPU, ABS-ESD, Diran and PC-ABS materials, which parts therefore possess the strength required for true form, fit and functional testing. The F Series printers are designed to enable ease of use and maintenance while offering an easy-to-use, yet rich user experience with GrabCAD Print software. In 2022, the company introduced the composite ready F190CR and F370CR hardened printers that can print Nylon 10CF. These new printers meet customer demand for manufacturing floor jigs, fixtures and tooling with a higher performance composite material.
The Stratasys Fortus 380mc and 450mc 3D printers build high-performance parts in customary materials, but with advanced complexity higher requirements needed for current-day production manufacturers. Fortus 450 has carbon filled composites for functional prototypes, production parts and rugged tooling. Additionally, an acceleration of material development—of Validated Materials—has significantly expanded the application set. Furthermore, an option to purchase OpenAM allows users to unlock and tune new custom materials. These systems are run via easy-to-use interfaces and software controls, making them user-friendly in producing complex parts more efficiently.
The Stratasys F900 offers a streamlined workflow and easier job-monitoring with an internal camera and GrabCAD Print software. Standard certifications are included, eliminating the effort and cost to qualify the 3D printer for the user's production floor. Additionally, the Aircraft Interiors Solution continues to qualify more materials, which allows a faster, simpler path for certifying additive manufactured parts for aircraft installation, and the Rail Industry Solutions.
In 2022, the company divested its former subsidiary MakerBot, which was merged with Ultimaker. In connection with the merger, a distribution partnership was established whereby Stratasys-exclusive distributors can sell MakerBot and Ultimaker products.
Stereolithography Printers
The company’s Neo line of industrial stereolithography 3D printers feature dynamic laser beam technology that enables build accuracy, feature detail, and low variability across the full extent of a large build platform. As an open resin system, the Neo products provide customers materials with a wide range of properties, such as chemical resistance, heat tolerance, flexibility, durability, and optical clarity, as well as low service requirements, reliability and accurate builds. All Neo systems are Industry 4.0-ready with Titanium control software that includes a camera, network connectivity, support remote diagnostics, and mid-build parameter customization. The printers can automatically email progress reports on the job. The Neo line of printers provides a significant build area in a small footprint, with simple day-to-day operation. The largest printer, the Neo800, features a 31.5 x 31.5 x 23.6 in. build volume. The Neo450s and 450e address customer needs for smaller printers, at 17.72 x 17.72 x 15.75 in. The company initiated sales of this line of systems following its acquisition of RPS in February 2021. Following the company’s acquisition of Covestro Additive Manufacturing business unit (which is expected to close at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023), it will also offer the Somos materials portfolio for stereolithography printers. Somos materials range from easy-to-use general purpose materials, like the WaterShed line, to high performance stiff materials for tooling and wind tunnel applications, like the PerFORM line, to Bio-Compatible materials for different medical applications.
Origin P3 Printers
The Origin One 3D printer, which is be generally available since the beginning of 2022, uses P3 (Programmable PhotoPolymerization) technology to precisely control light, heat, and force, among other variables, to produce parts with exceptional accuracy and consistency. Origin engages with a network of materials partners (like BASF, Henkel , Evonik, and Covestro), who work to develop a wide range of commercial-grade materials for this P3 system, resulting in some of the toughest and most resilient materials in additive manufacturing. This addition adds Origin’s software-centric additive manufacturing solution that offers best-in-class printing technology based on digital light processing for production-oriented polymer applications and accelerates its expansion into mass production additive manufacturing.
SAF Printers
At the end of 2021, the company began shipping the first SAF technology-based 3D printer, the H350, in the U.S. and Europe. Throughout 2022, the company shipped the H350 to wider territories, including Asia, Israel and New Zealand H Series Production Platform printers, such as the H350 are designed to give manufacturers production consistency, a competitive and predictable cost per part, and complete production control for volumes of thousands of parts. The H350 printer itself was manufactured with a dozen different 3D printed parts made with SAF technology. The printer is designed to meet the needs of customers in industries such as commercial goods, automotive, and consumer goods and electronics that benefit from the ability to quickly produce large volumes of 3D-printed parts with compelling and predictable economics. The H350 provides several control features designed to ensure the system is production-ready. All build data is logged for process traceability and remains fully under the customer’s control. Materials can be controlled, tracked and traced, and print settings can be fine-tuned for each customer’s needs. The company offers customers validated third-party materials, including PA11 and PA12. The company announced GrabCAD Print software for the H350 in late 2021.
