EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., REHOVOT, Israel & FLINT, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 11, 2025--
Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) today announced the launch of the North American Stratasys Tooling Center (NASTC), a new collaboration with Automation Intelligence, LLC (AI), at AI’s manufacturing site in Flint, Michigan. This dedicated tooling hub is designed to assist manufacturers validate and scale practical applications for additive manufacturing in production environments.
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The NASTC operates both the Stratasys F3300® and F900® 3D printers, providing hands-on access to engineering resources, and create applications focused on critical tooling solutions such as jigs, fixtures, end-of-arm tooling, and North American Automotive Metric Standards (NAAMS) blocks. Automotive and industrial customers can now explore how additive can streamline operations, reduce cost, and respond faster to manufacturing challenges.
“This Center of Excellence will have a significant impact for manufacturers showing how additive fits into their production environment,” said Fadi Abro, Director of Global Automotive & Mobility at Stratasys. “With the launch of the NASTC, we are addressing real-world challenges at this new center. This incubator for advanced manufacturing is designed to enable teams to iterate, validate and scale tooling applications - rapidly. It sets the stage for designing solutions to meet the growing demand for localized, on-demand production solutions worldwide.”
Tooling often determines how quickly and cost-effectively products get to market. The NASTC will give manufacturers validated proof that additive polymer tooling is both viable and an ideal choice for production. With manufacturers and suppliers under constant pressure to become more efficient, the NASTC is structured to deliver speed, flexibility, and confidence, combining additive manufacturing technologies with traditional capabilities. Key capabilities include:
“Tooling is the heartbeat of manufacturing,” said Jeff McGarry, Managing Partner at Automation Intelligence. “The NASTC offers an environment where manufacturers can see for themselves how additive tools can address today’s challenges with faster turnaround times, digital flexibility, and lower costs. We believe this partnership will demonstrate the positive impact additive can have across production.”
Automation Intelligence helps manufacturers accelerate their adoption of advanced technologies. Currently working with several large manufacturers, AI helps bring focus on practical implementation, and production experience to customers navigating digital transformation. Additionally, the NASTC will also serve as a blueprint for similar tooling hubs worldwide.
About Stratasys
Stratasys is leading the global shift to additive manufacturing with innovative 3D printing solutions for industries such as aerospace, automotive, consumer products, and healthcare. Through smart and connected 3D printers, polymer materials, a software ecosystem, and parts on demand, Stratasys solutions deliver competitive advantages at every stage in the product value chain. The world’s leading organizations turn to Stratasys to transform product design, bring agility to manufacturing and supply chains, and improve patient care.
To learn more about Stratasys, visit www.stratasys.com, the Stratasys blog, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Stratasys reserves the right to utilize any of the foregoing social media platforms, including Stratasys’ websites, to share material, non-public information pursuant to the SEC’s Regulation FD. To the extent necessary and mandated by applicable law, Stratasys will also include such information in its public disclosure filings.
The Stratasys F3300 and F900 as part of the new North American Stratasys Tooling Center.
Robotic arm that is being used in the new North American Stratasys Tooling Center.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado comes to the White House on Thursday to discuss her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
The White House says Machado sought the face-to-face meeting with Trump without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate following her lunch with Trump, who has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.
Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.
Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.
Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
