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Jeff Rowe
Jeff Rowe
Jeffrey Rowe has over 40 years of experience in all aspects of industrial design, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing. On the publishing side, he has written over 1,000 articles for CAD, CAM, CAE, and other technical publications, as well as consulting in many capacities in the design … More »

MCADCafe Weekly (01/10/2013): Geomagic Rings in New Year In Big Ways

 
January 10th, 2013 by Jeff Rowe

3D Systems Acquiring Geomagic

3D Systems announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Geomagic, Inc., a leading global provider of 3D authoring solutions including design, sculpt and scan software tools that are used to create 3D content and inspect products throughout the entire design and manufacturing process. This acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2013, after those conditions are met. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The combination of Geomagic’s powerful sculpting, modeling, scanning and inspecting software tools with 3D Systems’ portfolio strengthens its 3D authoring platform and positions the company for accelerated growth in the fast-growing, 3D content-to-print space. The transaction adds complementary products and technology, increases the company’s reseller coverage globally and is expected to be accretive to its non-GAAP earnings in the first full year following the completion of transaction.

“Geomagic represents the perfect strategic fit for us and we will be thrilled to welcome 3D pioneer and Geomagic Founder and CEO Ping Fu as our Chief Strategy Officer once the deal has closed,” said Abe Reichental, President and CEO, 3D Systems. “Our complementary capabilities in product development, channel coverage and marketing combined with greater efficiencies are sure to result in more affordable and user friendly solutions that will delight our customers and could present attractive long term shareholder value. In line with that, we intend to expand the range of our 3D authoring solutions further into new manufacturing and consumer applications and concurrently maintain and enhance the existing Geomagic and Rapidform product lines.”

“We have worked with 3D Systems for many years to accelerate adoption of 3D content-to-print solutions and believe that now is the right time to combine our efforts to further democratize access to design and 3D printing,” said Ping Fu, Founder and CEO of Geomagic. “Joining 3D Systems provides us with the scale, resources and strategic platform to realize our shared vision of delivering functional, affordable and extensible 3D authoring solutions for the benefit of professional designers and engineers, as well as the exciting maker’s movement.”

Strategic and Financial Benefits

  • Growing reseller channel accelerates revenue growth from combined portfolio and presence
  • Profitable razor and blades business with accretive software gross profit margins enhances non-GAAP earnings power
  • Highly complementary portfolio delivers powerful and affordable design and manufacturing solutions and greater customer value
  • Expected to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings in the first full year following completion of transaction.

Bend Not Break – A New Book by Geomagic CEO, Ping Fu

Geomagic is proud to announce that our CEO and co-founder, Ping Fu, is releasing her book today. “ Bend Not Break” (Penguin) is a story of personal resilience and of business success by someone who is almost an accidental entrepreneur. A heartbreaking history living through Mao’s cultural revolution, her family is forcibly split up, and an 8 year old Ping is raising and protecting her 4 year old sister. Exiled from China in her early twenties, with no money and little English, Ping manages to make it through with waitressing jobs and university in the U.S., a focus on computer science education and unexpected encounters with innovators and entrepreneurs. From those combined experiences, Ping created an innovative and industry leading 3D software company, Geomagic, which delivers 3D imaging and design technologies to the world.

New York Post, Dec 30 2012

“Today, Ping Fu is the CEO of tech firm Geomagic, which she founded with her husband. She’s come a long way. At 8, her family in Shanghai was torn apart by the Cultural Revolution — she and her younger sister sent to a re-education camp in another city. Ping was forced to eat what she calls “bitter meals” of dirt, animal dung and tree bark. She was raped at 10, a political prisoner at 25. Finally deported to America, she arrived her with just $80 and knowing almost no English. Her success at the American Dream is a real triumph.”

Booklist – Starred Review

Fu speaks to the need for humanity to practice love in business relations in order to avoid inflicting pain on future generations. This well-written tale of courage, compassion, and undaunted curiosity reveals the life of a genuine hero who remains committed to making the world a better place.”

