EOS acquires former Stratasys spinoff Vulcan Labs

EOS has acquired Vulcan Labs to further expand its bench of additive manufacturing experts in powder bed fusion technology. The new Vulcan Labs team members bring decades of industry experience into both EOS’ technical center in Pflugerville, Texas, and its ALM materials research and production facility in Temple, Texas, further strengthening its ability to ensure customer success in industrial 3D printing.

“Additive manufacturing is advanced manufacturing and it is not as easy as simply pushing a print button. With that sophistication, our job becomes helping ensure our customers are productive and successful, and that sometimes requires non-standard solutions, customized to very specific applications,” said Glynn Fletcher, president of EOS North America. “With this acquisition of top AM industry talent, we have now formed an entirely dedicated engineering services group solely focused on these types of requirements.”

Stratasys-born

Interestingly enough, Vulcan Labs originated as a spin-off of FDM market leader (and EOS competitor) Stratasys. It was designed to advance repeatability and speed of Powder-Bed Fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing, leveraging experience from Harvest Technologies, the AM service bureau that Stratasys acquired in 2014. Vulcan Labs set out to advance technology accessibility and meet the stringent requirements of production-ready applications, advancing the rapid introduction of enhanced PBF-based solutions.

In EOS, in addition to the new engineering services group, other former Vulcan Labs engineers have been charged with helping lead the further development and commercialization of the new Integra P 400 polymer 3D printer – a flexible and easily serviceable platform designed for the production of high-quality, mid-temperature AM applications. Launched in December 2018 and currently available only in North America, the Integra P 400 is engineered and manufactured in Texas and has already seen orders from nearly a dozen organizations.

Former Vulcan Labs CEO and industry veteran, David Leigh, will now serve in the role of Chief Operating Officer at EOS North America. “The time is perfect to join EOS and Vulcan Labs,” said Leigh. “Industrial 3D printing is still relatively new, but it has moved from the theoretical to the practical. As organizations wrestle to integrate AM into their production chain, industry-leading experts like EOS are what will make the difference between struggle or success. That success requires a stable of experts and a robust ecosystem of partners. Vulcan Labs augments existing EOS know-how and sets us apart bringing unique, high-value solutions to our customers.”