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Note 1 - Nature of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Notes to Financial Statements

Nature of Operations [Text Block]

Note

1

— Nature of Business

Organization and business

Proto

Labs, Inc. and its subsidiaries (Proto Labs, the Company, we, us, or our) is an e-commerce driven digital manufacturer of quick-turn, on-demand injection-molded, computer numerical control (CNC) machined,

3D

-printed and

sheet metal-fabricated custom parts for prototyping and short-run production. The Company’s customers are product developers and engineers throughout the world who require a faster and less expensive way to obtain low volumes of parts. The Company’s proprietary technology eliminates most of the time-consuming and expensive skilled labor conventionally required to quote and manufacture parts in low volumes, and its customers conduct nearly all of their business with the Company over the Internet. The Company targets its product lines to the millions of product developers and engineers who use

three

-dimensional (

3D

) computer-aided design (CAD) software to design products across a diverse range of end-markets. The Company has established operations in the United States, Europe and Japan, which the Company believes are among the largest geographic markets where these product developers and engineers are located. The Company’s primary manufacturing product lines currently include Injection Molding, CNC Machining,

3D

Printing and Sheet Metal. Proto Labs, Inc. is located in Maple Plain, Minnesota. The Company’s subsidiaries are:

	Name			Location
	PL-US International LLC			United States
	Rapid Manufacturing Group LLC			United States
	Rapid Sheet Metal LLC			United States
	NH Rapid Machining LLC			United States
	Rapid Wire and Cable LLC			United States
	Proto Labs Ltd.			United Kingdom
	PL Euro Services Ltd.			United Kingdom
	PL International UK LLP			United Kingdom
	PL International Holdings, UK, Ltd.			United Kingdom
	Proto Labs Distribution, Ltd.			United Kingdom
	PL DE Holding GmbH			Germany
	Proto Labs GmbH			Germany
	Proto Labs Eschenlohe GmbH			Germany
	PL Finland Oy			Finland
	Proto Labs AB			Sweden
	Proto Labs, G.K.			Japan

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- References

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- Definition

The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2134479

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