Kirkus Reviews – Starred Review

“The book reflects the tone of its author: clear, honest and unassuming.”

Publishers Weekly – Starred Review

Ping’s eloquent prose and remarkable attitude shine through in every word—and her compelling story will remind more than one reader to be thankful for what they have.”

Ping and her book will be featured soon on Bloomberg news, BBC world News and more across the coming weeks. To order a copy please go to: http://www.bendnotbreak.com/purchase.html

Commentary By Jeffrey Rowe, Editor

What a month it’s been for Geomagic and its Founder and CEO, Ping Fu:

  • Geomagic will be acquired by 3D Systems
  • Bend Not Break by Ping Fu was published
  • Geomagic Spark 3D Scan-to-CAD software was introduced

The acquisition of Geomagic by 3D Systems continues to consolidate the 3D scanning software sector by yet another player. The acquisition of Geomagic comes on the heels of a competitor. Just three months ago, 3D Systems acquired Rapidform, another global provider of 3D scan-to-CAD and inspection software tools.

With the additions of Rapidform and now Geomagic, 3D Systems has secured a cornerstone of its self-proclaimed fifth growth initiative: “To create a seamless, digital scan, design and print platform for the benefit of its customers. This important growth initiative is consistent with the company’s overall drive to democratize and deliver integrated 3D content-to-print solutions. Rapidform broadens 3D Systems’ range of capabilities with complementary products and technology.”

What all this means is that 3D Systems now has a greater ability to capture, process, and print 3D objects. That’s a pretty wide spectrum of capabilities, but one that is tightly tied together from both the software and hardware sides.

Like seemingly all sectors of engineering software, and increasingly hardware, market consolidation marches on. How this will impact current and future customers remains to be seen. However, as I’ve said in the past, don’t expect this to be the end of 3D Systems’ acquisition strategy.

With the acquisition, Ping Fu’s title and functions changes from CEO to Chief Strategy Officer, but I’m pretty confident that she’ll continue to have tremendous influence on Geomagic’s direction and purpose in the 3D Systems scheme.

I’ve read excerpts of the book, Bend Not Break, and have found it to be both interesting and inspiring. Ping Fu came to the U.S from China in 1983 on a student visa with no virtually money or English language skills. She went on to earn BS and MS degrees in computer science, as well as co-found Geomagic in 1997. At the time she wanted to develop software that could take 3D scanner data, process it, and output it on 3D printers. Her ultimate goal was to do for 3D printing what Adobe did for desktop printing/publishing.

Overall, it’s a fascinating story of the birth of an industry, including all of its triumphs, innovations, as well as roadblocks. Through it all, though, she has proven to be a very smart technology proponent, but also very grounded with unshakeable integrity. Although I’ve only read portions of the book, I am anxious to read it in its entirety and highly recommend it, even if you’re not necessarily a “tech-oriented” reader.

Lastly, being introduced later this month, Geomagic Spark enters a competitive market, but as unique 3D software that combines a live 3D scanning interface, 3D point and mesh editing capabilities, modeling design, assembly modeling, and 2D drawing creation in one comprehensive application. While traditional CAD packages have modeling capabilities, (with few exceptions) they lack the tools to process 3D scan data into usable 3D for modeling. Geomagic Spark, however, incorporates 3D scan data functionality, integrating Geomagic’s scanning technology with direct modeling capabilities, using the SpaceClaim platform. With this combination, you can create accurate, manufacturable solid model parts and assemblies using combined scan and CAD data in the same application. Partial scan data also can be used for creating models.

I’ve met with Ping Fu a few times over the years and have always found her to be intelligent, engaging, and honest. We wish her and Geomagic the best in future endeavors going forward.

 

Jeffrey Rowe is the editor of MCADCafé and MCAD Weekly Review. He can be reached at jeff@ibsystems.com or 719.221.1867.

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