An additional source of information for many European technologies and companies not discussed here is the section on Rapid Tooling. You can also use the links in the commercial systems directory pages to find out more.

EOS GmbH

EOS GmbH (Germany) manufactured both stereolithography and selective laser sintering systems, but sold its stereolithography business to 3D Systems in 1997. It remains the largest European producer, and claims it sells twice as many sintering systems as its competitors. The company had approximately $99 million in revenue during the 2007/2008 fiscal year, a 17% increase over the previous year and even better than the 14% growth of 2006/2007.

In early 2003, the company challenged 3D Systems exclusive US market for selective laser sintering systems by installing machines at two US service bureaus. It was yet another salvo in the rancorous disputes between the companies ranging over patents and other matters. At the beginning of 2004, EOS and 3D reached agreement to cross license intellectual property and settle all outstanding disagreements. 3D Systems also agreed to start selling some EOS products on an OEM basis in the US.

EOS has placed much emphasis over the years on rapid manufacturing and tooling applications for its machinery. The effort has been increasingly successful as RM has become more recognized by many industries. The company has also been working with German laser and machine tool producer Trumph GmbH to extend its SLS technology to selective laser melting. SLM is similar to selective laser sintering, but produces fully-dense parts. Trumph, in turn, is also working with the US company POM-Group on the machinery aspects of that company's laser powder forming technology. There is an interesting possibility of future convergence among these players.

While EOS's revenue growth has slowed in the last couple of years, it's compound growth rate was on the order of 22% for the several preceding years. With its focus on small series production, the company could once again experience increasing revenue as additive manufacturing becomes more widely adopted.

The company also faces increasing competition from other system manufacturers providing similar powder-based technologies. In addition to Arcam AB and MTT Technologies Group, described below, Concept-Laser GmbH (Germany) and Phenix Systems (France) are among others that offer products with unique specifications to address specific market segments.

Arcam AB

Arcam AB (Sweden) has commercialized electron beam melting (EBM) technology. This process is also similar to selective laser sintering, but replaces the laser with a 4 KW electron beam and forms fully-dense metal parts from an, at present, limited selection of metals and alloys. The method should be able to accommodate many materials, however. An interesting advantage is said to be the system's energy efficiency. More information on Arcam's technology can be found in the Rapid Tooling section.

In January, 2008 the company announced plans to directly market its products in the US after its agreement with Stratasys came to an end.

Envisiontec GmbH

Envisiontec GmbH (Germany) produces the Perfactory® system which uses photopolymers and deformable mirror devices for layer-wise imaging. The selling price is quite a bit lower than comparable stereolithography systems, about $60,000. The machines are capable of producing highly-detailed parts enabling them to find acceptance in the jewelry industry, among others. The company says it now has more than 1,200 machines in the field and that it sold nearly 300 systems in 2007.

The limitation of a relatively small build envelope of the original machines has been overcome by the introduction of the PerfactoryXede® in late 2007. Not only does this machine have a build volume of 600 x 500 x 500 mm, but it's said to be capable of building at 20 mm per hour with 50 micron resolution in the Z-axis. Another interesting aspect of this machine is that unlike other additive technologies it doesn't actually build in discrete layers. Instead, it uses continuous motion of the build platform which means that the parts it produces really are "grown."

The company also produces the Bioplotter^TM, a system to build 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. This machine is based on hypodermic dispensing of a curing material into a liquid medium.

MTT Technologies Group

Fockele & Schwarze (Germany) started as a stereolithography technology provider but now produces such systems largely for research applications. It was first to commercialize the selective laser melting (SLM) process developed at the Fraunhofer Institute. The technology is now sold by MTT Technologies Group (UK), a spin-out from the German company MCP-HEK Tooling GmbH which had in-turn taken over commercialization of the technology from F&S. Smaller SLM systems aimed at dental, jewelry and similar applications that require small, intricate parts were introduced in 2006. The systems operate with a wide range of materials including: stainless steel, titanium, tool steel, tantalum, cobalt chrome, inconel and many other non-ferrous materials.

In early 2008, 3D Systems announced plans to market the equipment in the US.

 

CONCEPT Laser GmbH

CONCEPT Laser GmbH, a company of the Hofmann Group (Germany) which also has a service bureau subsidiary, produces machines that use a laser to bond metal powders into near-net shape parts in a process they call LaserCUSING. A two-axis X-Y linear positioning system is used to move the laser beam over the powder bed which is said to result in an accuracy of + or - 0.002 inches over the working envelope. Most powder-based laser systems from other manufacturers use a galvanometer arrangement which can result in off-axis distortion. Minimal post-finishing is required.

A variety of steels, Inconel, and reactive materials such as aluminum and titanium can be used, depending on the specific machine within the company's product range. A multi-functional machine called the M3 has individual replaceable modules that perform either selective laser melting, laser erosion or laser marking.

