Digital manufacturer Protolabs
(NYSE: PRLB) is celebrating its 20-year anniversary with today’s grand
opening of its state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing facility in
Brooklyn Park, Minn. The 215,000 sq. ft. CNC machining facility, which
currently houses nearly 300 mills and lathes, is Protolabs’ eighth
manufacturing plant in the United States, and 12th globally.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190516005193/en/
There are nearly 300 mills and lathes at Protolabs’ new 215,000 sq. ft. advanced manufacturing facility in Brooklyn Park, Minn. The facility is the company’s 12th plant globally. Credit: Protolabs
The new facility is the centerpiece of Protolabs’ 20th
anniversary—a milestone the company reached in May. Founded in 1999,
Protolabs has seen aggressive growth over the past two decades due to
its manufacturing model that couples digital front-end part analysis
with automated toolpathing to produce custom machined components in as
fast as 24 hours.
“We are truly living in an on-demand consumer economy and that’s no
different for manufacturing. Our customers are hungry for manufacturing
partners that can see their products through ever-shrinking life cycles
and Protolabs is uniquely positioned to serve our customers’ needs from
early prototyping to on-demand production,” explained Vicki Holt,
President and CEO at Protolabs.
The global digital manufacturer now serves more than 45,000 unique
product developers each year, across three continents and 60 countries.
Over the past 20 years Protolabs has grown in capabilities with four
flagship services and 11 manufacturing technologies, and has added
capacity with more than 1 million sq. ft. of manufacturing space that
houses over 1,000 machines producing nearly 4 million parts each month.
“Protolabs has exceeded my wildest dreams,” said Larry Lukis, Protolabs’
founder. “The company was born out of personal frustration that
manufacturing parts took months, when it could take days or even
minutes. There needed to be a way to make it easier and faster for
product developers to get prototype parts and accelerate development
cycles. Protolabs has achieved that goal and made advanced manufacturing
technologies accessible for everyone, from makers to startups to Fortune
500 companies.”
An official grand opening celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony will
be held from 2 to 5 p.m. today at the Brooklyn Park facility, providing
community and industry leaders with an opportunity see the smart
facility firsthand.
About Protolabs
Protolabs is a leading digital manufacturing
source for rapid prototyping and on-demand production. The company
produces custom parts and assemblies in as fast as one day with
automated 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and
injection molding processes. Its digital approach to manufacturing
enables accelerated time to market, reduces development and production
costs, and minimizes risk throughout the product life cycle. Visit
protolabs.com for more information.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190516005193/en/