Proto Labs announces £3.6 million investment to service European growth

Rapid prototyping and on-demand manufacturer Proto Labs is to make its biggest infrastructure investment with €4 million (£3.6 million) marked for machinery and renovations at its site in Telford.

The investment is in response to current and projected customer demand for Proto Labs’ advanced manufacturing services from across Europe.

Proto Labs, which provides digital manufacturing services in 3D printing, CNC machining and injection moulding, also confirmed a large-scale purchase of Haas CNC machines and Arburg injection moulding machines.

Lee Ball, Proto Labs General Manager, said: “Because customers today across all industries require fast turnaround, especially in product development, our continuous investment allows us to meet the growing needs of our thousands of customers across all industries.”

The new Haas machines will be configured for either mould making or component machining, with both services growing at a rapid pace. Including the new machines, Proto Labs UK’s inventory now totals 130 CNC machining and 57 injection moulding machines.

Ball said: “We are seeing demand for moulded parts increase across the board year-over-year, from both long-standing and new customers, for a range of products and industries. To meet predicted levels of growth, a critical leverage is this investment in new technology.”

“The rapid increase in order intake is being fuelled by more customers, across varied industry sectors, now realising the extensive possibilities to prototype parts with complex geometries cost-effectively using 3D printing technology.

Demand for the Proto Labs’ industrial 3D printing service, which operates from two sites in Germany, is also growing.

Daniel Cohn, Managing Director of the 3D printing business Proto Labs in Germany, said: “For certain parts, the only possible option is to manufacture using this technology.

“For example, our Eschenlohe facility is certified with EN ISO 13485:2012 quality management standards. For customers, they benefit from our technical capabilities to manufacture specific medical devices using 3D printing DMLS technology, including parts approved for human implantation.”

This recent capacity growth is reinforced by business expansion across Proto Labs’ European locations.  Since 2015, the business has supported annual growth of over 20 percent in manufacturing and engineering, sales and administrative functions.

The company plans on expanding facilities at its Telford site and two sites in Germany.