One more is Proto Labs, I'll just post this article about them , it explains it all,
Proto Labs (PRLB) shareholders capped last year with plenty to celebrate.
The quick-turn manufacturer's stock price has tripled since it went public Feb. 24, 2012.
It was 2012's second-best IPO performer, tied with Guidewire Software (GWRE), says Cindy Profaca, managing director of IPOFinancial.com. As of the March 15 close, Proto Labs' stock was up 192% since it came out of the gate. Proto Labs is an online, tech-enabled manufacturer of custom parts for prototyping and short-run production. It provides customers with real parts made of various plastics and metals real fast to product developers, who are under increasing pressure to bring their finished goods to market faster than rivals. It uses computer numerical control, or CNC, machining and injection molding to manufacture custom parts. A CNC machine is a computer-controlled milling machine. It carves the desired part out of plastic or metal.
Proto Labs' value proposition is all about speed. It's the world's fastest producer of injection molded or CNC machined parts, Chief Executive Brad Cleveland told IBD.
The company's secret sauce lies in its proprietary software. Its Web-based interface and software automate many of the manual and time-consuming processes typically required to obtain custom CNC machined or injection molded parts from conventional suppliers. Customers upload a 3D computer-aided design (CAD) file of their required part through its website, and often within minutes its software analyzes the manufacturing potential of the product and, if it's able to make the part, returns a firm price quote with any recommendations for design modifications.
Once a customer places an order, Proto Labs' software automates processes such as mold design, which normally require skilled labor. As a result, it can quote orders in minutes. And it can ship parts in as little as one business day for a premium price.
"Proto Labs created a new service that's unprecedented," said William Blair & Co. analyst Brian Drab. "They have developed a system that has seamlessly integrated a collection of proprietary software applications with a manufacturing operation that's highly tuned for quick-turn manufacturing."
Proto Labs has developed a process where it can make injection molded parts overnight, says Drab, and at a 60%-plus gross margin. He says it can take its competitors, the traditional injection molding shops, three months to make the same parts and it costs them more to do it.
Proto Labs boasts a business model and a track record that have made heads turn on Wall Street.
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