Rick Getschow, Eden Prairie City Manager

At the beginning of last night’s City Council meeting, Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens shared some thoughts about the tragic events surrounding Mandy Matula’s disappearance.

Watch the video to hear what she had to say:

I am posting an article below from MPR by Martin Moylan about one of the most innovative companies in the world that is based right here in EP.  The article is a bit long but it is definitely worth the read.  Enjoy.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — When most people use a printer what emerges is likely only paper.

But these days you can print a wrench, a working clock, or a killer design for a custom motorcycle. Objects designed on a computer can be sent to machines known as 3-D printers that will build them — layer by tiny layer.

Stratasys, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., is a leading player in the 3D printing world, helping customers create parts for cars, planes, robots, orthodontics and more.

  (MPR Photo/Jeffrey Thompson)

 

The company’s printers don’t use ink. Instead, they lay down thin layers of molten plastic, slowly building up three-dimensional objects with relentless precision.

“The layers can be anywhere from three- to ten-thousandths of an inch” said Jon Cobb, the company’s executive vice president for global marketing.

Cobb said a product designed with CAD — computer-aided designed software — can go straight to production.

“You’re able to replicate exactly what the designer had in mind because you’re going directly from the CAD file itself right to the actual printed part,” he said.

Stratasys’ machines cost from $10,000 to $600,000. Some are about the size of an office laser printer. Others are as big as a car.

They can produce smaller items like prototypes for cell phone cases or soles for athletic shoes in several hours. Larger objects like panels for a car take a couple of days to produce. Cobb said 3-D printing.

“When we started people looked at the technology at trade shows and they were fascinated by what it could do but maybe they couldn’t quite figure out how they were going to use it,” he said. “Over the last, I’d say, two years, the amount of interest in 3-D printing has absolutely skyrocketed.”

To take advantage of that momentum, last year Stratasys merged with one of its top competitors, Israel-based Objet. The companies’ combined revenue soared 30 percent over their 2011 results.

Stratasys’ machines work with more than 100 different kinds of plastic. In the future, the company’s machines may also print in glass, metal and other materials that some competitors use.

To illustrate the capabilities of machines now in its arsenal, Stratasys recently printed a designer skirt and cape at Paris Fashion Week, using hard and soft plastics.

Cobb said Stratasys once printed a working clock that included all the timepiece’s moving parts — but required no assembly.

“All those parts actually work, as single build,” Cobb said. “It’s impossible to do this in manufacturing.”

In his State of the Union address this year, President Obama cited 3-D printing as a key to the revival of American manufacturing.

“Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio,” the president said. “A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3-D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.”

For products ranging from medical devices to snowmobiles, 3-D printing permits manufacturing firms to make prototypes faster and cheaper than traditional methods. That allows companies to decide sooner if an item should be mass produced.

In another innovation, 3-D printers are creating models that dentists use to make crowns, retainers and other appliances. The printers are also producing light-weight prosthetic limbs that can be customized for children as they grow.

Orange County Choppers — the inspiration for the Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper” TV series — owns a Stratasys 3-D printer, which it uses to make parts for custom motorcycles. No one from the New York shop responded to interview requests. But a promotional video shows designer Jason Pohl describing how the shop made a bike in the shape of a dragon with a fearsome fanged head thrust out over the front wheel.

NASA, another Stratasys customer, has come up with some 3-D printing projects that are — or soon could be — out of this world. NASA engineer Christopher Chapman said the printers create parts that are impossible to make with traditional machining methods.

“There are some parts in robots; there are some parts in cameras,” Chapman said. “We have a rover that currently has over 70 parts, if I had to guess off the top of my head.”

Investors also have become very enthusiastic about Stratasys. The firm’s stock has risen 60 percent in the past two years.

The company holds over 500 granted or pending patents worldwide. Since its founding in 1989, Stratasys has shipped over 22,000 3-D printing systems.

Dougherty and Co. analyst Andrea James said the company’s success will likely continue.

“They’re going to grow 22 to 25 percent year-over, especially as new uses for 3-D-printed objects are invented,” she said.

Wohlers Associates, a Colorado consulting firm, reports Stratasys and Objet accounted for about 56 percent of all industrial-grade 3-D printer systems sold worldwide in 2011.

Demand for 3-D printers is likely to be greatest in the manufacturing sector, supplying companies that need components in limited quantities, said Terry Wohlers, the company’s president.

