voxeljet AG (voxeljet) provides high-speed, large-format 3D printers and on-demand parts services to industrial and commercial customers.
The company’s 3D printers employ a powder binding, additive manufacturing technology to produce parts using various material sets, which consist of particulate materials and proprietary chemical binding agents. The company offers its customers the highest volumetric output rate in the industry due to the combination of the company’s large build boxes and prin...
voxeljet AG (voxeljet) provides high-speed, large-format 3D printers and on-demand parts services to industrial and commercial customers.
The company’s 3D printers employ a powder binding, additive manufacturing technology to produce parts using various material sets, which consist of particulate materials and proprietary chemical binding agents. The company offers its customers the highest volumetric output rate in the industry due to the combination of the company’s large build boxes and print speeds.
The company provides its 3D printers and on-demand parts services to industrial and commercial customers serving the automotive, aerospace, art and architecture, engineering and consumer product end markets.
The company offers seven different 3D printer platforms, with build boxes that range from 290 × 140 × 180 millimeters to 4,000 × 2,000 × 1,000 millimeters and various print speeds, which produce volumetric output rates ranging from 0.6 liters per hour to 168.0 liters per hour. All of the company’s platforms support its commercialized material sets, sand and plastics, along with their respective proprietary chemical binding agents. The company develops its material sets according to the needs of the company’s industrial and commercial customers, and the company is in varying stages of developing new material sets, including shell molding and chromite sands, polymethyl methacrylate (‘PMMA’)-based plastics, ceramics, silicon carbide, tungsten carbide and cement.
Segments
The company’s business is divided into two principal segments: Systems and Services.
In the company’s Systems segment, the company focuses on the sale, production and development of 3D printers. In addition, the company sells refurbished 3D printers which were produced for and used in the company’s Services segment and provide printers to customers under operating lease agreements. The company also provides consumables, including particulate materials and proprietary chemical binding agents, maintenance contracts and spare parts to the company’s customers.
In the company’s Services segment, the company prints on-demand parts for its customers. The company operates service centers in Germany, the United States, and China. At the company’s service centers, the company creates parts, molds, cores and models based on designs produced using 3D computer-aided design (‘CAD’) software. Furthermore, there are customers who order casted parts directly from the company. In those cases, the company provides molds or models to external suppliers who then cast the parts for the company’s customers. The company’s service center in Germany is one of the largest additive manufacturing service centers in Europe.
As of December 31, 2022, the company had an installed base of 224 printers worldwide, and the company operated service centers in Germany, the United States and China. The company’s service centers in Germany and the United States each have more than 40,000 square feet of production space. The company’s service center in China has approximately 49,000 square feet and approximately 27,000 square feet of production space, respectively.
Additive Manufacturing Technology
The company’s printers build or print parts from digital designs produced using 3D CAD software by successively depositing thin layers of particulate materials. A printhead passes over each layer and deposits the company’s proprietary chemical binding agent in the selected areas where the finished product will be created.
3D Printers
The company produces seven 3D printer platforms. The company’s 3D printers consist of a build box that includes a machine platform and a controller. The company’s 3D printers differ based on build box size and print speeds, but all utilize the company’s technology and can support each of the company’s existing material sets and each of the company’s material sets that are in development. As of December 31, 2022, the company had an installed base of 224 printers worldwide, which includes printers in the company’s service centers and printers, which are no longer commercially available, but the company’s customers continue to use.
Materials
The company’s commercialized material sets are comprised sand and plastic particulate materials and their respective proprietary chemical binding agents. These material sets are well suited for the company’s commercial and industrial customers because these materials either are commonly used in their existing manufacturing processes or match or exceed desired performance characteristics of existing materials being utilized in their manufacturing processes. The company’s sand material set offerings include four types of sands: silica, kerphalite, zirconium oxide and chromite, with furan, inorganic, shell molding and phenol resins as proprietary chemical binding agents. The company’s plastics material set offering is based on PMMA, Polypor B and C (as the proprietary chemical binding agents), and Polyamide.