Key Vertical Target Markets for Printing Systems
To further strengthen its leadership position and following the company’s strategy to deepen the focus on additive manufacturing, tooling and rapid prototyping for specific vertical markets, it has announced a variety of technology and go-to-market partnerships for various key vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.
Consumable Materials
The company sells a broad range of 3D printing materials, consisting of over 61 FDM spool-based filament materials, 49 PolyJet cartridge-based resin materials, and 158 functional materials. These materials yield a large variety of digital materials that reflect over 600,000 color variations, transparency, opacity and flexibility levels, for use in the company’s 3D printers and production systems. The company’s Polyjet color standards have been validated by Pantone standards. The sale of these materials provides it with a recurring revenue stream from users of the company’s 3D printers and production systems. The ecosystem includes:
Stratasys Preferred: Preferred by Stratasys for its customers for the highest-performance applications. These materials are engineered specifically for Stratasys printers to provide the best combination of material and printer performance and are developed either by Stratasys or third-party material partners. All available Stratasys-made materials are Stratasys Preferred.
Stratasys Validated: Materials validated by Stratasys with basic reliability testing to accelerate the expansion of material options available in the marketplace.
Open: Unvalidated materials accessible via an annual OpenAM Software License (OASL). These materials may offer unique attributes and the potential to address new applications but they have not received validation testing or optimization on Stratasys printers.
The materials the company sells are described below:
FDM Materials
The company continues to develop filament modeling materials that meet its customers’ needs for increased speed, strength, accuracy, surface resolution, chemical and heat resistance, color, and mechanical properties. These materials are processed into the company’s proprietary filament form, which is then utilized by its FDM systems. The company’s spool-based system has proven to be a significant advantage for its products, because it allows the user to quickly change material by simply mounting the lightweight spool and feeding the desired filament into the FDM print and production devices. The company has a variety of build materials in multiple colors commercially available for use with its FDM technology.
PolyJet Materials
The company’s resin consumables, which consist of its PolyJet family of proprietary acrylic-based photopolymer materials, as well as its other inkjet-based systems, enable users to create highly accurate, finely detailed 3D models and parts for a wide range of prototype development and customized manufacturing applications. The wide variety of resins within the PolyJet family is characterized by transparent, colored, or opaque visual properties and flexible, rigid or other physical properties. Support materials that are used together with the model materials enable the 3D printing of models with a wide array of complex geometries. The company’s resin-based materials are produced in-house and are specially designed for its printing systems.
The company has invested significant research and development efforts in optimizing its PolyJet materials for use with inkjet technology. These efforts are reflected in the properties of these materials, which enable them to be packaged, stored, combined and readily cured upon printing. The company’s PolyJet materials are packaged in cartridges for safe handling and are suitable for use in office environments. The polymerized materials can also be machined, drilled, chrome-plated or painted in most cases.
Stereolithography Materials
The company’s stereolithography materials are primarily from the Covestro Additive Manufacturing SOMOS portfolio. The materials can offer a variety of functional prototyping solutions, by the way of delivering flexible, durable, rigid, high temperature or clear materials, to simulate production-targeted polymers. This range of materials enables the company to offer a range of solutions from concept modeling and prototyping, to manufacturing.
Software
Software is an integral part of the company’s solutions-based, go-to-market strategy. Built on cloud, desktop and mobile technologies, the GrabCAD Additive Manufacturing Platform is an open and enterprise-ready software platform that enables manufacturers to manage production-scale additive manufacturing operations. Stratasys’ platform is specifically designed for the unique needs of additive manufacturing across the entire digital thread - from design through production - while also integrating with Industry 4.0 infrastructure and enterprise applications. As of February, 2023, the platform consists of more than 42,200application users, 19,000 3D printers, and over 6,300 workflow users. The platform processes [35] gigabytes of data streams per day. Several components are included in the platform:
GrabCAD Print, the company’s job programming software, enables the unique features of its 3D printing technologies, such as creating lightweight, structurally sound infills for FDM, and multi-material and color and material management for PolyJet. The feature set of GrabCAD Print is designed to make the process of creating high-quality, highly detailed and accurate models accessible to users in Engineering and Design Offices, Enterprise Model Shops, Manufacturing and Health Care markets.
