UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016

OR

For the transition period from                 to                

Commission file number 001-35806

 

The ExOne Company

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

 

 

127 Industry Boulevard

North Huntingdon, PA 15642

(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

(724) 863-9663

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

The aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates for the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter was approximately $113.4 million.

As of March 16, 2017, 16,141,286 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 were outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A of the general rules and regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, for its 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  

 

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

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PART I

Item 1. Business.

 

General

As used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context otherwise requires or indicates, the terms “ExOne,” “Company,”  “we,” “our,” “ours,” and “us” refer to The ExOne Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act with respect to our future financial or business performance, strategies, or expectations. Forward-looking statements typically are identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” as well as similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could” and “may.”

We caution that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and we assume no duty to and do not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

In addition to risk factors previously disclosed in our reports and those identified elsewhere in this report, the following factors, among others, could cause results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: our ability to enhance our current three-dimensional (“3D”) printing machines and technology and develop new 3D printing machines; our ability to qualify more industrial materials in which we can print; timing and length of sales of 3D printing machines; demand for our products; our ability to achieve cost savings through consolidation or exiting of certain North American operations; the impact of increases in operating expenses and expenses relating to proposed investments and alliances; the availability of skilled personnel; the impact of market conditions and other factors on the carrying value of long-lived assets; our competitive environment and our competitive position; our ability to continue as a going concern; individual customer contractual requirements; the impact of customer specific terms in machine sale agreements on the period in which we recognize revenue; the impact of loss of key management; risks related to global operations including effects of foreign currency and risks related to the situation in the Ukraine and the United Kingdom’s referendum to withdraw from the European Union; demand for aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment, energy/oil/gas and other industrial products; our plans regarding increased international operations in additional international locations; the scope, nature or impact of alliances and strategic investments and our ability to integrate strategic investments; sufficiency of funds for required capital expenditures, working capital, and debt service; the adequacy of sources of liquidity; the effect of litigation, contingencies and warranty claims; liabilities under laws and regulations protecting the environment; the impact of governmental laws and regulations; operating hazards, war, terrorism and cancellation or unavailability of insurance coverage; the impact of disruption of our manufacturing facilities, production service centers or ExOne adoption centers; the adequacy of our protection of our intellectual property; expectations regarding demand for our industrial products, operating revenues, operating and maintenance expenses, insurance expenses and deductibles, interest expenses, debt levels, and other matters with regard to outlook; and material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.

These and other important factors, including those discussed under Item 1A, “Risk Factors” and Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, may cause our actual results of operations to differ materially from any future results of operations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Before making a decision to purchase our common stock, you should carefully consider all of the factors identified in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements.

Implications of being an Emerging Growth Company

Since our initial public offering (“IPO”), we have continued to qualify as an “emerging growth company” (“EGC”) as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). An EGC may take advantage of specified reduced reporting requirements and is relieved of certain other significant requirements that are otherwise generally applicable to public companies.

As an EGC:

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We will continue to operate under these provisions until December 31, 2018, or such earlier time that we are no longer an EGC. We would cease to be an EGC if we have more than $1.0 billion in annual revenues, qualify as a “large accelerated filer” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which requires us to have more than $700 million in market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates, or issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period. We may choose to take advantage of some, but not all, of these reduced burdens.

Trademarks, Service Marks and Trade Names

We have registrations in the United States for the following trademarks: EXONE, X1 ExOne Digital Part Materialization (plus design), EXCAST, EXMAL, EXTEC, INNOVENT, M-FLEX, M-PRINT, S MAX, S-PRINT, X1 and X1-LAB. We also have applications for registration pending for the following trademark: EXERIAL. We also have registrations for EXONE in China, Europe (Community Trade Mark), Japan, and South Korea, and an application for registration pending in Canada for that trademark. We have registrations for X1 ExOne Digital Part Materialization (plus design) in Brazil, China, Europe (Community Trade Mark), Japan, and South Korea, and an application for registration pending in Canada for that mark. We have a registration for the mark X1 in Europe (Community Trade Mark). We have a registration for the mark EX-1 in Europe (Community Trade Mark). We have registrations for a stylized form of X1 in Europe (Community Trade Mark) and South Korea. We have registrations for DIGITAL PART MATERIALIZATION in Japan and South Korea. We have registrations for the trademarks EXERIAL, INNOVENT, M-FLEX, S-MAX, and S-PRINT in Europe (Community Trade Mark). Additionally, in March 2014 we acquired the trade names for Machin-A-Mation Corporation (“MAM”) and MWT — Gesellschaft für Industrielle Mikrowellentechnik mbH (“MWT”).

This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains trademarks, service marks and trade names of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, marks and trade names referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may appear without the ^® or TM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the right of the applicable licensor to these marks and trade names. Third-party marks and trade names used herein are for nominative informational purposes only and their use herein in no way constitutes or is intended to be commercial use of such names and marks. The use of such third-party names and marks in no way constitutes or should be construed to be an approval, endorsement or sponsorship of us, or our products or services, by the owners of such third-party names and marks.

Our Business

We are a global provider of 3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products, materials and services to industrial customers. Our business primarily consists of manufacturing and selling 3D printing machines and printing products to specification for our customers using our installed base of 3D printing machines. Our machines serve direct and indirect applications.  Direct printing produces a component; indirect printing makes a tool to produce a component. We offer pre-production collaboration and print products for customers through our network of production service centers (“PSCs”) and ExOne adoption centers (“EACs”). We also supply the associated materials, including consumables and replacement parts, and other services, including training and technical support that is necessary for purchasers of our 3D printing machines to print products. We believe that our ability to print in a variety of industrial materials, as well as our industry-leading volumetric output (as measured by build box size and printing speed) uniquely position us to serve the needs of industrial customers.

Our 3D printing machines use our binder jetting technology, powdered materials, chemical binding agents and integrated software to print 3D products directly from computer models by repeatedly depositing very thin layers of powdered materials and selectively placing chemical binding agents to form the printed product. One of our key industry advantages is that our 3D printing machines are able to print products in materials which we believe are desired by industrial customers. Currently, our 3D printing machines are able to manufacture casting molds and cores from specialty sands and ceramics, which are the traditional materials for these casting products. Of equal importance, our 3D printing machines are capable of direct product materialization by printing industrial metals and other materials, including stainless steel, bronze, iron, bonded tungsten, IN Alloy 625 and glass. We are in varying stages of qualifying additional industrial materials and advancing materials that are printable in our 3D printing machines with a prioritization of monolithic metals and certain ceramics.

We believe that we are a leader in providing 3D printing machines, 3D printed and other products, materials and services to industrial customers in the aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment, energy/oil/gas and other industries. In an effort to further solidify this position, we have focused on implementing a network of PSCs since our IPO. To facilitate faster adoption of our technology, in January 2017, we announced a plan to refocus certain of our PSCs located in the United States into EACs, to provide a greater variety of our latest binder and material sets, including cold hardening phenolic and sodium silicate production, as well as an expanded range of our machine platforms and machine options. We expect to provide regionally-based material development services, as well as

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expanded technical and training services within the EACs. Since our IPO, we have also increased capacity and upgraded technology in our production facilities in Germany and expanded our materials development initiatives.

Our revenue growth is driven by increasing customer acceptance of our 3D printing technology, and continued expansion of 3D printing equipment capabilities in terms of the diversity of material that can be printed, ability to configure 3D printing equipment to match specific customer requirements, and overall improvements in machine operating costs and productivity. In developing our next generation 3D printing machine platforms, we are focused on achieving the volumetric output rate demanded by our industrial customers and constantly expanding the diversity of materials which can be printed by our equipment.

Our customers are located primarily in North America, Europe and Asia. We are a party to non-disclosure agreements with many of our customers, and therefore, are often prohibited from disclosing many of our customers’ identities. Our customers include a number of Fortune 500 companies that are leaders in their respective markets, as well as mid-cap and smaller public and private companies. During 2016, 2015 and 2014 we conducted a significant portion of our business with a limited number of customers, though not necessarily the same customers for each respective period. During 2016, 2015 and 2014, our five most significant customers represented approximately 17.1%, 19.0% and 23.1% of our total revenue, respectively. During 2016, 2015 and 2014, there were no customers that individually represented 10.0% or greater of our total revenue. Sales of 3D printing machines are low volume, but generate significant revenue based on their per-unit pricing. Generally, sales of 3D printing machines are to different customers in each respective period, with the timing of such sales dependent on the customer’s capital budgeting cycle, which may vary from period to period. The nature of our revenue from 3D printing machines does not leave us dependent upon a single or a limited number of customers. Sales of 3D printed and other products, materials and services are high volume, but generally result in a significantly lower aggregate price per order as compared to 3D printing machine sales. The nature of the revenue from 3D printed and other products, materials and services does not leave us dependent upon a single or a limited number of customers.

We manage our business globally in a single operating segment in which we develop, manufacture and market 3D printing machines, 3D printed and other products, materials and services. Geographically, we conduct our business through subsidiaries in the United States, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Japan.