The company is in varying stages of development of new material sets which include the following particulate materials: different types of sands; different types of ceramics; silicon carbide and other hard metals; cement; thermoplastic polyurethane; polyamide; and polypropylene.
On-demand Parts Services
At the company’s service centers, the company creates parts, molds, cores and models for a variety of industrial and commercial customers based on designs produced using 3D CAD software. The company receives orders directly from customers and indirectly through the company’s sales agents.
The company’s service centers in Germany and the United States each have more than 40,000 square feet of production space. The company’s Chinese service center is located in a facility with more than 78,000 square feet of production space, storage and office space.
The company helps its customers move from the design stage to the production stage by assisting them in evaluating the optimal design and material sets for their production needs. After printing parts, the company employs a thorough cleaning, finishing, quality control review and packaging and shipping process to ensure the customer receives high-quality and immediately-usable parts. Based on the company’s capacity utilization, the lead time required for the company to print a part for a customer ranges from three to 21 days and is typically five business days. Due to the size of the printers’ build boxes utilized in the company’s German service center, specifically the VX4000 printer, the company is able to print more parts simultaneously on one printer, resulting in cost-effective and quick turnaround times for the company’s customers’ print jobs and increased revenue and profitability for the company.
The company’s technicians also train customers on operating, maintaining and troubleshooting the company’s 3D printers through hands-on experience at the company’s German service center. Additionally, the company’s technicians provide field support to the company’s customers as needed. After the warranty period, the company offers maintenance contracts to the company’s customers. Those contracts include scheduled service visits where the company maintains and cleans the 3D printers, as well as on demand visits and troubleshooting, in case of sudden problems.
Customers
The company positioned itself in the market for additive manufacturing and utilize this technology to provide part production and solutions to industrial and commercial customers, including the foundry, automotive, heavy equipment, power fluid handling, aerospace and consumer product industries. The company has established deep relations with a number of leading multinational customers, which received either printed parts services or entire printer systems from the company’s broad variety of industrial-grade printers. Out of the company’s broad customer portfolio the company deals with companies, including Daimler AG, BMW AG, Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen AG, Porsche SE, and Evonik Industries AG, as well as with other key users of additive manufacturing. In addition, technical universities, such as the ETH Zürich, and the Vaal University of Technology are part of the company’s wide-ranging customer base. Companies investing into voxeljet’s technology include original equipment manufacturers, government agencies, independent service bureaus that provide rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing to their respective customers. The company does also engage in research and development projects with a number of the company’s automotive and technical university customers, including those named above, as well as the Technical University of Munich.
Sales and Marketing
The company sells its 3D printers and related after-sales products both through the company’s direct and indirect sales channels, and the company partners with more than 20 third-party sales agents globally. The company’s internal sales organization, the direct channel, is responsible for worldwide sales of the company’s 3D printers and on-demand parts services, as well as for the management and coordination of the company’s sales agent network. The direct sales channel focuses primarily on customers in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific, while the company’s sales agents are responsible for sales in other areas of the world where the company does not operate directly. The company has entered into partnership agreements with each of the company’s sales agents, which grant the sales agent the right to market the company’s products in a defined territory on either an exclusive or non-exclusive basis. However, all sales contracts for the company’s products are entered into between the company and its customers. Certain of these sales agents also provide direct maintenance services to customers in their defined territories. The company’s application engineers provide professional services through pre-sales support and assist existing customers so that they can take advantage of the company’s latest consumables and techniques to improve part quality and machine productivity. This group also leverages the company’s customer contacts to help identify new application opportunities that utilize the company’s proprietary processes. As of December 31, 2022, the company’s worldwide sales staff for systems and parts consisted of 41 employees. The company also expects that its subsidiaries in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific will improve market access through local market development and allow the targeting of specific customers.
