Proto Labs, Inc. was incorporated in Minnesota in 1999. We are an e-commerce
driven digital manufacturer of quick-turn, on-demand custom parts for prototyping
and short-run production. We manufacture parts for product developers and engineers
worldwide, who are under increasing pressure to bring their finished products
to market faster than their competition. We utilize injection molding, computer
numerical control (CNC) machining and 3D printing to manufacture custom parts
for our customers. Our proprietary technology eliminates most of the time-consuming
and expensive skilled labor conventionally required to quote and manufacture
parts. Our customers conduct nearly all of their business with us over the Internet.
We target our products to the millions of product developers and engineers who
use three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software to design products
across a diverse range of end-markets. We have established our operations in
the United States, Europe and Japan, which we believe are three of the largest
geographic markets where these product developers and engineers are located.
We believe custom parts manufacturing has historically been an underserved
market due to the inefficiencies inherent in the quotation, equipment set-up
and non-recurring engineering processes required to produce custom parts. Our
customers typically order short run custom parts for a variety of reasons, including:
they need a prototype to confirm the form, fit and function of one or more components
of a product under development;
they need an initial supply of parts to support pilot production for testing
of a product;
they need an initial supply of parts to support production while their high-volume
production mold is being prepared;
they need on-demand manufacturing due to disruptions in their manufacturing
process;
their product will only be released in a limited quantity; or
they need end-of-life production support.
In each of these instances, we believe our solution provides product developers
and engineers with an exceptional combination of speed, quality, competitive
pricing, ease of use and reliability that they typically cannot find among conventional
custom parts manufacturers. Our technology enables us to ship parts as soon
as the same day after receipt of a customer’s design submission.
Our Industry
We serve product developers and engineers worldwide who bring new ideas to market
in the form of products containing one or more custom parts. Many of these product
developers and engineers use 3D CAD software to create digital models representing
their custom part designs that are then used to create physical parts for concept
modeling, prototyping, functional testing, market evaluation or production.
Custom prototype parts play a critical role in the product development process,
as they provide product developers and engineers with the ability to test and
confirm their intended performance requirements and explore design alternatives.
Early in the product development process, 3D printing processes such as stereolithography
(SL) can be used to quickly produce an approximate physical representation of
a part, but these representations may not meet product developers’ and
engineers’ requirements for dimensional accuracy, cosmetics or material
properties. As an alternative, 3D printing processes such as selective laser
sintering (SLS) and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) or CNC machining can
be used to produce low volumes of high-quality custom parts in either metal
or plastic. For follow-on functional testing, market evaluation and production
runs, parts are typically manufactured using injection molding.
Our Solution
We have developed proprietary software and advanced manufacturing processes
that automate much of the skilled labor conventionally required in quoting,
production engineering and manufacturing of custom parts. We believe our interactive
web-based interface and highly automated processes address the desires of many
product developers and engineers for a fast, efficient and cost-effective means
to obtain custom parts and are the primary reasons we have become a leading
supplier of custom parts.
Key elements of our solution include:
Sophisticated Technology that Reduces Turnaround Time
Our digital model is centered on our web-based interface and proprietary software
to automate many of the manual and time-consuming processes typically required
to obtain custom injection-molded, CNC-machined or 3D-printed parts from conventional
suppliers. Our platform automates many aspects of the entire process from design
submission through manufacturability analysis and feedback, quotation, order
submission, mold design, tool path generation and mold or part manufacture.
To utilize our platform, a prospective customer uploads a 3D CAD file of their
required part through our website. Often within minutes of design submission,
our software analyzes the manufacturability of the part, assesses our ability
to make the part, and returns a firm price quotation with any recommendations
for design modifications. In the case of CNC machining, this manufacturability
analysis identifies features that may be too fragile to be machined and areas
that cannot be machined at all. For injection molding, problematic features
such as undercuts, thin areas, thick areas and areas requiring geometry adjustments
to allow the part to be ejected from the mold are identified. Many of our customers
find this analysis particularly helpful, as it diagnoses and prevents potential
problems prior to manufacturing. We can also provide a flow analysis to identify
parts that may be so thin and large that plastic will solidify before the mold
can be completely filled.
The process for Injection Molding, CNC Machining and 3D Printing begins when
the product developer or engineer uploads one or more 3D CAD models representing
the desired part geometry through our website. Our proprietary software uses
complex algorithms to analyze the 3D CAD geometry, analyze its manufacturability
and support the creation of an interactive, web-based quotation containing pricing
and manufacturability information. A link to the quotation is then e-mailed
to the product developer or engineer, who can access the quotation, change a
variety of order parameters and instantly see the effect on price before finalizing
the order. For 3D Printing, the quote is reviewed and then scheduled for production.
For CNC Machining, the tool paths are then reviewed and routed to our high-speed
CNC machining centers for execution. In the case of Injection Molding, our proprietary
software supports the creation of the mold design and the tool paths required
to manufacture the mold components, which are then routed to our CNC machining
centers for execution. Once the mold is assembled, it is placed in one of our
injection molding presses to create the required parts. For our CNC Machining
product line, we ship parts as soon as the same day as the order is received.
For our Injection Molding and 3D Printing product lines, we ship parts in as
little as one business day from design submission. We ship our parts via small
parcel common carriers on standard terms and conditions.
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