Personal 3D Printer wins Popular Mechanics Award & Global Media Award at SEMA Show
Honors for Dimension's uPrint Follow Sale of 1000th Unit Just Nine Months after Launch
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dimension 3D Printing, a brand of Stratasys Inc. (NASDAQ: SSYS), today announced its uPrint(TM) Personal 3D Printer received two editorial awards at the annual SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association) show last month in Las Vegas. SEMA is a national automotive after-market trade association.
uPrint won Popular Mechanics' annual "SEMA Editor's Choice Award," an honor judged by the magazine's auto editors and given to companies introducing the most innovative new products at SEMA. Each year at the show, Popular Mechanics auto editors assess new products and make their top picks in 12 categories. "Despite the economic downturn, this year's show was full of innovation," Popular Mechanics wrote.
Regarding uPrint, they wrote, "Around here, if it's good enough for Jay Leno, it's good enough for [Popular Mechanics]. Jay and all the guys at Jay's Big Dog Garage have been using their $30,000 Dimension 3D printer for about a year and have created some amazing parts for Jay's classic cars -- completely from scratch and in house. Now Dimension has a more affordable version that could help schools and small businesses learn the art of rapid prototyping."
In addition to the Popular Mechanics award, uPrint won SEMA's Global Media Award given to companies displaying the best new products at the show, as judged by a panel of journalists from 16 countries. The award goes to those products deemed most likely to succeed commercially and to be of most interest to the panel's readers.
The awards come on the heels of uPrint's 1000th sale in October. uPrint, the newest addition to Dimension's industry-leading line of 3D printers, was launched at the end of January. In less than 9 months, the company sold its 1000th system.
"We continue to believe a significant untapped market exists for 3D printing that will be developed by making our products more affordable," said Stratasys VP Jon Cobb. "These sales figures, coupled with a September product award from Design News magazine and coverage in mainstream media outlets including Popular Mechanics and Men's Journal, demonstrate the market's desire for a low-cost, fully functional printer."
uPrint's awards and strong sales numbers are supported by positive customer feedback. "For us, uPrint enables the fabrication of custom centrifuge rotors for as little as $80, whereas a comparable commercial product would likely cost thousands of dollars," said Joe DeRisi, professor and vice-chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California San Francisco. "uPrint is a powerful way to assist us with visualization of molecular models, and our team continues to find novel, unexpected uses for the printer."
For Shawn Ferguson, president of New York-based contract manufacturer Indian Springs Manufacturing, uPrint provided savings of 70 percent in production costs on a quick turnaround replacement part. "When uPrint came out, we jumped at it because we liked the size, speed, model quality and especially the lower price point. uPrint is the perfect fit for a shop of this size," said Ferguson.
Dimension, a brand of 3D printers by Stratasys, offers computer-aided-design (CAD) users a low-cost, networked alternative for building functional 3D models from the desktop. The printers build models layer-by-layer using ABS plastic, one of the most widely used thermoplastics in today's injection-molded products. Dimension 3D printers allow users to evaluate design concepts and test models for functionality, form and fit. Online at: www.DimensionPrinting.com
Stratasys, Inc., Minneapolis, manufactures additive fabrication machines for prototyping and manufacturing plastic parts under the brands Fortus 3D Production Systems and Dimension 3D Printers. The company also operates RedEye On Demand, an online service for part prototyping and production. According to Wohlers Report 2009, Stratasys supplied 43 percent of all additive fabrication systems installed worldwide in 2008, making it the unit market leader for the seventh consecutive year. Stratasys patented and owns the process known as FDM(R). The process creates functional prototypes and manufactured goods directly from any 3D CAD program, using high-performance industrial thermoplastics. The company holds more than 250 granted or pending additive fabrication patents globally. Stratasys products are used in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, business & industrial equipment, education, architecture, and consumer-product industries.
Online at: www.Stratasys.com
uPrint is a trademark, and Dimension, Stratasys, and FDM are registered trademarks of Stratasys, Inc.
Attention Editors: If you wish to publish reader contact information, please use: info@dimensionprinting.com, 952-937-3000, 1-866-721-9244, www.dimensionprinting.com.
Forward Looking Statements
All statements herein that are not historical facts or that include such words as "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "estimates," "vision," "planning" or "believes" or similar words constitute forward-looking statements covered by the safe harbor protection of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except for the historical information herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These include statements regarding projected revenue and income in future quarters; the size of the 3D printing market; our objectives for the marketing and sale of our Dimension(R) 3D Printers and our FortusTM 3D Production Systems, particularly for use in direct digital manufacturing (DDM); the demand for our proprietary consumables; the expansion of our paid parts service; and our beliefs with respect to the growth in the demand for our products. Other risks and uncertainties that may affect our business include our ability to penetrate the 3D printing market; our ability to achieve the growth rates experienced in preceding quarters; our ability to introduce, produce and market new materials, such as ABSplus and ABS-M30, and the market acceptance of these and other materials; the impact of competitive products and pricing; our timely development of new products and materials and market acceptance of those products and materials; the success of our recent R&D initiative to expand the DDM capabilities of our core FDM technology; and the success of our RedEyeOnDemandTM and other paid parts services. Actual results may differ from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. These statements represent beliefs and expectations only as of the date they were made. We may elect to update forward-looking statements, but we expressly disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our beliefs and expectations change. In addition to the statements described above, such forward-looking statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties described more fully in our reports filed or to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
Source: Stratasys, Inc.
Released November 11, 2009