Stratasys - History

History

Stratasys was founded in 1989, by S. Scott Crump and his wife Lisa Crump in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The idea for the technology came to Crump in 1988 when he decided to make a toy frog for his young daughter using a glue gun loaded with a mixture of polyethylene and candle wax. He thought of creating the shape layer by layer and of a way to automate the process. In April 1992, Stratasys sold its first product, the 3D Modeler.

In October 1994, Stratasys had an initial public offering on NASDAQ; the company sold 1.38 million shares of common stock at $5 per share, netting approximately $5.7 million.

In January 1995, Stratasys purchased IBM's rapid prototyping intellectual property and other assets and employed 16 former IBM engineers, who had been developing a small 3-D printer that relied on an extrusion system very similar to Crump's patented fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology.

In 2003, Stratasys fused deposition modeling (FDM) was the best-selling rapid prototyping technology. FDM is a process that the company patented, which is used to produce three-dimensional parts directly from 3D CAD files layer-by-layer for use in design verification, prototyping, development and manufacturing.

In 2007, Stratasys supplied 44% of all additive fabrication systems installed worldwide, making it the unit market leader for the sixth consecutive year.

In January 2010, Stratasys signed an agreement with HP to manufacture HP-branded 3D printers. In August 2012, the HP manufacturing and distribution agreement was discontinued.

In 2012, an unrelated project to produce a working firearm by 3D printing was intended to use a Stratasys printer. Stratasys refused to permit this and withdrew their licence for use of the printer, citing that it did not allow its printers "to be used for illegal purposes".