GrabCAD Print natively reads commonly used 3D CAD file formats, as well as traditional STL and VRML files, transforming them into the appropriate code to operate the company’s 3D printing systems. The company’s software provides a robust range of features, including structural toolpath and infill controls, color and appearance management, multi-material management, automatic support generation, part scaling, positioning and nesting, as well as geometric editing capabilities.
The company’s scheduling software includes capabilities to manage the operations of one or more printers, including tray packing and optimization, job estimation, system availability, scheduling and monitoring via desktop, web or mobile devices. Additionally, analytics information is available in the form of standard utilization, material usage and job history reports enabling managers and operators to maximize the use of its 3D printing systems.
GrabCAD Streamline Shop simplifies the 3D Printing Shop workflow by substantially improving the way teams manage and collaborate on prototyping work orders. Engineers, designers and shop operators minimize time-to-part by sharing a common work space to simplify print work order management, communicating requirements accurately and focusing on delivering quality prints on time.
The GrabCAD Streamline Software Development Kit (SDK) enables companies and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to integrate Stratasys 3D printing at production scale with existing design and manufacturing software applications infrastructure to support enterprise goals such as system connectivity, compliance and workflow automation. The GrabCAD SDK leverages standard protocols, such as MTConnect and provides Application Programming Interfaces (API’s), documentation, sample code and a professional support network.
The GrabCAD Software Partner Program is available to Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) wishing to integrate into the GrabCAD AM Platform. The GrabCAD Software Partner Program makes up a robust ecosystem of software partners in Additive Manufacturing powered by Stratasys. Stratasys provides access to GrabCAD SDK— a complete set of developer tools to support technical integration as well as world class support and joint marketing.
GrabCAD Community is the online community of over six million professional engineers, designers, manufacturers and students who share best practices via tutorials, discussion forums, design/print challenges and 3D content.
The company’s software is available in nine languages to promote usage in the regions worldwide in which it operates.
Online Community
GrabCAD Community
The company operates the GrabCAD Community for mechanical engineers, designers, manufacturers and students where members can share best practices via tutorials, discussion forums, and design/print challenges. They can also upload and download free CAD models and access the company’s GrabCAD Print and Workbench software. This community had more than 13 million members and over 1.7 million CAD files available for free download as of the end of 2022.
Services
Support Services and Warranty
Customer Support
The company’s customer success department provides on-site system installation, operator training, a full range of maintenance and repair services and remote technical support to users of its products. The company provides support to its customers directly and through its resellers, ensuring that support and parts may be readily obtained worldwide. The company also offers advanced training to its customers and preventive maintenance, particularly on its high-performance systems. The company’s support network consists of the following:
Stratasys-certified engineers who provide worldwide, on-site installation, training and support;
direct support engineers through the company;
indirect support engineers through certified partners, including third-party service organizations or selected resellers who provide support for its systems;
phone and direct on-site company support in eight languages, and resellers indirect support in local languages;
service logistics in key regional centers;
training facilities and resources in regional centers;
customer-relationship management (CRM) system and learning management system (LMS) to ensure high-quality support for the company’s customers and resellers, including secure remote access to a customer service database containing service history and technical documentation to aid in troubleshooting and repairing systems;
free content on YouTube to help self-maintenance and troubleshooting;
support, tools and up-to-date information to the company’s direct customer and distribution channels from its product support engineering team;
full range of commercial service programs to support the high utilization of the company’s 3D printers and its customers’ unique needs; and
an e-commerce platform allowing for smooth and fast purchasing of the company’s 3D printing materials.
The company offers services on a time and materials basis, as well as a full range of post-warranty maintenance contracts with varying levels of support and pricing, as described below under Extended support programs.
Basic Warranty
The company’s printing systems are sold with warranties that range from 90 days to, typically, one year from installation, depending upon the product line and geographic location. Warranties are typically accompanied by on-site maintenance support. Receipt of maintenance and repair services after the warranty period is subject to the terms of its extended support programs, to the extent purchased by the end-user, as described below.
Extended Support Programs
Recognizing that the company’s end-users have varying support needs, it offers a range of support programs that enable its end-users to continue to receive maintenance services beyond the initial warranty period. These support programs contain varying degrees of the support services described above and are priced accordingly.
