Sigma Labs Issues Shareholder Letter
15 Agosto 2019 - 7:31AM
Sigma Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGLB) (“Sigma Labs” or the “Company”), a
leading provider of quality assurance software to the commercial 3D
printing industry, has released a letter to its shareholders from
John Rice, Chairman and CEO.
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
The purpose of this letter is to brief you on
Sigma Labs' 2019 operational milestones as we cross over the
half-way point for the year. In conjunction with a return to
quarterly financial and operational updates, I wanted to provide
our loyal shareholders with my perspective from the CEO post on the
company’s four main principal areas in 2019. It’s important to note
that the final phase of foundation building is now behind us and
the stage is set for commercial execution and financial
performance. Now let’s discuss why all of us at Sigma Labs are
excited about 2019 and beyond.
- Product Development:Sigma released
Version 4.0 of its principal product, PrintRite3D®, in November
2018, and Version 5.0 in May 2019. Whereas version 4.0 delivered
unique quality anomaly detection ‘under the hood’, version 5.0
delivered a simple, fast and very intuitive user interface operable
by both sophisticated process engineers and additive manufacturing
(AM) machine operation technicians. This concerted and
cross-functional “productization” effort now delivers capabilities
that have intrigued major high technology companies moving toward
serial AM manufacturing in a productized form that Sigma and
customer process engineers tailor PrintRite3D® to identify
compliant/non-complaint parts to the quality metrics set by the
customer for the specific parts and metals and, as DARPA recently
published, also to qualify a metal AM machine for production.
Further, this version of PrintRite3D® enables Sigma and the
customers to identify signatures of precursors of intermittent
quality anomalies that are specific to a design and metal but only
occur unpredictably. Implementing these procedures at setup and
then continuing in operation of a machine are a customer friendly
platform for improved quality in serial production that we have
seen no other product capable of doing. What does all of this mean?
Basically, our PrintRite3D technology solution is being third-party
validated and we have no direct competition in delivering
actionable in process data as we strive to play a critically
necessary role in ensuring quality in industrial additive
manufacturing of metal parts.
- Selling and Performing
Rapid Test and Evaluation Programs:As announced last winter, Sigma
had initiated a Rapid Test and Evaluation program (RTE) to attract
customers with a ‘drive before you buy’ proposition. We quickly
discovered the word Rapid was unrealistic because of logistical
delays due to clearing machine time for testing and project support
personnel. We also made peace with the fact that, since
PrintRite3D® reveals a precision and depth of quality images and
data not previously seen or understood by the customers, RTEs lead
to customer requests to extend the scope and issue investigation.
That adds time to the process, too. The causes of this absence of
rapidness appear to us to improve the prospect for program sales,
but of course the reality of slow speed is exasperating.
Importantly, so far we have no negative performance issues in the
RTE test results! The prototype RTE installation was with
Materialise in 2019 and culminated in the project announced in June
to integrate Sigma’s technology with Materialise’s MCP control
system. At this writing, of our two most advanced RTEs in process,
looking out over the next 60-120 days, one states an expectation to
add a second PrintRite3D® installation, and the other to enter the
phase two evaluation (multiple machines of differing OEM brands).
The RTE program is a natural gestation period required in order to
generate initial commercial revenue. The size and quality of the
demanding high technology ‘brand name’ companies currently
participating in, along with those teed-up to enter, the RTE
program, give us confidence that the program is our highway to
success and material revenue driving into 2020 and beyond. The
momentum is off to a strong start in Q3 as we announced our recent
partnerships with Airbus (AIR:FP / OTC: EADSY) on July 30, 2019 and
a major international OEM machine manufacturer on August 13, 2019.
Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related
services. In 2018 it generated revenues of € 64 billion and
employed a workforce of around 134,000. Airbus offers the most
comprehensive range of passenger airliners and is also a European
leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as
well as one of the world’s leading space companies. In helicopters,
Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft
solutions worldwide. We are excited to have our 3D advanced
manufacturing technology for next generation process qualification
in front of the global leader in aeronautics and space. On the OEM
front, we announced this week that we were selected by a global
leader in machinery to evaluate our technology in not one, but two
international markets. This OEM is one of the most renowned brands
in the industry and has long been a leading pioneer of in-process
machine quality and process controls on a large number of its high
precision manufacturing machines. We believe that our in-process
tools are an excellent fit to both the technology and the very
high-quality culture of this great company. As you can clearly see,
the momentum in the RTE program is building with major players and
our speed down this highway is increasing.
