Stratasys and Desktop Metal announce extension of strategic partnership

Stratasys also announced the launch of the Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator.

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Stratasys, one of the 3D printing industry’s leading companies, announced a strategic partnership focusing on product distribution with one of the industry's most exciting newcomers, Desktop Metal on the second day of RAPID+TCT.

Through this extension of the two companies’ cooperation (Stratasys was one of many companies to financially back Desktop Metal before its launch last month), Stratasys resellers will be able to sell Desktop Metal printers. This includes the recently announced Studio System and Production System, alongside Stratasys' broad family of advanced FDM and PolyJet solutions by Stratasys partners. 

Expected to ship in September Desktop Metal's Studio System is the first office-friendly metal 3D printing solution. At up to ten times less expensive than today’s metal 3D printers, it’s cost-effective metal 3D printing solution for engineering teams. With this technology Desktop Metal has made it possible to produce highly complex metal parts and assemblies with metal 3D printing without leaving the office.

Following the successful release of the Stratasys FDM-based F123 Series, the companies believe customers will now be able to benefit from the best of plastics, and the best of metals, all in one work space.  

“Stratasys has always been focused on providing customers with cutting-edge 3D printing innovation with our PolyJet and FDM solutions. Today our offerings are used by customers worldwide – across automotive, aerospace, healthcare, education and consumer products – to achieve rapid prototyping, tooling and manufacturing processes,” said Ilan Levin, CEO, Stratasys. “As one of the early investors in Desktop Metal, we realise customers are seeking additional ways to incorporate metal into their essential design and manufacturing processes. Today’s announcement takes this commitment one step further – empowering global manufacturers and engineers to expedite product development cycles by producing both plastic and metal parts in office-friendly and production-based environments.”

Ric Fulop, CEO and Co-Founder of Desktop Metal added: "Working with well-respected strategic partners like Stratasys adds critical capabilities for broadening access to our metal 3D printing systems. The addition of Stratasys’ network of resellers allows us to deliver more effectively to our market and also enables Stratasys’ customers to gain access to Desktop Metal’s systems while retaining the service and support they have come to expect.”

Although the partnership will initially focus on distribution, the two companies hinted at the potential for a more technology-focussed collaboration in the future.

Moments before Stratasys and Desktop Metal announced their strategic partnership, the former launched the Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator. This platform is composed of a modular unit with multiple 3D print cells working simultaneously, and is driven by a central, cloud-based architecture. 

The system has been designed to produce parts in a continuous stream with only minor operator intervention, automatically ejecting completed parts and commencing new ones.

Each 3D print cell can produce a different job to help enable mass customisation projects. Additional cells can be added at any time to the scalable platform to increase production capacity as demand requires. Automatic queue management, load balancing and architecture redundancy further lead to accelerated throughput as jobs are automatically routed to available Stratasys Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator can be easily expanded to grow according to production requirements print cells. If a single print cell fails, the job will be automatically rerouted to the next available cell.

Target applications include education RP labs and environments that can benefit from zero tooling production and from a zero inventory supply chain.

“The Stratasys Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator is an important milestone in the company’s long term vision to make additive manufacturing a viable solution for volume production environments,” said Scott Crump, Stratasys Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer. “It combines our FDM print quality, GrabCAD control and monitoring, and a new multi-cell, scalable architecture to create a breakthrough manufacturing platform.”

Already, a variety of Stratasys customers, from designers to manufacturers, have begun using the Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator to enhance their offerings, and explore news business opportunities. These include Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD); In'Tech Industries, Inc; and FATHOM. 

Stratasys is showcasing the Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator, as well as its F123 series of 3D printers, at RAPID+TCT from Booth #1513. Its strategic partner, Desktop Metal is also present at the event, presenting its Studio and Production Systems from Booth #1513.