3D Systems Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

3D Systems Corporation (“3D Systems” or the “Company” or “we” or “us”) is a holding company incorporated in Delaware in 1993 that operates through subsidiaries in North America and South America (collectively referred to as “Americas”), Europe and the Middle East (collectively referred to as “EMEA”) and the Asia Pacific region (“APAC”). We market our products and services in those areas as well as in other parts of the world. We provide comprehensive 3D printing solutions, including 3D printers, print materials, software, on demand manufacturing services and digital design tools. Our precision healthcare capabilities include simulation, Virtual Surgical Planning (“VSP™”), and printing of medical and dental devices and surgical guides and instruments. Our solutions support advanced applications in a wide range of industries including healthcare, aerospace, automotive and durable goods. 3D Systems has a 30 year history of experience and expertise which have proven vital to our development of an ecosystem that enables customers to optimize product designs, transform workflows, bring innovative products to market and drive new business models.



Customers can use our 3D printing solutions to design and manufacture complex and unique parts, eliminate expensive tooling, produce parts locally or in small batches and reduce lead times and time to market. A growing number of customers are shifting from prototyping applications to also using 3D printing for production. We believe this shift will be further driven by our continued advancement and innovation of 3D printing solutions that improve durability, repeatability, productivity and total cost of operations.



Products



We offer a comprehensive range of 3D printers, print materials, software, haptic devices, scanners and virtual surgical simulators.



3D Printers and Materials



Our 3D printers transform digital data input generated by 3D design software, CAD software or other 3D design tools, into printed parts using several unique print engines that employ proprietary, additive layer by layer building processes with a variety of print materials. We offer a broad range of 3D printing technologies including Stereolithography (“SLA”), Selective Laser Sintering (“SLS”), Direct Metal Printing (“DMP”), MultiJet Printing (“MJP”) and ColorJet Printing (“CJP”), which are discussed in more detail below.



Our printers utilize a wide range of print materials, the majority of which are proprietary materials that we develop, blend and market. Our comprehensive range of print materials includes plastic, nylon, metal, composite, elastomeric, wax, polymeric dental materials and Class IV bio-compatible materials. We augment and complement our portfolio of engineered print materials with materials that we develop with or purchase from third parties under private label and distribution arrangements.

We work closely with our customers to optimize the performance of our print materials in their applications. Our expertise in materials science and formulation, combined with our process, software and equipment, enables us to help our customers select the material that best meets their needs with optimal cost and performance results.



As part of our solutions approach, our currently offered printers, with the exception of direct metal printers, have built-in intelligence to make them integrated, closed systems. For these printers, we furnish print materials specifically designed for use in those printers and that are packaged in smart cartridges and delivery systems. These integrated materials are designed to enhance system functionality, productivity, materials shelf life and overall printer reliability, in addition to providing our customers with a built-in quality management system and a fully integrated workflow solution.



SLA Printers



Our SLA 3D printers cure liquid resin materials with a laser beam to produce durable plastic parts with surface smoothness, high resolution, edge definition and tolerances that rival the accuracy of machined or molded plastic parts. We offer SLA printers with a wide range of materials, sizes and price points that are well-suited for prototypes, end-use parts, casting patterns and molds, tooling, fixtures and medical models.



For SLA printers, we offer a variety of liquid resin materials under the Accura® brand name. The resins are designed to mimic specific, engineered thermoplastics and provide a wide range of characteristics, including tough, durable, clear, castable, polypropylene-like, ABS-like, high-temperature resistant and Class IV bio-compatible materials.



We are also developing a 3D printing technology that utilizes a light-curing process we refer to as our Figure 4 platform. Figure 4 is an ultra-fast additive manufacturing technology in discrete modules, allowing it to be placed into automated assembly lines and integrated with secondary processes, including material recovery, washing, curing and finishing steps. Unlike other photopolymer 3D printing, Figure 4 is capable of manufacturing parts in hybrid materials (multi-mode polymerization) that offer toughness, durability, biocompatibility, high temperature deflection and even elastomeric properties. This opens the door to new end-use applications in the fields of healthcare, durable goods, automotive, aerospace and beyond.



SLS Printers



Our SLS 3D printers use a laser beam to melt and fuse powder-based nylon and engineered plastic and composite print materials to produce very strong and durable parts. Customer uses of our SLS printers include functional test models and end-use parts, such as housings, machinery components, ducting, tooling, jigs and fixtures and medical devices and personalized surgery kits and guides.



Our proprietary SLS materials include a range of soft and rigid plastics, nylon and composite materials marketed under the DuraForm®, LaserForm® and CastForm™ brand names. These materials are available in a variety of lightweight, tough, versatile, high temperature, flexible and durable formulations.

