3D Printing News Roundup: Proto Labs, Group Gorgé, Renishaw, 4WEB Medical, Dubai's 3D printing lab

Jul 27, 2017 | By David

3D printing developments show no sign of stopping, so here’s another roundup of recent events to keep you up to speed. We have stories on the world's first 3D printed lab, which is due to be completed in Dubai, and some financial results from a number of key players in the 3D printing world.

Group Gorgé 3D printing division sees 18 percent revenue increase for 2017

Group Gorgé has announced its financial results for the first half of 2017, and things look to be going exactly as planned so far. Total consolidated revenue was 136.7 million euros, down a little from this time last year, but the 3D printing division experienced some significant growth. Total revenue was 14.6 million euros, up 18 percent from the first half of 2016.

The 3D printing division continues to expand with the announcement of its new Rapid Additive Forging technology for 3D printing of large metal parts. It also announced the release of its new generation of 3D printers. The ProMaker LD series is a specialist line of products dedicated to the dental industry. During the first half, PRODWAYS GROUP also continued its strategic initiatives with its successful Initial Public Offering on the Euronext Paris stock exchange.

Sales of the new ProMaker P1000 machine weren’t huge, contributing only €0.5 million, as marketing investment was decreased in order to perfect its reliability. At the same time, the Products business was up 50.5% in the first half of 2017. It made significant progress enabling to achieve a growth markedly greater than the majority of listed players in the sector.

Record revenue of more than £500million for 3D printing company Renishaw

Great news for UK 3D printing company Renishaw, not to mention its shareholders, as it achieved a record turnover of £536.8m for the first half of 2017. The financial report that the company just released also shows an underlying revenue growth of 14% at constant exchange rates. Renishaw’s adjusted profit before tax was £109.1m, and the statutory profit before tax of £117.1m, an increase of 25% on an adjusted basis. The total shareholder return during the year was 67%, ranking Renishaw in the top 25 in both the FTSE250 and FTSE350.

The report states Renishaw’s commitment to continual progress and investment in research and development, furthering the development of the 3D printing industry at the same time. Future growth is promised, with the faith places in its the company’s innovative product base, extensive global sales and marketing presence, and relevance to high value manufacturing.

Renishaw is known for providing quality metal 3D printing solutions, as well as specialized design software for healthcare and the dental industry. The company decided to discontinue its 3D metrology systems, as well as diagnosticsm, due to limited potential revenue in those areas.

Proto Labs reports record revenue for the second quarter 2017

More financial results came from Proto Labs, the pioneering provider of on-demand 3D printing services which was established back in 1999. Its total revenue for the second quarter of 2017 was $82.0 million, which was 9.4 percent above the revenue of $75.0 million it achieved in the second quarter of 2016.

The number of unique product developers and engineers that the company served was 16,174 in total for the second quarter of 2017, which was an increase of 18.8 percent over the second quarter of 2016. Net income for the second quarter of 2017 was $12.1 million, or $0.45 per diluted share.

In a statement, Vicki Holt, President and Chief Executive Officer said that the company’s revenue growth “was driven by an 18.8 percent growth in the number of unique product developers we served this quarter, reflecting continued penetration of our market opportunity...We continue to execute on our initiative to expand our product envelope. Our recently launched on-demand manufacturing offering tailors our injection molding service to address the specific needs of the customer. This offering includes a suite of inspection reports, including a digital inspection report option, a lifetime mold guarantee and more competitive piece part pricing to the on-demand manufacturing customer.’’

4WEB Medical announces first U.S. surgeries with 3D printed lateral spine truss system

4WEB Medical, the industry leader in 3D printed implant technology, announced today the first surgeries utilizing the company's Lateral Spine Truss System were recently performed in several notable hospitals in the United States. The company's lateral interbody fusion device was designed to solve known surgical problems associated with legacy annular implant designs and represents a significant advancement in lateral access surgery.

"4WEB's spine truss implants have proven to be very effective in providing excellent surgical outcomes for my patients," said Frank Cammisa, MD, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY. "In contrast to older ring-shaped implants with hollow cores, 4WEB's truss implant web structure spans the entire endplate providing strong initial fixation and minimizing subsidence."

The Lateral Spine Truss System is designed with a unique bi-convex dome that distributes load across a larger surface area and has three times more textured surface topography when compared to other competitive spine implants. The key differentiator for the product, though, is its proprietary truss design and the performance it lends to driving successful spine fusion results.

"A recent study comparing 4WEB's lateral truss implant to a ring implant design demonstrated that the truss design had superior resistance to subsidence," said John Peloza, MD, Center for Spine Care, Dallas, Texas. "In fact, the 40mm length truss implant displayed 61% greater resistance to subsidence than the 60mm length ring implant. These results are indicative of the optimized load distribution inherent to 4WEB's truss implant technology that maximizes endplate contact while providing an open architecture for bone formation and fusion."

Dubai almost ready to unveil world’s first 3D printed laboratory

Continuing the impressive progress made by the United Arab Emirates in the field of 3D printing technology, the world’s first fully 3D printed laboratory is due to be unveiled in Dubai very soon. The facility, which aims to study the science and technique of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 3D-printing, is now 87 percent complete. The 3D printed lab will be supported by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), which is getting fully behind the Dubai 3D printing strategy that has been gradually outlined in recent years.

The 3D-printed lab will include four sub-laboratories, which have a total capacity of 132 square metres. The Electronics Lab, the Software Lab, the Mechanical Lab, and the Prototype Lab will all be up and running soon, as will an outdoor-testing facility which has a capacity of 400 square metres.

The Electronics Lab will be used to conduct electrical design and repair services for drones, which will be used by R&D staff and Dewa employees. The Software Lab is going to develop and provide Dewa with innovative products, research, and educational solutions. It will be running various tests on avionic systems, flight controls, and electric power units. Particular areas of research interest for the lab include operating systems, mobile computing, cloud computing, virtualisation, distribution systems, and software engineering. The Mechanical Lab will conduct theoretical and experimental research into phenomena related to the behaviour of certain materials. An outdoor flight-testing facility will feature a large landing area that will be equipped with sensors, as well as a power, water, and data line.

Posted in 3D Printer Company

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