The ExOne Company is revamping its marketing efforts in North America to give greater emphasis to its industrial sand-core and mold services. The changes involve expanding its technology service centers around its binder jet 3D printing services, and exiting the finish-machining business it operates in Chesterfield, MI.
“We completed a market assessment of where we stand with industrial customers’ desires for binder jet 3D printing,” stated CEO Jim McCarley. “We see the North American market adoption rate of sand printing technology accelerating. Contributing to this, our S-Max platform, which has been designed with an expanded binder and base material configuration, is well positioned for growth in this area.”
ExOne develops industrial 3D printing machines and produces 3D printed products for industrial customers. In the past year, it has been offering phenolic and sodium-silicate binders for 3D sand printing, and a portfolio of metal alloys for 3D printing operations.
In addition, it develops and licenses metal alloys for its 3D printing capabilities.
Now, it reports it will refocus its production service centers in Houston and Troy, MI, as ExOne Adoption Centers -- expand those centers to provide a greater variety of its binder and material sets, including cold-hardening phenolic and sodium-silicate production, and a wider range of ExOne 3D printer platforms and options.
The group also will consolidate certain 3D printing operations from a production service center in North Las Vegas, NV, into the Michigan and Texas centers. These changes, along with exiting the specialty machining operations (described as “non-core”) will prioritize ExOne’s human and capital resources toward advancing the adoption rate of its binder-jet printing technologies.
“Our goal with the EACs is to create the proper support and service structure to ensure we sustain the market’s momentum,” McCarley continued. More changes and realignments may be expected during 2017 as it executes the “updated strategy,” the group indicated.
As part of its refocus efforts, ExOne will shift some 3D printing operations from its production service center in North Las Vegas, NV, to the Houston and Troy locations, and plans to exit its non-core Machin-A-Mation specialty machining operation in Chesterfield, Michigan. Both actions are expected to better prioritize ExOne’s human and capital resources toward advancing the adoption rate of its binder jet printing, it said.
McCarley emphasized the ExOne’s goal is “to rapidly and effectively accelerate the adoption rate of binder jet printing, which we believe will in turn expand our addressable market.” He said the revising the Houston and Troy centers’ activities are the first steps in building a better structure for demonstrating ExOne’s advances in binders and materials, provide better training services, and improve interaction with customers and their applications for binder jet printing.