Our History

Our business began as the advanced manufacturing business of the Extrude Hone Corporation, which manufactured its first 3D printing machine in 2003 using licensed technology developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”). In 2005, our business assets were transferred to The Ex One Company, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, when Extrude Hone Corporation was purchased by another company. In 2007, we were acquired by S. Kent Rockwell through his wholly owned company, Rockwell Forest Products, Inc. On January 1, 2013, ExOne was formed, when The Ex One Company, LLC was merged with and into a newly created Delaware corporation, which changed its name to The ExOne Company. On February 12, 2013, we completed our IPO, raising approximately $90.4 million in unrestricted net proceeds after underwriting commissions and offering costs. Subsequent secondary offerings of our common stock have resulted in raising approximately $78.0 million in additional unrestricted net proceeds after underwriting commissions and offering costs.

The Additive Manufacturing Industry and 3D Printing

3D printing is the most common type of an emerging manufacturing technology that is broadly referred to as additive manufacturing (“AM”). In general, AM is a term used to describe a manufacturing process that produces 3D objects directly from digital or computer models through the repeated deposit of very thin layers of material. 3D printing is the process of joining materials from a digital 3D model, usually layer by layer, to make objects using a printhead, nozzle, or other printing technology. The terms “AM” and “3D printing” are increasingly being used interchangeably, as the media and marketplace have popularized the term 3D printing rather than AM, which is the industry term.

AM represents a transformational shift from traditional forms of manufacturing (e.g., machining or tooling), which are sometimes referred to as subtractive manufacturing. We believe that AM and 3D printing are increasingly poised to displace traditional manufacturing methodologies in a growing range of industrial applications. Our 3D printing process differs from other forms of 3D printing processes, in that we use a chemical binding agent and focus on metal and ceramic industrial products.

AM has focused on prototyping and small, limited production in order to find acceptance of its varying technologies by end users in order to convince users of traditional methods of the viability of such new applications. As AM has evolved, the focus has evolved into production readiness and increasing reliability and repeatability standards associated with higher requirements that industry demands.

ExOne and 3D Printing  

We provide 3D printed and other products, materials and services primarily to industrial customers and other end-market users. We believe that we are an early entrant into the AM industrial products market and are one of the few providers of 3D printing solutions to industrial customers in the aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment and energy/oil/gas industries.

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Our binder jetting technology was developed over 15 years ago by researchers at MIT. Our 3D printing machines build or print products from computer-aided drafting (“CAD”) models by depositing successive thin layers of particles of materials such as sand or metal powder in a “build box.” A moveable printhead passes over each layer and deposits a chemical binding agent in the selected areas where the finished product will be materialized. Each layer can be unique.

Depending on the industrial material used in printing, printed products may need post-production processing. We generally use silica sand or foundry sand for casting, both of which typically require no additional processing. Products printed in other materials, such as metals or glass, or for use in specific applications, may need varying amounts of heat treating, drying or other post-processing.

Pre-Print. We believe that our customers have the opportunity to take greater advantage of the design freedom that our 3D printing technology provides. While we collaborate with our customers to develop and refine CAD designs that meet our customers’ specifications and can be read and processed by our 3D printing machines, we believe that additional pre-print capabilities would empower our customers to fully exploit the design freedom of 3D printing. As a result, we are exploring ways to develop, through a combination of strategic investments, and/or alliances, advanced CAD, simulation and design optimization tools. With these enhanced pre-print capabilities, our customers will be able to imagine, design, optimize and produce their ideal products, unconstrained by the limitations imposed by traditional manufacturing technologies.

Industrial Materials. We supply printing materials to our customers that have been qualified for use with our machines. As we experience increased demand for our products globally, it is essential that the material supply chain and distribution channels be in close proximity to our current and prospective customers. To ensure that such a supply chain exists or quickly develops, we may vertically integrate the supply of our printing materials. In addition, for the highest quality printed products, the sand grains and metal particles used in the 3D printing process must be uniform in size and meet very specific tolerances. Vertically integrating would have the additional advantage of ensuring that our PSCs, EACs and 3D printing machine customers have certainty of access to the highest quality print materials, meeting the exact specifications of our 3D printing machines.

Our Machines. Our 3D printing machines consist of a build box that includes a machine platform and a computer processor controlling the printheads for applying layers of industrial materials and binding agents. We currently build our 3D printing machines in both Germany and the United States. Our 3D printing machines are used to produce molds for castings, products for end users and prototypes. In some situations, we can make prototypes in metal rather than resin polymer, or make a part from a mold for the casting of a newly designed part, which we then cast at a qualified foundry. As a result, the prototype can be made from the same material as the final production part, which allows for more accurate testing of the prototype. We provide a broad spectrum of qualified materials for direct product materialization and are continuing to qualify additional materials for use in our printing process.

Our 3D printing machines are used primarily to manufacture industrial products that are ordered in relatively low volumes, are highly complex and have a high value to the customer. For example, the manufacture of an aircraft requires several complex parts, such as transmission housings (also known as gear-casings), which are needed in relatively low volume and have a high performance value in the aircraft. There are also a variety of machine parts made in traditional machining processes that can be made more cost effective using those processes. Over time, we may be able to manufacture some of those parts more cost effectively. Our technology is not appropriate for the mass production of simple parts, such as certain higher volume injection molded parts or certain higher volume parts made in metal stamping machines. Traditional manufacturing technology is more economical in making those parts. While we expect over time to be able to increase the kinds of parts that we can make more economically than using subtractive manufacturing, we do not ever expect to use our technology to make simple, low-cost, mass-produced parts.

The bulk of our 3D printing machines are used to make complex sand molds, which are used to cast these kinds of parts for several industries; although, in some cases, we make the end part directly. We intend to expand the direct part production portion of our business as we grow. In addition, as our technologies advance and our unit cost of production decreases, we believe that we can increase the type and number of products that our 3D printing machines can manufacture in a cost-effective manner, expanding our addressable market. The latest generation in our machine portfolio allows customers to engage with our binder jetting technology for industrial series production, beyond the rapid prototyping and small batch production for which our other systems are being used. In addition, we have expanded our machine capability to better process finer powders, thereby progressing our ability to print applications that may use certain metal powders or ceramics. Our ability to print finer powders is also directly related to our capability to directly print parts in monolithic materials as opposed to infiltrated materials.  

Post-Print Processing. After a product is printed, the bound and unbound powder in the build box requires curing of the chemical binding agent. In the case of molds and cores, curing may occur at room temperature and the printed product is complete after the binder is cured. For other applications, a drying process (utilizing an industrial microwave or other means) may be necessary. The mold or core is then poured at a foundry, yielding the finished metal product. We believe that our casting technology offers a number of advantages over traditional casting methods, including increased yield, weight reduction and improved thermal range.

For other materials, such as stainless steel, bronze, iron and bonded tungsten, the product needs to be sintered, or sintered and infiltrated. With sintering, the product is placed into a furnace in an inert atmosphere to sinter the bonded particles and form a strong bonded porous structure. The porous structure can be further infiltrated with another material to fill the voids. After the sintering and infiltration, the product can be polished and finished with a variety of standard industrial methods and coatings. We believe that our 3D printing capabilities enable customers to develop the ideal design for products, freeing them of some of the design constraints

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inherent in traditional manufacturing, in the industrial metal of choice and in a more efficient manner than traditional manufacturing methods.

Customers and Sales

Educating Our Customers

Educating our customers and raising awareness in our target markets about the many uses and benefits of our 3D printing technology is an important part of our sales process. We believe that customers who experience the efficiency gains, decreased lead-time, increased design flexibility, and decreased cost potential of 3D printing, as compared to subtractive manufacturing, are more likely to purchase our 3D printing machines and be repeat customers of our products and services. We educate our customers on the design freedom, speed, and other benefits of 3D printing by providing printing and design services and support through our PSCs and EACs. We also seek to expose key potential users to our products through our PSCs and EACs, installed machines at customers’ locations, university programs, and sales and marketing efforts. Additionally, our EACs will provide a greater variety of our latest binder and material sets, including cold hardening phenolic and sodium silicate production, as well as an expanded range of our machine platforms and machine options. We expect to provide regionally-based material development services, as well as expand our technical and training services within the EACs.

Production Service Centers and ExOne Adoption Centers

We have established a network of PSCs in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania; Gersthofen, Germany; Desenzano del Garda, Italy; Jönköping, Sweden; and Kanagawa, Japan.  In addition, we announced in January 2017 our plan to refocus our PSCs located in Troy, Michigan and Houston, Texas in the United States into EACs. Our three centers located in the United States were certified to ISO 9001:2008 as Industrial Additive Manufacturers. Through these centers, we provide sales and marketing and delivery of support and printing services to our customers. Our customers see our 3D printing machines in operation and can evaluate their production capabilities before ordering a 3D printing machine or a printed product or service. While our centers are scalable and have a well-defined footprint that can be easily replicated to serve additional regional markets, we are focusing on enhancing our existing centers to enable adoption rather than geographic expansion. As described below, enhancing our positon in strategic locations around the world is an important part of our business strategy.

For all customers, we offer the following support and services through our PSCs and EACs:

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Our Competitive Strengths

We believe that our competitive strengths include:

Our Business Strategy

The principal elements of our growth strategy include:

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Our Machines and Machine Platforms

We produce a variety of 3D printing machines in order to enable designers and engineers to rapidly, efficiently, and cost-effectively design and produce industrial prototypes and production parts. The models of our 3D printing machines differ based on the

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materials in which they print, build box size, and production speeds, but all utilize our advanced technology and designs. The variation in the models of 3D printing machines that we produce allows for flexibility of use based on the needs of our customers.

