- SGLB executive chairman updates shareholders on how company is adjusting to COVID-19 pandemic
- Ruport reports on increased innovation, efficiency in its team dynamics
- Sigma Labs “adapt[s] seamlessly” to new conditions, sees future opportunity “bigger than… imagined”
In a recent letter to shareholders, Sigma Labs Inc. (NASDAQ: SGLB) Executive Chairman Mark K. Ruport discussed the expected impact of COVID-19 on the company, outlined recent company accomplishments and talked about upcoming milestones. Ruport stated that what SGLB is doing for the 3D-metal-printing industry is “more important and relevant than ever before” and that the current situation will have minimal long-term implications to the company’s business plan (http://ibn.fm/syDOQ). Sigma Labs is a leading developer of quality-assurance software for the commercial 3D-metal-printing industry that uniquely allows manufacturing anomalies to be corrected in real time.
“One of the things that has amazed me over the past few months is the level of interaction between our Sigma team and our customers,” he observed. “We seem to be carrying out evaluations and installations as if there wasn’t a crisis. In many ways, we are becoming more efficient and more innovative in responding to customer issues.
“For example, in the past, we were likely to just react and put an engineer on a plane and spend a few days at a customer’s site to get an hour or two on the printer to address an issue,” Ruport continued. “Today, we are experimenting with users wearing cameras, supplemented with augmented reality, to be our engineer’s eyes and instructing our customer on how to be our hands as we address a critical situation together. The result is a more educated and competent user, and a much more efficient Sigma team.”
Ruport noted that Sigma Labs is doing everything possible to ensure the safety of each of the people who work for the company and that SGLB’s work and culture before the pandemic “has allowed us to adapt seamlessly to work remotely.” One important change, he noted, was the prioritization of weekly company-wide conference calls to ensure that company officials maintain regular, frequent contact with its employees.
In the letter, Ruport talked about significant SGLB achievements over the past year, which include the following:
- Successful completion of several financings in order to continue to fund company development efforts and market initiatives.
- Launch and successful execution of Sigma Lab’s Rapid Test and Evaluation (RTE) program with five different companies.
- Granting of several patents to protect the company’s IP; this brings the total of SGLB patent portfolio to 11 issued and 24 pending patents.
- Continued sales of SGLB’s PrintRite3D(TM) to universities and R&D organizations around the world
- Announcement of PrintRite3D Production Series, which features a real-time production dashboard and several significant add-on features.
- Third-party validation of SGLB technology from influential organizations.
Looking forward, Ruport also reported on upcoming milestones the company is expecting, including the following:
- Continued acquisition of PrintRite3D by influential universities and R&D organizations worldwide.
- Implementation of OEM contracts with 3D metal-printing hardware manufacturers to integrate SGLB technology.
- Evolving relationships with additive manufacturing (AM) software companies to integrate SGLB products to streamline and optimize the AM digital thread from simulation through closed-loop control.
- Multi-unit sales of PrintRite3D Production Series by end users.
- Increasing quarter-over-quarter revenue driven by multiple, independent streams, primarily from OEMS, end users, resellers and others.
“On one hand, the world is deep in crisis, and we as a company need to take measures to ensure we are prepared to operate through this global shutdown,” Ruport told shareholders. “On the other hand, I had to balance these COVID-19 issues with my belief that when we get through this, our opportunity will be bigger than I had ever imagined… We are seeing the convergence of the next generation of manufacturing, the need for manufacturers to rethink their supply chain strategies, and the commercialization of our technology coming together and creating the perfect opportunity for Sigma.”
Sigma is a software company that specializes in the development and commercialization of real-time, computer-aided-inspection (CAI) solutions known as PrintRite3D for 3D-advanced manufacturing technologies. SGLB’s advanced, computer-aided software product revolutionizes commercial additive manufacturing, enabling nondestructive quality assurance mid-production, uniquely allowing errors to be corrected in real time.
For more information about Sigma Labs, please visit www.SigmaLabsInc.com
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SGLB are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/SGLB
