According to a report from Bloomberg yesterday, who has the information straight from the horse’s mouth, Stratasys, following its acquisition of Makerbot last week, is now looking to further consolidate its position in the 3D printing industry with further mergers and/or acquisitions. This time, the focus for adding new processes is at the other end of the spectrum of 3D printing — metal. Scott Crump, Stratasys’ long time Chairman, revealed to Bloomberg reporter, Edmond Lococo in Beijing:
“Because there is so much opportunity we also will selectively grow though M&A.” This in itself is not huge news, but when Crump went on to qualify this statement, that’s when it got interesting: “We have an organic project to get Stratasys into additive metal. It’s rational to say that through M&A we want to expand with different technology on a dual path.”
After the Makerbot deal, and even before it actually, metal was indentified as a hole in the Stratasys portfolio of industrial 3D printing systems. And while several industry commentators have commented on Stratasys being slightly behind the curve on their major competitors, 3D Systems, when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, which I don’t dispute on the surface. Stratasys’ approach has tended to be much more measured and conservative than 3D Systems, but it seems the company is becoming much more bullish in its approach. Makerbot was a bit of a coup, in my opinion, and I would not be at all surprised if the metal acquisition turns out to be the same.
Of course, speculation, a game Stratasys seems to like playing with the media these days, will ramp up following Crump’s comments as to who the target(s) are, but I would not be at all surprised if there is already a deal on the table in a board room somewhere around the world. Question is, will it be Scandinavia, Germany, the UK, or will Stratasys turn to a metal company on home soil in the US?
Image Credit: i.materialise – printed metal part using DMLS.
Hi Rachel:
Great article. I had heard that Scott had been quoted as saying more acquisitions were in the wind but the coverage I saw didn’t mention metal. Great catch and actually great news. The choice as I see it (and your views would be very welcome) would be whether they go the laser sintering or electron beam melting route. My bet is both Arcam and ExOne.
Thanks again for your great coverage. I’d like to pick your brain on electronics printing with graphene. Regards…Rob
Rob – Arcam could be a possibility, as Stratasys were the re-seller of Arcam in the USA many years ago, just like they were the Objet re-seller (but please don’t read too much into that). Arcam is actually pretty cheep compared to makerbot ($187 million at close last night) – they have a solid customer base and growing sales, they also have some great R&D project focused on improving speed and increasing resolution to make it comparable with laser based systems. However, they have also taken such a long time to grow out a significant customer base, it does make you worry that there must be a flaw.
In terms of ExOne, unless i missed something, they do not have a laser metal system. they have an indirect printing system, jetting binder into stainless seel powder, which must then be infiltrated. Hasty process – cheep – but highly in-acruate for engieering applications – great to Shape-ways trinkets.