Exerial. The Exerial is our newest indirect 3D printing machine. It is unique compared to our other indirect 3D printing systems in that it contains multiple industrial stations that allow for continuous production and simultaneous processing. The Exerial is distinctly equipped with two build boxes, each 1.5 times larger than the single build box in our next largest model, the S-Max. Notably, the Exerial system offers a total build platform of 3,168 liters and is expected to be capable of printing output rates nearly four times faster than the S-Max. The Exerial utilizes a new recoater system, multiple printheads and automation controls. As part of the development of the Exerial, we have filed six patents related to machine design elements. We formally debuted this 3D printing machine at the GIFA International Foundry Trade Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany in June 2015 and began selling this machine in 2015.

S-Max/S-Max+. The S-Max machine is our second largest indirect 3D printing machine presently available. We introduced the S-Max machine in 2010 to provide improved size and speed over the predecessor model, the S-15. The S-Max has a build box size of 1,800mm x 1,000mm x 700mm. The S-Max machine is generally used by customers interested in printing complex molds and cores on an industrial scale for casting applications. Each of our global PSCs and EACs has at least one S-Max machine installed on-site. In addition to our traditional S-Max machine, during 2014 we introduced an S-Max+ configuration designed for easier post-processing of the build box for certain applications which require phenolic or sodium silicate binder for printing.  We believe that the North American market adoption rate of sand printing technology is accelerating, and in response, we have enhanced our S-Max platform, which has been designed with an expanded binding agent and base material configuration, to be positioned for growth in this area.

S-Print/M-Print. The S-Print (indirect) and M-Print (direct) machines are our mid-sized 3D printing machines presently available. Both the S-Print and M-Print have a build box size of 800mm x 500mm x 400mm. The S-Print machine is generally used by customers interested in printing objects made from silica sand and ceramics, with a particular focus on industrial applications for smaller casting cores that are often required for the aerospace industry, especially in hydraulic applications. The build box size also permits the use of exotic and expensive print materials, such as ceramics, that are required for high heat/high strength applications. The M-Print machine is generally used by customers interested in direct printing of objects made from metals and glass. We have installed both S-Print and M-Print machines in certain of our PSCs and EACs to complement our S-Max machines currently in use.

M-Flex. The M-Flex machine is our most flexible direct 3D printing machine presently available. We introduced the M-Flex machine platform in 2013 to satisfy the demand for a large range of industrial customers that are interested in directly printing metals, ceramic and glass products. We have further developed a collaborative process for assisting the users in production implementation through our ExMAL and ExTEC organizational efforts. The M-Flex has a build box size of 400mm x 250mm x 250mm.  

Innovent. The Innovent is the smallest of our direct 3D printing machines presently available. As an industrial-grade, laboratory-sized machine, Innovent allows for testing material properties, specifically in educational institutions, research laboratories, and research and development departments at commercial organizations. Innovent is uniquely designed in that it balances a specific build box for the technical qualification of materials with a smaller overall lab machine platform size, when compared to other industrial-grade 3D printing machines.  In 2016, we introduced our fine powder Innovent machine that 3D prints metal and ceramic objects that have higher printed density and achieves significant improvements in surface finish quality, ideally suited for the metal injection molding (“MIM”) and powder metallurgy (“PM”) industries. We offer a fine powder Innovent machine, as well as an Innovent upgrade package for existing equipment.

Binding Agents

We use liquid chemical binding agents (including furan, phenolic and sodium silicate) during the 3D printing process. We initially introduced the availability of phenolic binding agent in July 2013, which binder is used with ceramic sands in the 3D printing of molds and cores, offering customers three primary benefits as compared with other binders:

These capabilities address challenges faced by the automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment and energy/oil/gas industries.

In September 2015, we expanded our suite of 3D printing binder offerings to add a new class of phenolic binding agent, referred to as cold hardening phenolic ("CHP"). The CHP binder accelerates the 3D printing process by eliminating the infrared heating lamp that is utilized in the printing process with traditional phenolic binders. Using CHP, the polymerization of 3D printed molds and cores may occur at room temperature, further reducing both printing and curing time and eliminating the need for additional equipment such as a microwave. Alternatively, if additional drying is desired this may be achieved in a conventional air oven, equipment which is maintained by most industrial manufacturers.  Our initial introduction of CHP is through delivery to customers of benchmark and

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production parts printed in our Gersthofen, Germany PSC. We have qualified CHP on our S-Print and S-Max indirect printing machine platforms and are in the process of optimizing our indirect printing machine platforms for utilization of CHP.

Sodium silicate reduces or eliminates the release of fumes and gas in the casting process, helping to reduce costs associated with air ventilation and electrical and maintenance equipment, which we believe will appeal to casting houses that are in search of cleaner environmental processes. We have qualified sodium silicate on our S-Print and are in the process of optimizing our indirect printing machine platforms for further utilization of sodium silicate.

We believe that our unique chemical binding agent technology can more readily achieve efficiency gains over time than other AM technologies such as laser-fusing technologies. As an example, in order to increase the print speed of laser-based technologies, another expensive industrial laser must be added to the manufacturing process, raising the unit cost of production.

Marketing and Sales

We market our products under the ExOne brand name in three major geographic regions — North America, Europe and Asia. Our sales are made primarily by our global sales force. Our sales force is augmented, in certain territories, by representatives with specific industry or territorial expertise. Even where we are supported by a representative, substantially all of our product and service offerings provided by our PSCs and EACs are sold directly to customers by us.

We believe that our direct selling relationship helps to create one of the building blocks for our business — the creation of true collaboration between us and industrial customers who are interested in 3D printing. Increasingly, industrial producers are considering shifting from subtractive manufacturing techniques to 3D printing. Our marketing efforts include educating potential customers about 3D printing technology through collaboration starting with pre-production services and continuing with production and technical support at our PSCs and EACs.

Acquisitions and Divestitures

On March 3, 2014, our ExOne Americas LLC subsidiary acquired substantially all the assets of MAM, a specialty machining operation located in Chesterfield, Michigan, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $4.9 million. The purpose of this acquisition was to complement our existing PSC in Troy, Michigan, by expanding our post-processing capabilities. On January 26, 2017, we committed to a plan to exit the MAM operation as a result of a refocus of our operational strategy associated with the accelerating adoption rate of our sand printing technology in North America. We are currently exploring a plan of sale for certain of the assets associated with MAM.

On March 6, 2014, our ExOne GmbH subsidiary acquired all of the shares of MWT, a pioneer in industrial-grade microwaves with leading design and manufacturing experience based in Elz, Germany, for approximately $4.8 million. The purpose of this acquisition was to complement our existing indirect 3D printing machine systems with microwave technologies which enhance our post-processing offerings available to customers.  During 2015, we took the step to integrate our MWT microwave manufacturing operation with our Gersthofen, Germany manufacturing operations.  

Services and Warranty

We have fully trained service technicians to perform machine installations in North America, Europe and Asia. We generally provide a standard twelve month warranty on sales of 3D printing machines. Customers can purchase additional service contracts for maintenance and service. We also sell replacement parts which we maintain in stock worldwide to assist in providing service expeditiously to our customers.

Suppliers

Our largest suppliers in 2016, based upon dollar volume of purchases, were Bauer GmbH & Co KG, Erhardt & Leimer GmbH, Fuji Film Dimatix and Astro Manufacturing & Design.

We buy our industrial materials from several suppliers and, except as set forth below, the loss of any one would not materially adversely affect our business. We currently have a single supplier of certain printhead components for our 3D printing machines. While we believe that this printhead component supplier is replaceable, in the event of the loss of this supplier, we could experience delays and interruptions that might adversely affect the financial performance of our business. Additionally, we obtain certain pre-production services through design and data capture providers, and certain post-production services though vendors with whom we have existing and good relationships. The loss of any one of these providers or vendors would not materially adversely affect our business.

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Research and Development

We spent approximately $7.8 million, $7.3 million and $8.2 million on research and development during 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. We expect to continue to invest in our research and development activities in the future.

A significant portion of our research and development expenditures have been focused on the following:

Intellectual Property

Patents and Licenses. Our technology is covered by a variety of patents or licenses for use of patents. Through December 31, 2016, we were the worldwide licensee of certain patents of MIT for certain AM printing processes (the “MIT Patents”), with exclusive rights to practice the patents in certain fields including the application of the printing processes to metals (with sublicensing rights), and non-exclusive rights to practice the patents in certain fields including the application of the printing processes to certain non-metals (without sublicensing rights). Additionally, we hold patents solely as majority owner, as a result of our own technological developments. Our patents are issued in the United States and in various foreign jurisdictions, including Germany and Japan. As a result of our commitment to research and development, we also hold process patents and have applied for other patents for equipment, processes, materials and 3D printing applications. The expiration dates of our patents range from 2023 to 2036.

