Stratasys Introduces New FORTUS Brand For High-End Product Line As Direct Digital Man

Stratasys Introduces New FORTUS Brand For High-End Product Line As Direct Digital Manufacturing Gathers Momentum
Besides Prototypes, Customers Use Machines to Make Production Parts and Manufacturing Tools
FRANKFURT, 26 February 2009 — Recognising the growing market strength of its high-end FDM systems, Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) today announces that it is branding the product group as FORTUS™ 3D Production Systems. The company has seen solid revenue growth for these high-end systems and a growing percentage of the business going to direct digital manufacturing applications compared to traditional rapid prototyping.
“Rapid prototyping still remains our customers’ largest application,” says Fortus vice president of international sales and marketing, Woody Frost, “but direct digital manufacturing (DDM) has become the fastest growing revenue source at Stratasys – even faster than 3D printing.
“Since Stratasys introduced Dimension and RedEye as individual brands several years ago, there has been some confusion about the identity of our flagship product line. Informally, it has been called the FDM Group or the High-End Systems line. By branding this line as Fortus, we aim to give it a distinct and powerful brand name. Because our reputation was built on our part strength, we created a word based on the Latin word for strength.”
Direct digital manufacturing (DDM) refers to the ability to make working parts directly from 3D CAD files. The market has been growing as manufacturers seek faster and less expensive alternatives to traditional methods of production for short-runs of end-use parts or manufacturing tools (used in the production of other goods).
Wohlers Associates, a consulting firm focused on rapid product development, estimated that the market for direct digital manufacturing over the past five years grew from about 4 percent to nearly 15 percent of the additive fabrication market. In 2008, Fortus system revenues from DDM applications were more than double that percentage at about 35 percent. DDM is believed to be a $170 million market, according to Wohlers Associates.
“We have customers using direct digital manufacturing to produce jigs, fixtures and other manufacturing tools in less than a quarter of the time and at a fraction of the price of traditional processes,” says Frost. “It’s not surprising that direct digital manufacturing has become an important growth market for our high-end systems. In today’s business environment for manufacturing companies, the return on investment from Fortus systems for low-volume manufacturing is simply too compelling to ignore.”
The Fortus product line comprises four systems with build envelopes ranging from 12.585 litres to more than 508 litres. All can produce parts from production-grade thermoplastics, direct from CAD files, making them effective for either precision prototyping or direct digital manufacturing applications.
Fortus 3D Production Systems joins Stratasys’ other brands Dimension 3D printers and RedEye On Demand, the company’s part manufacturing service. As Stratasys announced in December, a select group of Dimension resellers are now also reselling the Fortus product line.
As part of this rebranding initiative, a new Stratasys corporate Web site has replaced the previous one. Now the three Stratasys brands are prominently featured on the corporate site’s home page, and their Web sites can be accessed directly from this page.