CONCEPT aims its products largely at the market for injection mold tooling and similar applications, and has built up an installed base now approaching 100 machines largely concentrated in Europe.

fcubic AB

fcubic AB (Sweden) is developing an inkjet-based production system for manufacturing small stainless steel parts. Currently fcubic is operating as a service bureau. Parts are typically 2 to 25mm, and can be manufactured in volumes of one or two thousand per day. The goal is to eventually license turnkey systems for high-volume production systems capable of 10,000 parts per day for parts fitting within a 10mm cube.

Small parts and textiles fabricated with the fcubic process. Inset shows a closeup of the textile designed by Janne Kyttanen. (Courtesy fcubic AB.)

Materialise NV

Materialise NV (Belgium) is an RP software producer which also provides service bureau functions in several countries, as well as proprietary stereolithography technology. It claims to have the largest service bureau capacity in Europe. The company's Mammoth^TM stereolithography systems can fabricate an entire automobile dashboard as a single piece. A description of the Mammoth is available in this article.

Materialise is probably the single largest commercial entity in the entire field of additive fabrication. It employs more than 700 people in its four divisions, roughly as many as systems market leaders 3D Systems and Stratasys combined. It has leveraged its expertise in rapid prototyping software to become a force in medical, dental and surgical software and simulation, as well.

It was not the miners that profited the most from the Gold Rush. It was the companies that sold them the shovels. In this way Materialise has quietly become the biggest fish in the additive fabrication pond.

Mcor Technologies

Mcor Technologies (Ireland) has developed an additive fabrication method based on laminated object manufacturing (LOM). It shares some characteristics with Cubic Technologies LOM systems which have been available for more than 20 years, described above. However, Mcor's method is closer to Kira Corp.'s PLT and uses a cutting blade rather than a laser. It also uses selective bonding of standard A4 sheet paper stock which is said to result in easy removal of support volumes. The initial machine, dubbed the Matrix, was introduced in the UK at the end of 2008 at a selling price in the range of US$34,000. While this is a price that is quite a bit higher than most of its expected direct competitors, Mcor is counting heavily on the very low cost of its consumables. The company has indicated it will initiate US sales in 2009.

Sintermask GmbH

Sintermask GmbH (Germany) (formerly Speed Part RP AB of Sweden) was taken over by FIT GmbH, a German service bureau and technology provider, in 2008. The company is continuing the development of selective mask sintering technology (SMS) which has been in beta test for several years. This powder layer-based technology is said to be both much faster and much less expensive than selective laser sintering which it resembles. Instead of a laser, exposure is by means of a high-resolution temporary mask on a transparent plate created using a xerographic process. The technology is aimed at rapid manufacturing applications for polymer parts. More about the technology can be learned from this introductory article.

FIT expects to introduce a second generation system, dubbed the ZORRO, in 2010. The 300 x 200 x 800mm [12 x 8 x 31 in] (x, y, z) build chamber is said to be capable of being processed in a single 8 hour shift to make as many as 3,000 thumb-sized parts. The company says this is equivalent to a build time of just 10 seconds per part with a resolution of just over 0.001 inches in x-y, and about 0.004 inches for the z-direction.

Israel
Israel has been the source of a number unique RP technologies over the years. Some of the early entrants have gone out of business or failed to flower, but the country is a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity second only to the US by some measures.

Objet Geometries Ltd.

Objet Geometries Ltd. began selling products based on its PolyJet^TM technology in 2001. This technology deposits photopolymer object and support materials using a wide area inkjet head. It subsequently completely cures each layer after it is deposited with a UV flood lamp mounted on the print head. Support material is washed away with pressurized water jets. In May, 2003 the company introduced a system that improves stairstepping by using a layer thickness of 16 microns (0.0006 in). Dubbed the Eden^TM series, the systems formerly were sold in the US by Stratasys, but are now sold directly by Objet.

The company purchased the early Israeli RP market entrant Cubital's patent portfolio in 2001 as a defensive measure. Scitex Corp. has been a major investor in both companies.

In late 2003, 3D Systems started selling a similar photopolymer-based inkjet system called the InVision^TM. It was originally positioned against Objet's products, but the company quickly reduced the price to be more competitive in the 3D printer segment. Objet's line combines convenience and office-friendly operation with output closely resembling or even exceeding that from stereolithography machines.

In late 2007 Objet announced the Connex500 system, the first machine in the industry able to use two fabrication materials at the same time. This enables it to produce parts with properties that vary throughout their volume. Interest in the product has been keen and it has been quick to find a home in some service bureaus. [See the article A Service Bureau's View of the Connex500™ by Mike Rufo.]

While Objet aims the machine mainly at applications that take advantage of the different and varying properties available from the materials, the fact that they are also of contrasting opacity and color has also enabled the machine to get a toehold in medical applications, as well. This makes it possible to show structures within the body for surgical planning, for example.