The MIT Patents which we previously licensed have expiration dates ranging from 2017 to 2021 in the United States. We believe that our decision not to renew our prior licenses will not impact our business; however, the expiration of the MIT Patents or the license expiration may allow our competitors that were previously prevented from doing so to utilize binder jetting 3D printing. Nonetheless, we have developed know-how and trade secrets relative to our 3D printing technology and believe that our early entrance into the industrial market provides us with a timing and experience advantage. Through our investment in our technology, we have been able to qualify industrial materials for use in our 3D printing machines and we intend to continue such efforts. In addition, we have taken steps to protect much of our technology as a trade secret. Given the significant steps that we have taken to establish our experience in AM for industrial applications, as well as our ongoing commitment to research and development, we intend to maintain our preeminent position in the AM industry market.

Trademarks. We have registrations in the United States for the following trademarks: EXONE, X1 ExOne Digital Part Materialization (plus design), EXCAST, EXMAL, EXTEC, INNOVENT, M-FLEX, M-PRINT, S MAX, S-PRINT, X1 and X1-LAB. We also have applications for registration pending for the following trademark: EXERIAL. We also have registrations for EXONE in China, Europe (Community Trade Mark), Japan, and South Korea, and an application for registration pending in Canada for that trademark. We have registrations for X1 ExOne Digital Part Materialization (plus design) in Brazil, China, Europe (Community Trade Mark), Japan, and South Korea, and an application for registration pending in Canada for that mark. We have a registration for the mark X1 in Europe (Community Trade Mark). We have a registration for the mark EX-1 in Europe (Community Trade Mark). We have registrations for a stylized form of X1 in Europe (Community Trade Mark) and South Korea. We have registrations for DIGITAL PART MATERIALIZATION in Japan and South Korea. We have registrations for the trademarks EXERIAL, INNOVENT, M-FLEX, S-MAX, and S-PRINT in Europe (Community Trade Mark). Additionally, in March 2014 we acquired the trade names for MAM and MWT.

Trade Secrets. The development of our products, processes and materials has involved a considerable amount of experience, manufacturing and processing know-how and research and development techniques that are not easily duplicated. We protect this knowledge as a trade secret through the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements which all employees, customers and consultants are required to sign at the time they are employed or engaged by us. Additional information related to the risks associated with our intellectual property rights are described within Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Competition

Other companies are active in the market for 3D printing products and services. These companies use a variety of AM technologies, including:

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Some of the companies that have developed and employ one or more AM technologies include: Hoganas AB, Viridus3d, 3D Systems Corporation, Stratasys Inc., HP Inc., EOS GmbH, EnvisionTEC, Concept Laser, Solid Model Ltd., Voxeljet AG and General Electric Co.

Some of these processes and companies compete with some of the products and services that we provide. Despite the challenging competitive landscape, we believe that we are the only AM printing solutions provider that focuses primarily on metal industrial applications on a production scale. Our competitive advantages, including the size of our build platforms, the speed of our printheads, the variety of materials used by industrial manufacturers in which we can print, the industry qualification of many of the materials we print in, our robust market capabilities, and our suite of machine system families offering scale and flexibility, also serve to differentiate us from the other competitors in the AM market.

We also compete with established subtractive manufacturers in the industrial products market. These companies often provide large-scale, highly capitalized facilities that are designed or built to fill specific production purposes, usually mass production. However, we believe that we are well positioned to expand our share of the industrial products market from these manufacturers as AM gains recognition. As our technologies improve and our unit cost of production decreases, we expect to be able to compete with subtractive manufacturing on a wide range of products, thereby expanding our addressable market.

Seasonality

Purchases of our 3D printing machines often follow a seasonal pattern owing to the capital budgeting cycles of our customers. Generally, 3D printing machine sales are higher in our third and fourth quarters than in our first and second quarters; however as acceptance of our 3D printing machines as a credible alternative to traditional methods of production grows, we expect to limit the seasonality we experience.

Backlog

At December 31, 2016, our backlog was approximately $19.7 million, of which, approximately $17.7 million is expected to be fulfilled during the next twelve months. At December 31, 2015, our backlog was approximately $16.5 million.

Environmental Matters

Compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the discharge of materials into the environment or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment has not had a material impact on capital expenditures, earnings or the competitive position of us and our subsidiaries. We are not the subject of any legal or administrative proceeding relating to the environmental laws of the United States or any country in which we have an office. We have not received any notices of any violations of any such environmental laws.

Employees

At December 31, 2016, we employed a total of 309 (278 full-time) employees at our ten global locations. None of these employees is a party to a collective bargaining agreement, and we believe our relations with them are good.

Product and Geographic Information

Refer to Note 21 to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for product and geographic information related to our revenues (based on the country where the sale originated) and geographic information related to our long-lived assets (based on the physical location of assets). For information on risks related to our international operations refer to Item 1A, “Risk Factors”.

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Executive Offices

Our principal executive offices are located at 127 Industry Boulevard, North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania 15642 and our telephone number is (724) 863-9663.

Available Information

Our website address is http://www.exone.com. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K unless expressly noted.

We file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which we make available on our website free of charge at http://www.exone.com/financials.cfm. These reports include Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, each of which is provided on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with or furnish them to the SEC. We also make, or will make, available through our website other reports filed with or furnished to the SEC under the Exchange Act, including our proxy statements and reports filed by officers and directors under Section 16(a) of that Act. You can also read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20549. You can obtain additional information about the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. In addition, the SEC maintains a website (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including us.

You can obtain copies of exhibits to our filings electronically at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or by mail from the Public Reference Section of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549 at prescribed rates. The exhibits are also available as part of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, which is available on our corporate website at www.exone.com. Stockholders may also obtain copies of exhibits without charge by contacting our Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at (724) 863-9663.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors.

RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the following risks, together with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes, in evaluating our business, future prospects and an investment in our common stock. If any of the following risks and uncertainties develops into actual events, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected. In that case, the price of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We may not be able to introduce new machines and related industrial materials acceptable to the market or to improve the technology and industrial materials used in our current machines.

Our revenues are derived from the sale of 3D printing machines for, and products manufactured using, AM. We have encountered and will continue to encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in a market subject to innovation and rapidly developing and changing technology. A variety of technologies have the capacity to compete against one another in our market, which is, in part, driven by technological advances and end-user requirements and preferences, as well as the emergence of new standards and practices. Our ability to compete in the industrial AM market depends, in large part, on our success in enhancing and developing new 3D printing machines, in enhancing our current 3D printing machines, in enhancing and adding to our technology, and in developing and qualifying new industrial materials in which we can print. We believe that to remain competitive we must continuously enhance and expand the functionality and features of our products and technologies. However, we may not be able to:

We may not be able to significantly increase the number of materials in which we can print products fast enough to meet our business plan.

Our business plan is heavily dependent upon our ability to steadily increase the number of qualified materials in which our machines can print products. Our 3D printing machines are capable of direct product materialization by printing in industrial metals, including stainless steel, bronze, iron, bonded tungsten, IN Alloy 625 and glass. We are in varying stages of qualifying additional industrial materials and advancing materials that are printable in our machines.  By expanding into these other materials, we believe we can expand our market share and better serve our industrial customer base. Qualifying new materials is a complicated engineering task, and there is no way to predict whether, or when, any given material will be qualified. If we cannot hire people with sufficient technical skills to work on qualifying new materials for printing, or if we lack the resources necessary to create a steady flow of new materials, we will not be able to meet our business plan goals and a competitor may emerge that is better at qualifying new materials, either of which would have an adverse effect on our business results.

Any future success in qualifying new materials for printing may attract more competitors into our markets, including competitors with greater financial, technical, marketing, and other resources than we have.

If we succeed in qualifying a growing number of materials for use in our 3D printing machines, that will increase our addressable market. However, as we create a larger addressable market, our market may become more attractive to other 3D printing companies or large companies that are not 3D printing companies, but which may see an economic opportunity in the markets we have created. Because we are a supplier of 3D printed products to industrial companies, an increase in the number of competitors for our addressable market is likely to adversely affect our business and financial results.

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Our revenues and operating results may fluctuate.

Our revenues and operating results have fluctuated in the past from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year and are likely to continue to vary due to a number of factors, many of which are not within our control. Because our business is changing and evolving rapidly, our historical operating results may not be useful in predicting our future operating results. A significant portion of our machine orders are typically received during the third or fourth quarter of the fiscal year as a result of the timing of capital expenditures of our customers. Thus, revenues and operating results for any future period are not predictable with any significant degree of certainty. We also typically experience weaker demand for our machines in the first and second quarters. For these reasons, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. You should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance.

Fluctuations in our operating results and financial condition may occur due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, those listed below and those identified throughout this “Risk Factors” section:

Due to the foregoing factors, you should not rely on quarter-to-quarter or year-to-year comparisons of our operating results as an indicator of future performance.

We may not be able to generate operating profits.

Since our inception, we have not generated operating profits. In the event that we are unable to execute on our business plan, we may be unable to generate profits in the future.

Our operating expenses (which include research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses) were approximately $28.5 million, $29.9 million (excluding approximately $4.4 million of a goodwill impairment charge) and $32.2 million for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Our research and development expenses are due primarily to continued investment in our 3D printing machine technology and costs associated with our materials qualification activities, including research and development headcount. Our selling, general and administrative expenses are due primarily to personnel costs associated with managing a public company and certain professional service fees (including legal, audit and other consulting expenses). We believe that our operating expenses may increase in future periods as we pursue our growth strategies. Increases in our research and development expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses will directly affect our future results of operations and may have an adverse effect on our financial condition.