Leasing and Other Services
The company has arrangements, in certain countries, in which third-party financial institutions independently provide lease financing directly to its customers, on a non-recourse basis to the company. In these arrangements, the company sells and transfers title of the equipment to these financial institutions. The company provides pay-per-usage subscription services for its 3D printers and 3D production systems via partners in its global manufacturing network. The revenues generated from such program were insignificant.
The company also offers a ‘Try and Buy’ program, which provides businesses the ability to try out a 3D printer prior to deciding whether or not it’s the right fit for their company. The potential purchasers of a 3D printer receive customer support from the company during the trial period.
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing Paid-Parts Service
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing is a contract manufacturing service provider of parts on-demand via polymer 3D printing processes. With over 30 years of experience, Stratasys Direct provides rapid prototyping and production parts using the broadest set of polymer additive technologies of any service bureau in North America and backed by experts ready for the most complex projects. ?With Stratasys Direct, customers can quickly design, innovate and meet demands of any complexity or scale by accessing the right expertise, industrial-grade 3D printing technologies, and materials without the capital expense.?Stratasys Direct pioneered additive manufacturing production applications and specializes in guiding customers from concept development and prototyping through short-run production and long-term manufacturing. Stratasys and Stratasys Direct work together to help Stratasys customers meet their needs with infinite manufacturing capacity or access to technologies they do not have in-house. Stratasys Direct Manufacturing also operates an ecommerce service for quick-turn parts, www.stratasysdirect.com, which enables its customers to obtain quotes and order parts around the clock, seven days a week.
Customers
The company has a diverse set of customers worldwide, including, among other prominent companies: General Motors; BAE Systems; Boeing; Blue Origin, the U.S. Navy and the Mayo Clinic. The company’s solutions are used across a wide array of applications in a variety of different industries.
Marketing, Sales and Distribution
Marketing
The company’s marketing strategies are focused on increasing awareness and thought leadership for its product and solution areas, strengthening its leadership brand position in the market, and in key vertical industries, such as automotive, aerospace, medical, dental, fashion education and consumer goods, accelerating and supporting sales growth, and increasing customer loyalty and customer lifetime value. The company initiates thought-leadership, public and industry analyst relations and product launch programs, as well as integrated campaigns targeted to extend and deepen the relationship with its existing customers and win new customers, driving demand and lead generation throughout its strategic markets in which it and its resellers and agents operate.
The company uses a variety of inbound and outbound marketing methods to reach potential customers. Examples of inbound methods include digital marketing demand and lead generation programs, such as blogs, social media, search marketing SEO, SEM, lead nurturing with webinars, white papers and other means. Outbound channel examples include digital and print communication programs, public relations, direct mail and e-mail campaigns, virtual and in-person tradeshows and roadshows, thought leadership events, newsletters, industry associations and referrals. In addition, the company has built and maintain on-site product and technology demonstration capabilities in certain regional offices across the world.
The company’s resellers play a crucial role in the success of its business. To help them grow and thrive, the company provides them with the necessary tools and support. The company offers its resellers a range of marketing support, and services to help them effectively promote and sell its products. This includes providing access to the company’s marketing materials, such as brochures and product guides, as well as offering co-marketing opportunities to help boost their visibility and drive sales. Additionally, the company offers training and education programs to ensure that its resellers have the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively market and sell its products.
The company measures and analyzes the success of various marketing initiatives and strive to identify customer needs. Based on its analysis, the company creates and updates its product roadmaps and individual marketing plans to help optimize distribution while helping ensure a smooth process of release, ramp-up and sales of its products.
Sales Distribution Methods
The company’s sales organization sells, distributes and provides follow-up support services with respect to its AM systems and related consumables, through a worldwide sales and marketing infrastructure. The company generally uses two methods for distribution and support: sales to resellers who purchase and resell its products and through whom follow-up support and maintenance services and replacement parts are provided to end-users; and direct sales of systems or services to end-users without the involvement of any intermediaries, for which all aspects of its sales and follow-up services are handled exclusively by it. The company’s resellers are overseen by regional managers and operate on a non-exclusive basis.