- Negotiating OEM
Transactions:The company’s OEM licensing strategy and negotiations
are very important to securing our principal go-to-market goal to
have PrintRite3D® deployed into the growing marketplace direct from
the factory and pre-mounted on the new machines. Our strengths in
these negotiations and testing are unique product functionality and
how it is enveloped in a growing portfolio of existing and
in-process patents. Our principal challenges in these negotiations
are both overcoming an OEM reluctance to have a third-party quality
assurance tool required to optimize the quality production on their
equipment, and as a result, continuing OEM efforts to seek
internally developed solutions. Many of the tools now routinely
available on automobiles such as automatic braking and parking or
driver attention monitoring had to overcome similar early OEM
resistance. In the end, independent 3rd-party innovation triumphed
internal forces; we hope and expect a similar outcome for
PrintRite3D® adoption.
- Balance Sheet and
Upcoming Cash FlowAs mentioned earlier in late July, we announced
that Sigma had been selected by Airbus for a Rapid Test and
Evaluation program. While this was a very, very important
milestone, the impact from a stock perspective was minimized due to
a simultaneous capital raise via a shelf offering with Aegis
Capital as underwriter. A combination of proper governance and our
CFO’s strict cash management, we had implemented a plan in the
spring of 2019 to ensure the company had ample capital to fund our
commercial path in 2019. While timing and market conditions are
never perfect, we felt it was the prudent and necessary time to
accomplish this goal and provide the company with a stable
financial runway. Looking back at the recent stock market
volatility this week, we are very confident we made the right
decision. As a management team, we recognize the dilution in this
offering was painful to current shareholders including ourselves.
The benefit to shareholders is Sigma now has more cash to
accelerate its speed to market and its quest for sales of both OEM
licenses and end-user equipment purchases.
In conclusion, our outlook is optimistic
because:
- Our balance sheet is now fortified;
- Our IP portfolio has a virtual moat around the entire quality
control industry for additive manufacturing;
- Our total addressable market or TAM is in the multi-billions,
growing and global;
- Our RTE program is growing with some of the largest global
companies;
- Machine OEM partnerships are now happening;
- Software partnerships are now developing with leading providers
of additive manufacturing and 3D printing solutions; and
- Commercial orders are now on the horizon for Q3 2019 with a
clear line of sight to breakeven operations by early 2020.
We look forward to sharing more on our
developing story on our third quarter 2019 financial results
conference call in November 2019. Thank you for your support and
belief in our vision to capitalize on the opportunity before us in
this business, to position Sigma as a dominant industry force well
into the future.
Sincerely,
John RiceChairman & CEO
About Sigma LabsSigma Labs,
Inc. (NASDAQ: SGLB) is a leading provider of quality assurance
software to the commercial 3D printing industry under the
PrintRite3D® brand. Founded in 2010, 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. Sigma
Labs’ advanced computer-aided software product revolutionizes
commercial additive manufacturing, enabling non-destructive quality
assurance mid-production, uniquely allowing errors to be corrected
in real-time. For more information, please visit
www.sigmalabsinc.com.
The links in this press release to third-party
websites or information are not an endorsement by Sigma Labs of the
material contained therein. Other than as specified in this press
release, such links are for readers interested in additional
information with respect to 3D printing technology.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, as amended (which Sections were adopted as part of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Statements
preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words
“believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,”
“project,” “prospects,” “outlook,” and similar words or
expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,”
“should,” “would,” “may,” and “could” are generally forward-looking
in nature and not historical facts. These forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance
or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated
results, performance or achievements. The Company disclaims any
intention to, and undertakes no obligation to, revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
a future event, or otherwise. For additional risks and
uncertainties that could impact the Company’s forward-looking
statements, please see the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K
(including but not limited to the discussion under “Risk Factors”
therein) filed with the SEC on April 1, 2019 and which may be
viewed at http://www.sec.gov.
Investor Relations Contact:
Chris Tyson Managing Director MZ North America
949-491-8235SGLB@mzgroup.us
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