We may not be able to adequately increase demand for our products.

The marketplace for industrial manufacturing is dominated by conventional manufacturing methods that do not involve additive manufacturing.  Our business plan is built around a steady increase in the demand for our products. However, only a relatively small number of our potential customers know of the existence of AM and are familiar with its capabilities, and even fewer understand the potential benefits of using AM to manufacture products. If we do not develop effective strategies to raise awareness among potential

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customers of the benefits of AM and 3D printing, we may be unable to increase or sustain the level of sales of our products and machines, which would adversely affect our results of operations.  

Our ability to achieve savings through our plan to consolidate or exit certain of our North American operations may be adversely affected by management’s ability to fully execute the plans as a result of various factors within or beyond the control of management.

We have initiated a plan to consolidate or exit certain of our North American operations, which include steps that we believe are necessary to enhance the value and performance of the Company.  Factors within or beyond the control of management may change the total estimated costs or the timing of when the savings will be achieved under the plans. Further, if we are not successful in completing the consolidation or exit activities timely or if additional or unanticipated issues arise, our expected cost savings may not be met and our operating results could be negatively affected. In addition, our planned consolidation and exit activities may place substantial demands on our management, which could lead to diversion of management’s attention from other business priorities and result in a reduced customer focus.

We may not be able to hire the number of skilled employees that we need to achieve our business plan.

For our business to grow in accordance with our business plan, we will need to recruit, hire, integrate and retain additional employees with the technical competence and engineering skills to operate our machines, improve our technology and processes and expand our technological capability to print using an increasing variety of materials. People with these skills are in short supply and may not be available in sufficient numbers to allow us to meet the goals of our business plan. In addition, new employees often require significant training and, in many cases, take significant time before they achieve full productivity. As a result, we may incur significant costs to attract and retain employees, including significant expenditures related to salaries and benefits, and we may lose new employees to our competitors or other companies before we realize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them. Moreover, new employees may not be or become as productive as we expect, as we may face challenges in adequately or appropriately integrating them into our workforce and culture. In addition, as we move into new geographic areas, we will need to recruit skilled employees in those areas. If we cannot obtain the services of a sufficient number of technically skilled employees, we may not be able to achieve our planned rate of growth, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We face significant competition in many aspects of our business, which could cause our revenues and gross profit margins to decline. Competition could also cause us to reduce sales prices or to incur additional marketing or production costs, which could result in decreased revenue, increased costs and reduced margins.

We compete for customers with a wide variety of producers of equipment for models, prototypes, other 3D objects and end-use parts as well as producers of print materials and services for this equipment. Some of our existing and potential competitors are researching, designing, developing and marketing other types of competitive equipment, print materials and services. Many of these competitors have financial, marketing, manufacturing, distribution and other resources that are substantially greater than ours.

We also expect that future competition may arise from the development of allied or related techniques for equipment and print materials that are not encompassed by our patents, from the issuance of patents to other companies that may inhibit our ability to develop certain products, from our entry into new geographic markets and industries and from improvements to existing print materials and equipment technologies. In addition, a number of companies have announced beginning production of 3D printers, which will further enhance the competition we face.

We intend to continue to follow a strategy of continuing product development to enhance our position to the extent practicable. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain our current position in the field or continue to compete successfully against current and future sources of competition. If we do not keep pace with technological change and introduce new products, our revenues and demand for our products may decrease.

We may incur future impairment charges to our long-lived assets held for use.  

As a result of continued operating losses and cash flow deficiencies, we have completed certain tests for the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use at the asset group level. Assessing the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use requires significant judgments and estimates by management. We will be required to conduct additional testing for the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use to the extent that a triggering event requiring such test is identified in a future period. A significant decrease in the market price of a long-lived asset, adverse change in the use or condition of a long-lived asset, adverse change in the business climate or legal or regulatory factors impacting a long-lived asset and continued operating losses and cash flow deficiencies associated with a long-lived asset, among other indicators, could cause a future assessment to be performed which may result in an impairment of long-lived assets held for use.  The amount of any impairment could be significant and could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations for the period in which the impairment is recorded.

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Our independent registered public accounting firm may conclude that there is substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

As a result of our continued operating losses, cash flow deficiencies and liquidity, our independent registered public accounting firm may conclude, in connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements that there is substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. If our independent registered public accounting firm issues a “going concern” opinion, it could impair our ability to finance our operations through the sale of equity, incurring debt, or other financing alternatives. If we fail to raise sufficient additional capital, we will not be able to completely execute our business plan. As a result our business would be jeopardized and the Company may not be able to continue.

ExOne 3D printing machine customer contractual requirements often have specific, individual needs that may in turn impact the period in which we recognize the revenue under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) relating to that 3D printing machine sale.

Once a customer makes the decision to purchase a 3D printing machine from us, we may then be required to address specific, individual factors relating, among other things, to that customer’s purchase, its intended use of that 3D printing machine or relating to the installation of that machine in the customer’s facilities. These specific, individual requirements are often required by the customer to be included in our commercial agreements relating to the purchase. As a result, our responsiveness to our customers’ specific requirements has the potential to impact the period in which we recognize the revenue relating to that 3D printing machine sale.

If the market does not develop as we expect, our revenues may stagnate or decline.

The marketplace for industrial manufacturing is dominated by conventional manufacturing methods that do not involve AM technology. If AM technology does not gain market acceptance as an alternative for industrial manufacturing, or if the marketplace adopts AM based on a technology other than our technology, we may not be able to increase or sustain the level of sales of our products and 3D printing machines and our results of operations would be adversely affected as a result.

Loss of key management or sales or customer service personnel could adversely affect our results of operations.

Our future success depends to a significant extent on the skills, experience and efforts of our management and other key personnel. We must continue to develop and retain a core group of management individuals if we are to realize our goal of continued expansion and growth. While we have not previously experienced significant problems attracting and retaining members of our management team and other key personnel, there can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to retain these individuals and the loss of any or all of these individuals could materially and adversely affect our business. We do not carry key-man insurance on any member of management.

Our business is subject to risks associated with doing business globally.

Approximately 54.0%, 50.9% and 51.9% of our consolidated revenue was derived from transactions outside the United States for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. In addition, one of our growth strategies is to pursue additional opportunities for our business in several areas of the world outside of the United States, any or all of which could be adversely affected by the risks set forth below. Our operations outside of the United States are subject to risks associated with the political, regulatory and economic conditions of the countries in which we operate, such as:

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Any of these factors could materially adversely affect sales of our products to global customers or harm our reputation, which could adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, the consequences of terrorism or armed conflicts are unpredictable, and we may not be able to foresee events that could have an adverse effect on our market opportunities or our business.

The new Trump Administration may make substantial changes to fiscal, tax and international trade policies that may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Trump Administration has called for substantial change to various fiscal, tax and international trade policies. We cannot predict the impact, if any, of these changes to our business, financial condition and results of operations. However, it is possible that these changes could adversely affect our business. It is likely that some policies adopted by the new administration will benefit us and others will negatively affect us. Until we know what changes are enacted, we will not know whether in total we benefit from, or are negatively affected by, the changes.

Continuing political instability in the Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, and Russia’s response to those sanctions, could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In March 2014, the Crimea region of the Ukraine was annexed by Russia. In response to this annexation and subsequent hostilities aimed at the Ukraine, other nations, including the United States and the European Union, imposed evolving economic sanctions against Russia. United States and European concerns related to the political and military conditions in the region have prompted increasing levels of economic sanctions, targeting certain Russian companies in the finance, energy and defense industries and named Russian nationals that have been deemed to have direct involvement in destabilizing the situation in the Ukraine, as well as imposing restrictions on trading and access to capital markets (“Russian Sanctions”). In response, Russia announced its own trading sanctions against nations that implemented or supported the Russian Sanctions, including the United States and some European Union nations.

One of our growth strategies is to pursue opportunities for our business in several areas of the world outside of the United States. This strategy includes pursuing opportunities in Russia through our German subsidiary, ExOne GmbH, which has sold products and services (including 3D printing machines) to customers located in Russia.

ExOne GmbH is subject to the Russian Sanctions, primarily those imposed by the European Union, specifically Germany, related to doing business in Russia. The Russian Sanctions may delay or prevent ExOne GmbH’s ability to collect on existing or future accounts receivable from customers in Russia, to make future sales and to service existing ExOne equipment in Russia or to sell and deliver spare parts and consumables for our machines located in Russia.

In the event that the United States’ and the European Union’s political relationships with Russia further deteriorate, it is possible that additional and even more severe sanctions could be imposed by the United States or European Union against Russia or that Russia could impose additional retaliatory measures in response to current or future Russian Sanctions. These possible additional sanctions and measures could further disrupt or prevent our ability to do any business in Russia, may further increase the economic uncertainty in the affected regions and lead to further fluctuation in the value of foreign currencies, such as the Euro, used in these regions.

The results of the United Kingdom’s referendum on its withdrawal from the European Union may have a negative effect on global economic conditions, financial markets and our business.

