MLC CAD Systems & 3D Systems Announce Partnership to Provide 3D Printing Solutions
They began with a single location in Austin, TX over 30 years ago and have since grown to 19 locations across the US and in Mexico. Now, MLC CAD Systems employs 53 people and has one of the largest teams of CAD CAM application specialists in the business. Today, 3D Systems announced that they have signed an agreement with MLC to add 3DS’ portfolio of printers to its current offerings of design and manufacturing tools. This means that MLC clients will have access to a comprehensive digital thread including direct metal printing with the ProX 300, end-use SLS part production with the ProX 500, and large-format SLA printing on the ProX 950.
Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of Professional Products at 3D Systems explained the synergy of this newly formed relationship:
“MLC exemplifies our mission: to empower customers with superior technology to help them manufacture better products, get to market faster, and reduce costs. This partnership will provide MLC customers better access to industry-leading 3D solutions, and ultimately allow them to implement the streamlined, money-saving workflows that our technology enables.”
3D Systems is a heavy hitter in the 3D print technology market. Among its accomplishments, it boasts the invention of 3D printing with its Stereolithography (SLA) printer that it commercialized in 1989 and the successive addition of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) in 1992. In 1994 they were the first to commercialize 3D powder-based printing systems and only two years later introduced Multi Jet Printing (MJP). Today it is widely considered that their range of printers sets an industry benchmark for production-grade manufacturing in aerospace, automotive, patient specific medical devices, and a variety of consumer, electronic, and fashion accessories.
This is not a partnership with a one sided benefit. The President of MLC CAD Systems, Dennis Hill, expressed his company’s enthusiasm for the newly announced partnership:
“We are excited to partner with 3D Systems to add 3D printing technology to our portfolio of CAD and CAM solutions. By combining our expertise in design, engineering, and manufacturing, as one of the largest CAD and CAM resellers in the southern United States, with 3D Systems’ complementary technology, we can now offer industry-leading additive manufacturing technologies to our state-of-the-art manufacturing technology for their program.”
In other words, MLC CAD Systems will now be able to offer more products, thereby increasing its appeal and 3DS will now have access to an increased customer base, thereby increasing its potential sales. It’s a win-win situation and one that we will continue to see as 3D printing providers, manufacturers, and end users increasingly create demand for better products, integrated purchasing, and greater breadth of offerings.