Research and Development
The company’s research and development expenses were € 6.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Intellectual Property
Patents: As of December 31, 2022, the company owned or co-owned 71 issued U.S. patents and 38 pending U.S. patent applications. In addition, the company owns or co-owns patent rights in Europe, Asia, Brazil and Canada. In total, as of December 31, 2022, the company’s patent portfolio consisted of over 469 patents and patent applications. The company’s issued patents will expire at different times in the future, with the earliest expiring in 2023 and the latest expiring in 2042. The company’s pending applications will generally remain in effect for 20 years from the date of the initial applications.
Licenses: The company is a party to various licenses and other arrangements that allow the company to practice and improve its technology under a range of patents, patent applications and other intellectual property, including license agreements with ExOne, 3D Systems (Z Corp), Bego Medical GmbH, or Bego, and Evonik IP GmbH.
In 2003, the company entered into an agreement with Extrude Hone GmbH (now doing business as ExOne) related to patents and technologies using certain binders, methods and equipment for 3-D printing processes, including sand-based 3-D printing. Under the terms of this agreement, ExOne purchased an ownership share in certain patents and related technologies from the company. Further, the company granted ExOne certain rights to exploit these technologies and ExOne entered into an ongoing obligation to pay royalties to the company.
In 2004, the company entered into a non-exclusive license and sublicense agreement with Z Corp (acquired by 3D Systems in 2012), which allows the company to make, use and sell 3D printing equipment for the fabrication of plastic parts utilizing organic powder binders under certain Z Corp and Massachusetts Institute of Technology patents.
In 2012, the company entered into a cross licensing agreement with Bego pursuant to which each party granted to the other certain exclusive rights regarding each parties’ patents and applications directed to continuous additive manufacturing. The company granted to Bego an exclusive license to market patent covered products in the field of laser sintering and other related technologies, while Bego granted to the company an exclusive license to market patent covered products in the field of binder-jetting technology (other than for dental applications).
In March 2015, the company entered into a non-exclusive technology license agreement with Evonik IP GmbH, in which voxeljet acquired a license for a 3D printing process using polymeric materials that offers distinct speed and cost benefits.
Trademarks: The company has secured word and figurative trademarks for voxeljet in Europe and has international (IR) applications covering the United States, Russia and a number of countries in Asia.
Competition
Some of the companies that have developed and use one or more additive manufacturing technologies to compete with the company include: ExOne, 3D Systems Corporation, Stratasys, Ltd., EOS GmbH and HP Inc.
Seasonality
Historically, the company’s results of operations have been subject to seasonal factors. Purchases of the company’s 3D printers often follow a seasonal pattern owing to the capital budgeting cycles of the company’s customers. Generally, 3D printer sales are higher in the company’s second and fourth fiscal quarters (year ended December 2022) than in the company’s first and third fiscal quarters.
Regulatory/Environmental Matters
The company does require a permit granted under the Federal Emissions Control Act (Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz, or BImSchG), as the company uses resins (Harze) to create models for customers.
The company is therefore supervised by the Landesamt für Umweltschutz (LfU) and as well by the District Administration (Landratsamt) of Aichach-Friedberg and have regularly give full reports about the emissions in the company’s facilities.
The company further complies with the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, which is accepted as an international guideline for the safe transportation or shipment of dangerous goods or hazardous materials by water.
The company also complies with the Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 18, 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).
As some of the company’s products may be used directly by customers, the company is subject to the German Product Safety Act (Produktsicherheitsgesetz, or ProdSG).
The company’s operations (particularly in those countries with developing economies) are also subject to risks of violations of laws prohibiting improper payments and bribery, including the European Union Anti-Corruption Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and similar regulations in other jurisdictions.
History
voxeljet AG, formerly known as Voxeljet Technology GmbH, was founded in 1999. The company was incorporated in 2014 under the laws of Germany.
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