As a multi-national company with material business operations in Europe, we are subject to risks generally associated with doing business internationally. In June 2016, a majority of voters in the United Kingdom elected to withdraw from the European Union in a national referendum. The referendum was advisory, and the terms of any withdrawal are subject to a negotiation period that could last at least two years after the government of the United Kingdom formally initiates a withdrawal process. The referendum has created significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, and has given rise to calls for the governments of other European Union member states to consider withdrawal. These developments, or the perception that any of them could occur, have had and may continue to have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, and could significantly reduce global market liquidity and restrict the ability of key market participants to operate in certain financial markets. Asset valuations, currency exchange rates and credit ratings may be especially subject to increased market volatility. Lack of clarity about future United Kingdom laws and regulations as the United Kingdom determines which European Union laws to replace or replicate in the event of a withdrawal could decrease foreign direct investment in the United Kingdom, increase costs, depress economic activity and restrict access to capital.  If the United Kingdom and the European Union are unable to negotiate acceptable withdrawal terms or if other European Union member states pursue withdrawal, barrier-free access

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between the United Kingdom and other European Union member states or among the European economic area overall could be diminished or eliminated. Any of these factors could have a direct or indirect impact on our business interests in the United Kingdom and the European Union, our customers and suppliers in the United Kingdom and European Union and our business interests outside the United Kingdom and European Union. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce the price of our common stock.

Our international operations pose currency risks, which may adversely affect our operating results.

Our operating results may be affected by volatility in currency exchange rates and our ability to effectively manage our currency transaction and translation risks. In general, we conduct our business, earn revenue and incur costs in the local currency of the countries in which we operate. As a result, our international operations present risks from currency exchange rate fluctuations. The financial condition and results of operations of each of our foreign operating subsidiaries are reported in the relevant local currency and then translated to United States dollars at the applicable currency exchange rate for inclusion in our consolidated financial statements. We do not manage our foreign currency exposure in a manner that would eliminate the effects of changes in foreign exchange rates. Therefore, changes in exchange rates between these foreign currencies and the United States dollar will affect the recorded levels of our foreign assets and liabilities, as well as our revenues, cost of sales, and operating margins, and could result in exchange losses in any given reporting period.

In the future, we may not benefit from favorable exchange rate translation effects, and unfavorable exchange rate translation effects may harm our operating results. In addition to currency translation risks, we incur currency transaction risks whenever we enter into either a purchase or a sale transaction using a different currency from the currency in which we receive revenues. In such cases we may suffer an exchange loss because we do not currently engage in currency swaps or other currency hedging strategies to address this risk.

Given the volatility of exchange rates, we can give no assurance that we will be able to effectively manage our currency transaction and/or translation risks or that any volatility in currency exchange rates will not have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

One of our principal stockholders is able to exert substantial influence in determining the outcome of matters which require the approval of our stockholders.

Our Executive Chairman, S. Kent Rockwell, beneficially owns approximately 28.5% of our outstanding shares of common stock.  As a holder of 28.5% of our common shares, Mr. Rockwell may have effective control over the election of our Board of Directors and the direction of our affairs. As a result, he could exert considerable influence over the outcome of any corporate matter submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and any transaction that might cause a change in control, such as a merger or acquisition. Any stockholders in favor of a matter that is opposed by Mr. Rockwell would have to obtain a significant number of votes to overrule the votes of Mr. Rockwell.

We may need to raise additional capital from time to time if we are going to meet our growth strategy and may be unable to do so on attractive terms.

Expanding our business to meet the growth strategy may require additional investments of capital from time to time, and our existing sources of cash and any funds generated from operations may not provide us with sufficient capital. For various reasons, including any current non-compliance with existing or future lending arrangements, additional financing may not be available when needed, or may not be available on terms favorable to us. If we fail to obtain adequate capital on a timely basis or if capital cannot be obtained at reasonable costs, we may not be able to achieve our planned rate of growth, which will adversely affect our results of operations. Additional equity financing may result in ownership and economic dilution to our existing stockholders and/or require us to grant certain rights and preferences to new investors.  Also, although S. Kent Rockwell, our Executive Chairman and our controlling stockholder, recently provided capital to us through a related entity, he has no obligation to do so and our stockholders should have no expectation that he will do so in the future.

On January 8, 2016, we announced our entry into an At Market Issuance Sales Agreement (“ATM”) with FBR Capital Markets & Co. (“FBR”) and MLV & Co. LLC (“MLV”) pursuant to which FBR and MLV will act as distribution agents in the sale of up to $50.0 million in the aggregate of ExOne common equity in “at the market offerings” as defined in Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Our ability to raise capital through the use of our ATM may be restricted for various reasons, including our adherence with SEC regulations prohibiting the sale of our common equity securities for certain periods of time or other adverse market conditions.

We are highly dependent upon sales to certain industries.

Our revenues of 3D printing machines and products have historically been concentrated to companies in the aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment, and energy/oil/gas industries and those industries’ respective suppliers. To the extent any of these industries experience a downturn, our results of operations may be adversely affected.

For example, the energy/oil/gas industry is highly cyclical and demand for our products and services in such industry is substantially dependent on the level of expenditures by the industry for the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas reserves, which are sensitive to oil and natural gas prices and generally dependent on the industry’s view of future oil and

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gas prices. Crude oil prices have dropped precipitously since September 2014. As oil and gas companies continue to reduce planned capital spending in light of the decline in commodity prices, our results of operations may be adversely affected.

Additionally, if any of these industries or their respective suppliers or other providers of manufacturing services develop new technologies or alternatives to manufacture the products that are currently manufactured using our 3D printing machines, it may adversely affect our results of operations.

We are currently dependent on a single supplier of certain printhead components.

We currently rely on a single source to supply certain printhead components used by our 3D printing machines. While we believe that there are other suppliers of printhead components upon which we could rely, we could experience delays and interruptions if our supply is interrupted that might temporarily impact the financial performance of our business.

We may not be able to manage the expansion of our operations effectively in order to achieve our projected levels of growth.

We have expanded our operations significantly in recent periods, and our business plan calls for further expansion over the next several years. We anticipate that further development of our infrastructure and an increase in the number of our employees will be required to achieve our planned broadening of our product offerings and customer base, improvements in our 3D printing machines and materials used in our 3D printing machines, and our planned international growth. In particular, we must increase our marketing and services staff to support new marketing and service activities and to meet the needs of both new and existing customers. Our future success will depend in part upon the ability of our management to manage our growth effectively. If our management is unsuccessful in meeting these challenges, we may not be able to achieve our anticipated level of growth which would adversely affect our results of operations.

We may not be able to consummate and/or effectively integrate strategic transactions.

We may from time to time engage in strategic transaction with third parties if we determine that they will likely provide future financial and operational benefits. Successful completion of any strategic transaction depends on a number of factors that are not entirely within our control, including our ability to negotiate acceptable terms, conclude satisfactory agreements and obtain all necessary regulatory approvals. In addition, our ability to effectively integrate an investment into our existing business and culture may not be successful, which could jeopardize future operational performance for the combined businesses.

We explore from time to time various strategic investments, and/or alliances, some of which we believe will promote advances in pre-print and post-print processes. With respect to strategic investments, and/or alliances that we may pursue, there is no guarantee that we will complete such transactions on favorable terms or at all. The exploration, negotiation, and consummation of strategic investments and/or alliances may involve significant expenditures by us, which may adversely affect our results of operations at the time such expenses are incurred. We may not be able to successfully negotiate and complete a specific investment, or alliance on favorable terms. If we do complete transactions, they may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or may not be accretive to ExOne for a period of time which may be significant following the completion of such transaction.

We may be required to pay cash, incur debt and/or issue equity securities to pay for any such transaction, each of which could adversely affect our financial condition and the value of our common stock. Our use of cash to pay for transactions would limit other potential uses of our cash, including investments in our sales and marketing and product development organizations, and in infrastructure. The issuance or sale of equity or convertible debt securities to finance any such transactions would result in dilution to our stockholders. If we incur debt, it could result in increased fixed obligations and could also impose covenants or other restrictions that could impede our ability to manage our operations.

Global economic, political and social conditions have adversely impacted our sales and may continue to do so.

The uncertain direction and relative strength of the global economy, difficulties in the financial services sector and credit markets, continuing geopolitical uncertainties and other macroeconomic factors all affect spending behavior of potential end-users of our products. The prospects for economic growth in the United States and other countries (particularly countries within Europe, Russia, India and China) remain uncertain and may cause end-users to further delay or reduce technology purchases. The global financial crisis starting in 2008 affecting the banking system and financial markets has resulted in a tightening of credit markets, lower levels of liquidity in many financial markets and extreme volatility in fixed income, credit, currency and equity markets. These conditions may make it more difficult for our end-users to obtain financing.

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As a global company, we may be adversely affected by violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (“FCPA”), similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions in which we currently or may in the future operate, or various international trade and export laws.

