“Sorry for being emotional. I’m very excited.”
Yoav Zeif, the CEO of Stratasys, takes a breath.
He has just gone through the Stratasys portfolio, technology by technology, and outlined the most pertinent application opportunities for each. Medical modelling is proffered for its PolyJet technology, spare parts is one example for its FDM offering, and the recently announced ECCO footwear moulding application is highlighted for Programmable Photopolymerisation.
Zeif stands in the centre of Stratasys’ Formnext booth. He is surrounded by his company’s polymer 3D printing hardware, including the Origin One and SAF 350 acquired through takeovers of Origin and Xaar 3D, and a host of visitors wanting to look under the hood of each product.
This portfolio has been aggressively expanded over the last couple of years. There have been developments to its FDM and PolyJet lines in the form of the F770 and J850 Pro, for example, and then investment in DLP, SLA and powder bed fusion too. It has been strategically put together to establish Stratasys as not just a leader of polymer 3D printing, but the leader: “We focus on polymers because this is our core competency,” Zeif says. “Stratasys is a polymer company. We are and we will be the leader in polymer additive manufacturing. Period. By far.”
In the Portugal and Denmark development facilities of ECCO, the footwear brand is ‘going beyond’ typical 3D printing applications for the market it operates in. ECCO has been one of many brands to harness 3D printing to produce the midsoles of a shoe, but since adopting Origin’s P3 technology, has also begun to explore mould and shoe last applications.