“The money is in manufacturing, making parts that go into final products for planes, medical devices, such as orthopedic implants, dental products and a variety of consumer products,” Wohlers said.

One Stratasys customer, for example, recently made about 100 copies of a part for Delta Air Lines’ MD-80 series jets. The planes, with an average of age of about 23 years, needed a part that goes in the aircrafts’ lavatories. But the part was no longer available, so the company developed a digital file of the part’s design and printed that on a Stratasys machine.

Such manufacturing will help triple 3-D printing industry sales, bringing them to $6.5 billion by 2019, Wohlers forecasts.

Each year I have the privilege of hosting our spring and fall employee recognition events. Yesterday was our spring recognition event where we presented our annual employee awards, which we call the “EPys.”

Prior to awarding the 2012 EPys, we kicked off our event by welcoming some new employees to our city. We then honored many of our fellow employees who have reached milestones in their years of service at the City of Eden Prairie.   

Congratulations to the following award recipients:

• Wayne Estenson, Human Resources and Support Services: Carl J. Jullie Award for Excellence in Customer Service
• Kevin Schmieg, Inspections: Mayor Jean L. Harris Award for Community Service
• Bob Lanzi, Community Center: James G. Clark Award for Excellence in Teamwork
• Lisa Vik, Police Department: Scott H. Neal Award for Excellence in Leadership.
• Dustin Bones, Utilities; Shaun Sullivan, Facilities; Katherine Caliri, Finance; and Jeremy Hoehn, Kurt Buchanan, Glenn Toewe, and Becki White, Fire Department: City Manager Quality Awards

Pictured (L to R):  Lisa Vik, Bob Lanzi, Wayne Estenson, Kevin Schmieg, Shaun Sullivan, Jeremy Hoehn and Rick Getschow

I feel that one of the crown jewels of Eden Prairie is our city Community Center.  After extensive renovations in 2008 we now have a facility that offers state of the art amenities at a very reasonable cost.  In fact, memberships at our Community Center have quadrupled since 2008. 

However, one area that is in need of attention is our aquactics facilities.  Due to these aging facilities and a continual increase in demand, we are considering an upgrade to the aquatics facilities at the Community Center. The pool is the only component of the Community Center that was not renovated during the 2008 improvements.

We recently conducted a feasibility study with the goals of: (1) identifying and resolving facility deficiencies, (2) addressing challenges in programming and user group access, and (3) evaluating demographic trends to plan for future programming.

The study found the following inadequacies with the current facilities:

• The current pool design limits programming options, as the lack of shallow water makes it impossible to schedule multiple programs at the same time.
• The pool temperature cannot effectively serve both swim teams and family swim participants; the temperature is either too warm for competitive swimming or too cold for recreational use
• Lap swim times are limited for all user groups
• Current facilities have a lack of accessible entry points for young children and elderly
• Swim teams cannot use diving blocks, as the current pool depth is not code compliant
• A lack of lanes for training causes dangerous crowding during swim team practices
• Current aquatics facilities provide inadequate locker room space which creates overcrowding during prime times
• There is no potential for increase in swim lesson classes due to minimal shallow water
• There is a lack of space for “dry land” training
• Current facilities contain a shortage of meeting room and group fitness space
• There are currently no aquatics attractions to provide a “fun” factor for families

 To address those inadequacies we are discussing the following improvements:

1. Build a lap swimming pool that includes:

• Cool Water Temperature
• 12 Lap Lanes
• Starting Blocks
• A Diving/Deep Water Exercise/Climbing Wall Pool

2.  Build a recreational swimming pool that includes:

• Warm Water Temperature
• Leisure Swim Lap Lanes
• Zero-Depth Entry Family Recreation Area with Play Features
• Flexible Swim Class Areas with Depths of 3–6 Feet
• Water Slide

As you can imagine, the cost of these improvements could be significant.  We are currently evaluating how many of these improvements should be made and how they could be phased in over time – and we want feedback.

Therefore, we are requesting that you join us to learn more about this project and provide feedback at the Community Aquatics Town Hall Meeting Wednesday, March 6 at the Community Center (16700 Valley View Road).  The meeting will begin at 6:30 pm with a presentation showcasing the facility’s current aquatics area, and highlighting the opportunities for expansion and improvement, followed by a question and answer session at 7 pm.

I hope to see you there.