Our business plan envisions that we will conduct increasing amounts of business outside of the United States, which will create various domestic and foreign regulatory challenges. The FCPA and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit United States-based companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-United States officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We have policies and controls in place designed to ensure internal and external compliance with these and other anti-bribery laws. To ensure compliance, our anti-bribery policy and training on a global basis provides our employees with procedures, guidelines and information about anti-bribery obligations and compliance. Further, we require our partners, subcontractors, agents and others who work for us or on our behalf to comply with anti-bribery laws. We also have procedures and controls in place designed to ensure internal and external compliance. However, such anti-bribery policy, training, internal controls, and procedures will not always protect us from reckless, criminal or unintentional acts committed by our employees, agents or other persons associated with us. If we are found to be in violation of the FCPA or other anti-bribery laws (either due to the intentional or inadvertent acts of our employees, or due to the intentional or inadvertent acts of others), we could suffer criminal or civil penalties, including monetary damages or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, actual or alleged violations could damage our reputation and adversely affect our results of operations.

We rely on our information technology systems to manage numerous aspects of our business and customer and supplier relationships, and a disruption or failure of these systems could adversely affect our results of operations.

We rely on our information technology (“IT”) systems to manage numerous aspects of our business and provide analytical information to management. We may incur significant costs in order to implement the security measures that we feel are necessary to protect our IT systems. However, our IT systems may remain vulnerable to damage despite our implementation of security measures that we deem to be appropriate. Our IT systems allow us to efficiently purchase products from our suppliers, provide procurement and logistic services, ship products to our customers on a timely basis, maintain cost-effective operations and provide service to our customers. Our IT systems are an essential component of our business and growth strategies, and a disruption to or failure of our IT systems, including our computer systems, could significantly limit our ability to manage and operate our business efficiently. Although we take steps to secure our IT systems, including our computer systems, intranet and internet sites, email and other telecommunications and data networks, the security measures we have implemented may not be effective and our systems may be vulnerable to, among other things, damage and interruption from power loss, including as a result of natural disasters, computer system and network failures, loss of telecommunication services, operator negligence, loss of data, security breaches and computer viruses. If our systems for protecting against cyber security risks prove not to be sufficient, we could be adversely affected by loss or damage of intellectual property, proprietary information, or client data, interruption of business operations, or additional costs to prevent, respond to, or mitigate cyber security attacks. Any such disruption or loss of business information could materially and adversely affect our reputation, brand, results of operations and financial condition.

Regulations related to conflict-free minerals may cause us to incur additional expenses and may create challenges with our customers.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains provisions to improve transparency and accountability regarding the use of “conflict” minerals mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo (the “DRC”) and adjoining countries. These conflict minerals include tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten. The SEC has established annual disclosure and reporting requirements for those companies who manufacture or contract to manufacture certain products containing conflict minerals sourced from the DRC and adjoining countries. These requirements could adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten used in our products. As there may be only a limited number of suppliers offering conflict-free minerals, we cannot ensure that we will be able to obtain these conflict-free minerals in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices. Compliance with these requirements may also increase our costs, including costs that may be incurred in conducting due diligence procedures to determine the sources of certain minerals used in our products and other potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. In addition, we may face challenges with our customers if we are unable to sufficiently verify the origins of the minerals used in our products.

We could be subject to personal injury, property damage, product liability, warranty and other claims involving allegedly defective products that we supply.

The products we supply are sometimes used in potentially hazardous applications, such as the assembled parts of an aircraft or automobile, that could result in death, personal injury, property damage, loss of production, punitive damages and consequential damages. While we have not experienced any such claims to date, actual or claimed defects in the products we supply could result in our being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting potentially large claims.

We attempt to include provisions in our agreements with customers that are designed to limit our exposure to potential liability for damages arising from defects or errors in our products. However, it is possible that these limitations may not be effective as a result of unfavorable judicial decisions or laws enacted in the future.

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Any such lawsuit, regardless of merit, could result in material expense, diversion of management time and efforts, and damage to our reputation, and could cause us to fail to retain or attract customers, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Defects in new products or in enhancements to our existing products that give rise to product returns or warranty or other claims could result in material expenses, diversion of management time and attention, and damage to our reputation.

Our 3D printing systems may contain undetected defects or errors when first introduced or as enhancements are released that, despite testing, are not discovered until after a system has been used. This could result in delayed market acceptance of those systems or claims from sales agents, end-users or others, which may result in litigation, increased end-user service and support costs and warranty claims, damage to our reputation and business, or significant costs to correct the defect or error. We may from time to time become subject to warranty or product liability claims related to product quality issues that could lead us to incur significant expenses.

We could face liability if our 3D printers are used by our customers to print dangerous objects.

Customers may use our 3D printers to print parts that could be used in a harmful way or could otherwise be dangerous. For example, there have been recent news reports that 3D printers were used to print guns or other weapons. We have little, if any, control over what objects our customers print using our 3D printers, and it may be difficult, if not impossible, for us to monitor and prevent customers from printing weapons with our 3D printers. While we have never printed weapons in any of our service centers, there can be no assurance that we will not be held liable if someone were injured or killed by a weapon printed by a customer using one of our 3D printers.

Workplace accidents or environmental damage could result in substantial remedial obligations and damage to our reputation.

Accidents or other incidents that occur at our facilities or involve our personnel or operations could result in claims for damages against us.  In addition, in the event we are found to be financially responsible, as a result of environmental or other laws or by court order, for environmental damages alleged to have been caused by us or occurring on our premises, we could be required to pay substantial monetary damages or undertake expensive remedial obligations.  The amount of any costs, including fines or damages payments that we might incur under such circumstances could substantially exceed any insurance we have to cover such losses.  Any of these events, alone or in combination, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could adversely affect our reputation.

We may not have adequate insurance for potential liabilities.

In the ordinary course of business, we may be subject to various product and non-product related claims, lawsuits and administrative proceedings seeking damages or other remedies arising out of our commercial operations. We maintain insurance to cover our potential exposure for most claims and losses. However, our insurance coverage is subject to various exclusions, self-retentions and deductibles, may be inadequate or unavailable to protect us fully, and may be cancelled or otherwise terminated by the insurer. Furthermore, we face the following additional risks under our insurance coverage:

Even a partially uninsured claim of significant size, if successful, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. However, even if we successfully defend ourselves against any such claim, we could be forced to spend a substantial amount of money in litigation expenses, our management could be required to spend valuable time in the defense against these claims and our reputation could suffer, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations.

If any of our manufacturing facilities or PSCs or EACs are disrupted, sales of our products may be disrupted, which could result in loss of revenues and an increase in unforeseen costs.

We manufacture our machines at our facilities in Gersthofen, Germany and North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. In addition, we have a network of PSCs and EACs in the United States, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Japan to provide sales and marketing and delivery of support and printing services to our customers.  

If the operations of these facilities are materially disrupted, we would be unable to fulfill customer orders for the period of the disruption, we would not be able to recognize revenue on orders, and we might need to modify our standard sales terms to secure the commitment of new customers during the period of the disruption and perhaps longer. Depending on the cause of the disruption, we could incur significant costs to remedy the disruption and resume product shipments. Such a disruption could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

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Under applicable employment laws, we may not be able to enforce covenants not to compete and therefore may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of some of our former employees.

We generally enter into non-competition agreements with our employees. These agreements prohibit our employees, if they cease working for us, from competing directly with us or working for our competitors or customers for a limited period. We may be unable to enforce these agreements under the laws of the jurisdictions in which our employees work, including Germany, Italy, Sweden and Japan, and it may be difficult for us to restrict our competitors from benefitting from the expertise of our former employees or consultants developed while working for us. If we cannot demonstrate that our legally protectable interests will be harmed, we may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of our former employees or consultants and our ability to remain competitive may be diminished.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain patent protection for our products or otherwise protect our intellectual property rights, our business could suffer.

We rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, trade secrets and confidentiality agreements and other contractual arrangements with our employees, end-users and others to maintain our competitive position. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to obtain patent protection for or maintain as trade secrets our proprietary products, technologies and inventions and to maintain the confidentiality of our trade secrets and know-how, operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others and prevent others from infringing upon our business proprietary rights.

Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, it is possible that competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use or disclose our technologies, inventions, processes or improvements. We cannot assure you that any of our existing or future patents or other intellectual property rights will be enforceable, will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or will otherwise provide us with meaningful protection or any competitive advantage. In addition, our pending patent applications may not be granted, and we may not be able to obtain foreign patents or elect to file applications corresponding to our United States and European Union patents. The laws of certain countries outside the United States and European Union may not provide the same level of patent protection as in the United States and the European Union, so even if we assert our patents or obtain additional patents in countries outside of the United States and the European Union, effective enforcement of such patents may not be available. If our patents do not adequately protect our technology, our competitors may be able to offer additive manufacturing systems or other products similar to ours. Our competitors may also be able to develop similar technology independently or design around our patents, and we may not be able to detect the unauthorized use of our proprietary technology or take appropriate steps to prevent such use. Any of the foregoing events would lead to increased competition and lower revenues or gross margins, which could adversely affect our operating results.

We may not be able to protect our trade secrets and intellectual property.