DMP Printers



Our DMP solutions use a laser beam to sinter powders in a variety of metals to produce fully dense parts with outstanding surface finish and resolution. We offer DMP printers that can process a wide range of materials and powders, including materials with very fine granularity and proven manufacturing applications. We sell DMP systems in various sizes and certain models are optimized for specific metals, including titanium, stainless steel and nickel super alloys. Our DMP printers are well-suited for medical and dental implants, aerospace, automotive, and hi-tech and industrial applications, such as conformal cooling, simplifying assemblies, light weight parts, enhanced fluid flow, topology optimization and other complex parts.



We offer metal powder materials for our direct metal printers, including titanium, stainless steels, tool steels, super alloys, non-ferrous alloys, precious metals and aluminum.



MJP Printers



Our MJP 3D printers utilize jetting head technology to deliver precise, tough parts with exceptional resolution in tough plastic, wax, elastomer and engineered materials that we sell under the VisiJet® brand name. MJP printers offer the capability to print in rigid or flexible materials and multiple materials in one build, making them ideal for mechanical functional testing, rapid tooling, jigs and fixtures, casting patterns, over-molding and medical models.

CJP Printers



Our CJP 3D printers produce parts from our VisiJet branded, powder-based ceramic-like materials. CJP printers build high-definition, full-color parts that can be sanded, drilled, tapped, painted and electroplated, which further expands the options available for finished part characteristics. CJP printers are ideal for producing models used in mechanical design, healthcare, architecture, education, entertainment and packaging applications.



Software and Related Products



We also provide digital design tools, including software, scanners and haptic devices. We offer solutions for product design, mold and die design, 3D scan-to-print, reverse engineering, production machining and inspection. These products are designed to enable a more seamless workflow for customers. We also offer proprietary software and drivers embedded within our printers that provide part preparation, part placement, support placement, build platform management and print queue management.



Other Products



As part of our solutions for precision healthcare, we also offer 3D virtual reality simulators and simulator modules for medical applications. These 3D simulators offer clinicians a realistic hands-on experience to master critical skills, prepare for upcoming procedures and create patient specific simulations. We also provide digitizing scanners for medical and mechanical applications.



Services



Warranty, Maintenance and Training Services



We provide a variety of customer services, local application support and field support on a worldwide basis for our products, including installation of new printers at customers’ sites, printer warranties, maintenance agreements, periodic hardware upgrades and software updates. We also provide services to assist our customers and partners in developing new applications for our technologies, to facilitate the use of our technology for specific applications, to train customers on the use of our printers and to maintain our printers at customers’ sites.



We provide these services and field support either directly or through a network of reseller partners. We employ customer-support sales engineers to support our worldwide customer base, and we are continuing to strengthen and enhance our partner network. We distribute spare parts on a worldwide basis to our customers.



All of our 3D printers are sold with maintenance support that generally covers a warranty period ranging from 90 days to one year. We generally offer service contracts that enable our customers to continue maintenance coverage beyond the initial warranty period. These service contracts are offered with various levels of support and options and are priced accordingly. Our service engineers provide regularly scheduled preventive maintenance visits to customer sites, and we also provide training to our partners to enable them to perform these services.



We also offer upgrade kits for certain of our printers that enable our existing customers to take advantage of new or enhanced printer capabilities. In some cases, we have discontinued upgrade support and maintenance agreements for certain of our older legacy printers.



On-Demand Solutions



We provide on-demand manufacturing through facilities worldwide in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. We provide a broad range of prototyping, production and finishing capabilities for precision plastic and metal parts and tooling with a wide range of additive and traditional manufacturing processes.



In addition to the sales of parts, we, and our sales partners, utilize our on-demand parts operation as a sales and lead generation tool. Third party preferred service providers can also use our on-demand parts service as their comprehensive order-fulfillment center. We also provide on-demand professional 3D scanning, printing and parts production related to the entertainment industry through our Gentle Giant brand™.

Software Services



In addition to our software license products, we offer software maintenance, which includes updates and software support for our software products. Our software is sold with maintenance service that generally covers a period of one year. We offer multi-year maintenance contracts that enable our customers to continue maintenance coverage beyond the initial one year period. These software service contracts typically include free software updates and various levels of technical support.



Healthcare Services



Through our precision healthcare services, we provide surgical planning, modeling, prototyping and manufacturing services, including printing and finishing of medical and dental devices, models and tools, as well as modeling and design services, including VSP™. We also provide service on our surgical simulators that are sold under our SimbionixTM brand.