On May 16, 2019, Protolabs held a grand opening for the company’s eight manufacturing plant in the United States.
The new advanced manufacturing facility, located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, spans 215,000 square feet. The CNC machining facility holds approximately 300 mills and lathes.
Founded in 1999, Protolabs held the grand opening to coincide with the company’s 20th anniversary.
Protolabs now has 12 manufacturing locations across the globe (three in Europe, one in Japan), each driven by digital manufacturing model that combines digital front-end part analysis with automated toolpathing to manufacture custom-machined components, sometimes with a 24-hour turnaround.
In a statement, Protolabs Founder Larry Lukis said the company had exceeded his "wildest dreams.” He said, "The company was born out of personal frustration that manufacturing parts took months when it could take days or even minutes. There needed to be a way to make it easier and faster for product developers to get prototype parts and accelerate development cycles.”
According to the company, it has manufactured more than 47 million parts for nearly 46,000 customers. In 2018, the company did $445.6 million in total revenue.
"We are truly living in an on-demand consumer economy, and that’s no different for manufacturing,” said Protolabs President and CEO Vicki Holt, in a statement.
Protolabs produces custom parts and assemblies using a variety of technology, including automated 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and injection molding processes.