Objet's latest offering is the Alaris30, launched in October, 2008. It's a desktop machine priced at less than $40,000. It may offer some strong competition to machines from Stratasys' Fortus range as well as 3D's stereolithography systems. If Objet makes a material available for the machine that's appropriate for casting, it might also take a bite out of Solidscape and Envisiontec machines aimed at high-resolution applications such as jewelry or medical implants. Those customers might be able to save $20,000 or more with the Alaris. While it doesn't offer quite the fine layers of some of Objet's systems or the competitors, its 28 micron spec is probably good enough for many such applications.

Solido Ltd.

Solido Ltd. (formerly Solidimension) produces a small, desktop LOM machine that builds objects from layers of PVC plastic film cut from a roll. A knife is used for the cutting process and layers are bonded using a solvent. Parts produced by the system are impressively detailed and the machine also has the ability to print on the object. The company signed a major distribution agreement for Japan in 2004 with Graphtec Corporation, and 3D Systems sold the system in the US under the InVision^TM brand name for less than $15,000 until the end of 2008. It was ostensibly superseded at that time by 3D's $9,900 V-Flash^TM photopolymer-based system. The Solido system is now available from other sources in the US, however, and in May, 2009 the company announced a system priced under $10,000. It's main competitive feature relative to 3D's V-Flash^TM is cost of materials.

Japan
Although there is much rapid prototyping activity in Japan, little product has crossed its borders in either direction. Several vendors are joint ventures or have some past association with large industrial corporations such as Sony. Japan's RP system vendors originally took the traditional long-term approach of honing their technology and marketing by furious but profitless domestic competition, and using the resulting products to address foreign markets once intellectual property issues abated. However, after Japan's economy went into a prolonged recession, it became necessary for many large Japanese companies to place greater emphasis on short-term profits. This has resulted in a shift in the landscape of Japanese vendors.

Japanese companies have largely concentrated on building and improving several variants of stereolithography processes and there are at least five companies working in this area. The Japanese are also concentrating on the development of photopolymer materials for the process with a number of unique approaches and products. However, because of legal restrictions on ingredients, these photopolymers often may not be sold in markets outside of Japan. Small desktop stereolithography systems are available in Japan for as little as $10,000.

As part of 3D Systems' settlement of the US government's anti-trust suit, Sony was chosen as the licensee of 3D's stereolithography-based intellectual property and allowed to compete in the US market. Sony introduced a line of stereolithography equipment to the US market in May, 2003, but the company failed to make inroads and discontinued its US operations in 2006.

Not all activity in Japan is based on stereolithography: Toyoda Machine Works was Helisys' Japanese licensee and continues to manufacture LOM systems. Kira also makes a paper-based LOM system, but uses a laser printer to deposit adhesive selectively to layers and cuts paper with a guided knife blade as opposed to a laser. Kira has sold a few systems in Europe and the US. In June 2006, Kira introduced a second generation machine, the Katana PLT-20 RapidMockup system. The unit is priced at US$35,000 and potential advantages compared to other low-end machines are speed of fabrication and cost of materials.

Japan also produces several other unique systems which aren't widely known. For example, Afit Corp. has developed laser printer-based rapid prototyping. The technology has the long-term potential to offer fast, high resolution systems that can utilize a wide range of materials.

You can use the links in the Commercial RP Systems directory pages to learn more about activity in Japan.

China
China has a very active RP development program with research performed by Tsinghua University and other academic institutions. Beijing Yinhua Ltd., Shanghai Union Technology Co., Ltd. and Wuhan Benha Mechanical & Electrical Co., Ltd. market their products worldwide, although at this point the numbers are fairly small. Unique multi-function systems have been developed in China that can perform both paper-based LOM and FDM functions by changing some machine elements. These machines seem to be most suitable for a university or small laboratory environment. Chinese companies have also developed dedicated SLS, stereolithography, LOM and FDM systems and are working in the area of Rapid Freeze Prototyping. The latter uses water-based ice to create objects and work is also being carried out in the US and Japan on this technology. See the reference below for a description of China's RP activity, or use the links in the Commercial RP Systems directory pages to learn more.

Korea
The Korean government has supported significant research in additive fabrication for several years and the work is now migrating to the commercial sector. Menix Co., Ltd. is selling the Variable Lamination System developed by KAIST. It uses a hot wire to cut variable thickness layers of polystyrene foam. It's aimed at fabricating larger models and is reminiscent of the defunct Hot Plot machine from Sparx (Sweden), one of the earliest RP technology entrants. Insstek is commercializing a laser powder forming process developed at Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM). From patents, the process seems to be most similar to that produced by POM-Group in the US. It also uses an optical scheme to control deposition although the implementation is different from POM's.

Singapore
Kinergy introduced a LOM system in 1996 which is extremely similar to Helisys' original LOM technology. A large working envelope is available. The company also provides multi-function LOM and FDM systems and operates a service bureau in China.