Stereolithography Marketability

From: Gerard Furbershaw (Lunar Design  Incorporated)
To: RP-ML
Date: Tuesday, April 18, 1995
Subject: Stereolithography Marketability
We are considering purchasing a 3D Systems SLA 500.  We have heard wildly
differing opinions on the marketability of stereolithography from companies going
out of business and selling their machines to planning on purchasing multiple
machines as a result of the success of their first machine.

I would be interested in hearing from service bureaus regarding the following areas:

1. From a business point of view, has the purchase of an SLA machine(s) been justifiable?
2. Is the market saturated or is it growing proportionally to the higher end CAD market?
3. Are there emerging rapid prototyping technologies that may make more business sense?
4. Is the SLA 500 a better business choice than other SLA machines?
5. Any other comments?

Gerard Furbershaw
Lunar Design (Palo Alto, CA)