Wohlers Associates Launches "Wohlers Talk" Commentary

New "Wohlers Talk" Commentary Offers News, Thoughts, and Ideas on Rapid Product Development and other topics of interest.

FORT COLLINS, Colorado, USA, March 28, 2003 -- Industry consultant, speaker, and author Terry Wohlers has added "Wohlers Talk" to his company's website to share news, thoughts, and ideas. Most of the topics relate to rapid product development. A sample Wohlers Talk posting, titled "A Bitter Sweet Week," is provided below. Wohlers Talk is located at http://wohlersassociates.com/Wohlers-Talk.html.

Terry Wohlers is a frequent speaker and the author of 275 books, articles, reports, and technical papers on engineering and manufacturing automation. One of his most recent publications, Wohlers Report 2002, is a 250-page worldwide progress report on the rapid prototyping and tooling state of the industry. Additional information is available at http://wohlersassociates.com.

The following is a sample Wohlers Talk posting:

Sunday, 23 February 2003
Posted 7:47 by Terry Wohlers

A Bitter Sweet Week

Last week was bitter sweet for the RP industry. The two largest U.S. manufacturers of rapid prototyping (RP) systems surprised the industry with their 2002 financial results. After discovering a $3 million accounting error and putting its CFO on administrative leave, 3D Systems announced that it would not be profitable in the fourth quarter or fiscal 2002. In January, the company had anticipated a fourth quarter return to profitability on revenue of about $33 million. Meanwhile, Stratasys announced record revenues and strong profits for the year.

These two companies are anchors in this exciting but fragile industry. It will be important for 3D Systems to get back on track very soon. Also, the company cannot afford to make any more mistakes. As for Stratasys, one can only believe that its Dimension product will bring more success to the company throughout 2003.