Italian 3D Printing Service Bureau Expands Direct Manufacturing With Second Fortus 900mc 3D Production System From Stratasys

MINNEAPOLIS and REHOVOT, Israel, Dec. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS), a manufacturer of 3D printers and materials for personal use, prototyping and production, today announced that Società Progettazione Ingegnerizzazione SRL (Spring SRL) finalized the purchase of its seventh Stratasys' Fused Deposition Molding (FDM) 3D Printer at EuroMold 2013, through Italian reseller, Technimold.

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Following several years of utilizing Stratasys FDM technology for prototyping, Spring SRL, Stratasys' largest Italian FDM service bureau, decided to invest in a second Stratasys Fortus 900mc Production System to support its growing demand for directly manufactured parts including jigs and fixtures, and end-use parts.

"FDM technology has always been a core part of our service offering to customers as it allows us to produce tough parts that can endure the stress of functional testing," explains Fabio Gualdo, co-founder and CEO of Spring SRL. "We purchased the Fortus 900mc to directly manufacture parts that would be impossible to produce with traditional technology and material, such as carbon fibre. Our customers across various industries have been amazed at the quality, speed and performance of 3D printed end-use parts and this was a key part of our decision to invest further in Stratasys' Fortus Production Systems."

70 Percent Manufacturing; 30 Percent Prototyping
Spring SRL offers the full range of Stratasys FDM materials, including ABS M30i and PC-ISO for medical modeling. At present, the company's activities comprise 70% Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) and 30% prototype parts for functional testing in a number of industries including, racing (20%), aerospace (18%) and medical (11%). The company's prototyping and production 3D printers are working round the clock, totaling 42,000 hours per year; combining the FDM benefits with Spring SRL's Engineering Department of over 10 years' experience, gained over thousands of projects.

"As in so many industries today, deadlines are becoming shorter and shorter," explains Gualdo. "3D printing, combined with our know-how and design skills, has helped us reduce our lead time significantly as we can make several design iterations to a product quicker than we ever could with traditional manufacturing process. We have also been able to save our customers money as no tooling is required and this has strengthened our reputation as the leading Italian service bureau."

For the aerospace and racing industries, Spring SRL uses Stratasys FDM 3D printing technology to produce a number of parts including 3D printed, end-use armrests featured in a number of airplanes and vehicles. Directly 3D printing the final part enables Spring SRL to reduce its turnaround time by 66% and costs 50% compared to traditional methods such as CNC.

"When approached to produce the armrests, we instantly knew that the ULTEM 9085 material from Stratasys, with its high strength-to-weight ratio, would be the ideal material for this project," says Gualdo. "The high performance material enabled us to reduce the weight of traditional armrests by 60%, a crucial factor in the aerospace industry."

Andy Middleton, Stratasys General Manager EMEA adds: "The purchase of Spring's seventh FDM Production System demonstrates its belief in FDM and its growing viability for manufacturing. We expect to see more and more customers using our technology to enter the world of direct manufacturing as they create the factories of the future."

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Spring SRL, headquartered in Monteviale (VI), Italy. Spring was established in 1998 as a business venture combining its founders' mold and component designing expertise with Prototyping technology. Spring's business core is engineering, consisting of a professional team technically updated thanks to a policy of continuous training. Our technicians work with the aid of advanced CAD/CAM/CAE tools such as Unigraphics NX, Pro Engineer, Femap. Market interpreting capacity has brought Spring to extend its range of services, including the rapid prototyping line to meet the needs of the most demanding clients. Now with its 7^th purchased, Spring SRL confirms its leading position. Online at: www.springitalia.com

Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS), headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. and Rehovot, Israel, manufactures 3D printers and materials for prototyping and production. The company's patented FDM® and PolyJet^TM 3D printing technologies produce prototypes and manufactured goods directly from 3D CAD files or other 3D content. Systems include 3D printers for idea development, prototyping and direct digital manufacturing. Stratasys subsidiaries include MakerBot and Solidscape, and the company operates the RedEye digital-manufacturing service. Stratasys has more than 1700 employees, holds over 500 granted or pending additive manufacturing patents globally, and has received more than 20 awards for its technology and leadership. Online at: www.stratasys.com or http://blog.stratasys.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements regarding Stratasys' beliefs, intentions and expectations, including without limitation statements regarding the development and performance of our products and the potential growth of our industry and market, are forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws). The statements involve risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.  Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the risk and uncertainty relating to Stratasys' ability to penetrate the 3D printing market; its ability to achieve the growth rates experienced in preceding quarters; its ability to introduce, produce and market both existing and new consumable materials, and the market acceptance of these materials; the impact of competitive products and pricing; its timely development of new products and materials and market acceptance of those products and materials; the success of Stratasys' recent R&D initiative to expand the DDM capabilities of its core FDM technology; and the success of Stratasys' RedEye On DemandTM and other paid parts services. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ.  These and other applicable factors are discussed in this presentation and in Stratasys' Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2012, as well as other filings that Stratasys, Inc. has made with the SEC and that Stratasys Ltd. has made and will make with the SEC in the future.  Any forward-looking statements included in this presentation are as of the date they are given, and Stratasys is not obligated to update them if its views later change, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.  These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Stratasys' views as of any date subsequent to the date they are given.

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SOURCE Stratasys Ltd.