Almost all of the reseller locations that distribute the company’s products have its AM systems available for tradeshows, product demonstrations, and other promotional activities. Additionally, many of them enjoy a long-term presence and offer third-party 3D CAD software packages in their respective territories, enabling them to cross-sell the company’s systems to customers who purchase those other products.
In addition to traditional direct sales and reseller-based sales of the company’s AM systems and related consumables, it also utilizes an online customer/partner digital hub which serves as a direct digital method for distribution of its products. The online hub acts as a point of sale for consumables, software and spare parts to end-users who own the company’s systems.
Geographic Structure of Sales Organization
The primary sales organization for the company’s 3D printers and production systems including related consumables, materials and services is divided into groups based on the following geographical regions: Americas; Europe and Middle East; North Asia and South Asia. This structure allows the company to align its sales and marketing resources with its diverse customer base. The company’s sales organization in each region provides sales support to the network of independent reseller and sales agent locations throughout the particular region. The company also operates sales and service centers in various locations throughout North America and internationally, including: Baden-Baden, Germany; Shanghai, China; and Tokyo, Japan.
Ricoh Agreement
The company purchases the printer heads for its inkjet 3D printing systems from Ricoh pursuant to an OEM Purchase and License Agreement with Ricoh, or the Ricoh Agreement.
Under the Ricoh Agreement, the company places orders for print heads and associated electronic components, or the Ricoh Products. Together with provision of these items, Ricoh provides the compan with a non-transferable, non-exclusive right to assemble, use and sell the Ricoh Products under Ricoh’s patent rights and trade secrets.
Research and Development (R&D)
The company’s net R&D expenses were approximately $92.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2022.
Global Operations
The company has offices in, among other locations, Brazil, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States, and organizes its operations by geographic region, focusing upon the following key regions: the Americas; Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company’s products are distributed in each of these regions, as well as in other parts of the world.
Intellectual Property
The principal granted patents relate to the company’s FDM systems, its PolyJet technologies, its 3D printing processes and its consumables, certain of which have already expired and certain of which have expiration dates ranging from 2023 to 2039.
The company owns certain registered trademarks and make use of a number of additional registered and unregistered trademarks, including Stratasys, the Stratasys Signet logo, Objet, PolyJet, Connex, J8 Series, J850, J826, J750, J700, J5, J35, J55, Vero, VeroFlex, VeroUltra, VeroVivid, Tango, Durus, Rigur, Elastico, FDM, Fortus, F123 Series, F370, F900, F770, Insight, Antero, Diran, Origin, Origin One, P3, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, Stratasys Direct, GrabCAD, GrabCAD Print, GrabCAD Shop, GrabCAD Community, DentaJet, Medijet Digital Anatomy, TissueMatrix, GelMatrix, BoneMatrix, 3DFashion, TechStyle, Neo, Neo800, Neo450, H350, SAF, Big Wave, and Selective Absorption Fusion.
Seasonality
Historically, the company’s results of operations have been subject to seasonal factors. Stronger demand for the company’s products has historically occurred in its fourth quarter primarily due to its customers’ capital expenditure budget cycles and its sales compensation incentive programs. The company’s first and third quarters have historically been its weakest quarters for overall unit demand. The first quarter is typically a slow quarter for capital expenditures in general. The third quarter is typically when the company sees its largest volume of educational related sales, which normally qualify for special discounts as part of its long-term penetration strategy.
The company experiences seasonality within individual fiscal quarters, as a substantial percentage of its system sales often occur within the last month of each fiscal quarter. This trend has the potential to expose the company’s quarterly or annual operating results to the risk of unexpected, decreased revenues in the case of its inability to build systems, consummate sales and recognize the accompanying revenues prior to the end of a given quarter (year ended December 31, 2022).
Competition
The companies that use these technologies to compete with the company include, inter alia; 3D Systems Corporation; EOS GmbH; HP; Carbon, Inc.; Formlabs; Markforged, Inc.; and Desktop Metal (following their acquisition of EnvisionTEC).
Government Regulation
The company is subject to various local, state and federal laws, regulations and agencies that affect businesses. These include the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; and CE regulations for the European market.
Environmental Matters
The company is required to comply with certain laws, regulations and directives, including the United States Toxic Substances Control Act in the United States, as well as the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances, RoHS and CLP in the European Union, governing chemicals.
History
Stratasys Ltd. was founded in 1989. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1989.