While some of our technology is licensed under patents belonging to others or is covered by process patents which are owned or applied for by us, much of our key technology is not protected by patents. Furthermore, patents are jurisdictional in nature and therefore only protect us in certain markets, rather than globally. In particular, in fast-growing markets such as China and India, our technology is not protected by patents. We have devoted substantial resources to the development of our technology, trade secrets, know-how and other unregistered proprietary rights. While we enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements intended to protect such rights, such agreements can be difficult and costly to enforce or may not provide adequate remedies if violated. Such agreements may be breached and confidential information may be willfully or unintentionally disclosed, or our competitors or other parties may learn of the information in some other way. Since we cannot legally prevent one or more other companies from developing similar or identical technology to our unpatented technology, it is likely that, over time, one or more other companies may be able to replicate our technology, thereby reducing our technological advantages. If we do not protect our technology or are unable to develop new technology that can be protected by patents or as trade secrets, we may face increased competition from other companies, which may adversely affect our results of operations.

We enjoy license rights and exclusivity of certain patents and intellectual property and cannot adequately estimate the effects of their expiration upon the entrance or advancement of competitors into the AM industrial market.

We have exclusive license and non-exclusive license rights to certain patents that we utilize in the industrial market. Some of these rights expired in 2016, and others are scheduled to expire in future periods. The expiration of these rights or patents could reduce barriers to entry into the AM industrial market, which could result in the reduction of our market share and earnings potential. We cannot adequately estimate the effect that the expiration of these rights or patents will have upon the entrance or advancement of other AM manufacturers into the industrial market.

We may not be able to obtain patent protection or otherwise adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, which could impair our competitive position.

Our success and future revenue growth will depend, in part, on our ability to protect our intellectual property. We rely primarily on patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, as well as non-disclosure agreements and other methods, to protect our proprietary technologies and processes globally. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary technologies and processes, it is possible that

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competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use, or disclose our technologies and processes. We cannot assure you that any of our existing or future patents or other intellectual property rights will not be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented or will otherwise provide us with meaningful protection. We may not be able to obtain foreign patents corresponding to our United States or foreign patent applications. Even if foreign patents are granted, effective enforcement in foreign countries may not be available. If our patents and other intellectual property protections do not adequately protect our technology, our competitors may be able to offer products similar to ours. We may not be able to detect the unauthorized use of our proprietary technology and processes or take appropriate steps to prevent such use. Our competitors may also be able to develop similar technology independently or design around our patents. Any of the foregoing events would lead to increased competition and lower revenue or gross profits, which would adversely affect our results of operations.

We may be subject to alleged infringement claims.

Our products and technology, including the technology that we license from others, may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties. Patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time until they are published, and the publication of discoveries in scientific or patent literature typically lags actual discoveries by several months or more. As a result, the nature of claims contained in unpublished patent filings around the world is unknown to us, and we cannot be certain that we were the first to conceive inventions covered by our patents or patent applications or that we were the first to file patent applications covering such inventions. Furthermore, it is not possible to know in which countries patent holders may choose to extend their filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty or other mechanisms. In addition, we may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims from individuals, vendors and other companies, including those that are in the business of asserting patents, but are not commercializing products in the field of 3D printing. Any claims that our products or processes infringe the intellectual property rights of others, regardless of the merit or resolution of such claims, could cause us to incur significant costs in responding to, defending and resolving such claims, and may prohibit or otherwise impair our ability to commercialize new or existing products. Any infringement by us or our licensors of the intellectual property rights of third parties may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement successfully asserted against us may require us to redesign infringing technology or enter into costly settlement or license agreements on terms that are unfavorable to us, prevent us from manufacturing or licensing certain of our products, subject us to injunctions restricting our sale of products and use of infringing technology, cause severe disruptions to our operations or the markets in which we compete, impose costly damage awards or require indemnification of our sales agents and end-users. In addition, as a consequence of such claims, we may incur significant costs in acquiring the necessary third-party intellectual property rights for use in our products or developing non-infringing substitute technology. Any of the foregoing developments could seriously harm our business.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, documentary, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we or our exclusive licensors fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products and processes, our competitive position would be adversely affected.

We may incur substantial costs enforcing or acquiring intellectual property rights and defending against third-party claims as a result of litigation or other proceedings.

In connection with the enforcement of our intellectual property rights, opposing third parties from obtaining patent rights or disputes related to the validity or alleged infringement of our or third-party intellectual property rights, including patent rights, we have been and may in the future be subject or party to claims, negotiations or complex, protracted litigation. Intellectual property disputes and litigation, regardless of merit, can be costly and disruptive to our business operations by diverting attention and energies of management and key technical personnel, and by increasing our costs of doing business. We may not prevail in any such dispute or litigation, and an adverse decision in any legal action involving intellectual property rights, including any such action commenced by us, could limit the scope of our intellectual property rights and the value of the related technology. While we strive to avoid infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, we cannot provide any assurances that we will be able to avoid any infringement claims.

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Certain of our employees and patents are subject to the laws of Germany.

Many of our employees work in Germany and are subject to German employment law. Ideas, developments, discoveries and inventions made by such employees and consultants are subject to the provisions of the German Act on Employees’ Inventions (Gesetz über Arbeitnehmererfindungen), which regulates the ownership of, and compensation for, inventions made by employees. We face the risk that disputes can occur between us and our employees or ex-employees pertaining to alleged non-adherence to the provisions of this act that may be costly to defend and take up our management’s time and efforts whether we prevail or fail in such dispute. In addition, under the German Act on Employees’ Inventions, certain employees retained rights to patents they invented or co-invented prior to 2009. Although most of these employees have subsequently assigned their interest in these patents to us, there is a risk that the compensation we provided to them may be deemed to be insufficient in the future and we may be required under German law to increase the compensation due to such employee for the use of their patent. In those cases where employees have not assigned their interests to us, we may need to pay compensation for the use of those patents. If we are required to pay additional compensation or face other disputes under the German Act on Employees’ Inventions, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

We may be subject to claims that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.

Certain of our past and present employees were previously employed at other additive manufacturing companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Some of these employees executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure and non-competition agreements in connection with such previous employment. Although we try to ensure that our employees do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee's former employer. We are not aware of any threatened or pending claims related to these matters, but in the future litigation may be necessary to defend against such claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable personnel or intellectual property rights. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management. As we expand our operations into the United States and elsewhere, we may face similar claims with regard to our future employees in these countries.

Risks Related to the Securities Markets and Ownership of Our Common Stock

We have broad discretion as to the use of the net proceeds from securities offerings and may not use them effectively.

We cannot specify with certainty how we will use the net proceeds that we have received or will receive from securities offerings. Our management has broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds, and we may use these proceeds in ways with which you may disagree or for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of the offering. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from a securities offering in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value.

Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our common stock.

Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets, or the perception that such sales could occur as a result of our recently announced “at the market offerings,” other utilization of our universal shelf registration statement or otherwise could depress the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.  We cannot predict the effect that future sales of our common stock or the market perception that we are permitted to sell a significant number of our securities would have on the market price of our common stock.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.

The market price of our common stock has been and is expected to continue to be highly volatile and may be significantly affected by numerous factors, including the risk factors described in this report and other factors which are beyond our control and may not be directly related to our operating performance. These factors include:

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If equity research analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our shares, the price of our shares could decline.

The trading market for our shares will rely in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. We do not have control over these analysts, and we do not have commitments from them to write research reports about us. The price of our shares could decline if one or more equity research analysts downgrades our shares, issues other unfavorable commentary, or ceases publishing reports about us or our business.

The price of our shares could decline if there are substantial sales of our common stock, particularly by our directors, their affiliates or our executive officers, or when there is a large number of shares of our common stock available for sale. The perception in the public market that our stockholders might sell our shares also could depress the market price of our shares. From time to time, we may conduct offerings of our securities and our executive officers, directors and selling stockholders would be subject to lock-up agreements that restrict their ability to transfer their shares following the offering. The market price of our shares may drop significantly when the restrictions on resale by our existing stockholders lapse and these stockholders are able to sell their shares into the market. If this occurs, it could impair our ability to raise additional capital through the sale of securities, should we desire to do so.

We incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to compliance initiatives.

As a public company with shares listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market, we incur significant accounting, legal and other expenses that we would not incur as a private company.  These expenses will increase after we are no longer an EGC. We incur significant costs associated with our compliance with the public company reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, requirements imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (most notably Section 404), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, and other rules adopted, and to be adopted, by the SEC and the NASDAQ Stock Market. Compliance with these rules and regulations result in increased legal and financial compliance costs and make certain activities more time-consuming and costly. They also make it more difficult for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we incur substantial costs to maintain sufficient coverage.

In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure create uncertainty for public companies generally, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We have invested resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to their application and practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be adversely affected. We cannot predict or estimate the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur in the future to respond to these constantly evolving requirements. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors, our board committees or as executive officers.

As long as we remain an EGC as defined in the JOBS Act, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not EGCs. These exemptions include, but are not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, less extensive disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, exemptions from the requirements to hold a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved and an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. We will continue to operate under these provisions until December 31, 2018, or such earlier time that we are no longer an EGC.

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We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Therefore, if our share price does not appreciate, our investors may not gain and could potentially lose on their investment in our shares.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock, nor do we anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our shares will be investors’ sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.

The right of shareholders to receive liquidation and dividend payments on our common stock is junior to the rights of holders of future indebtedness and to any other senior securities we may issue in the future.

Shares of our common stock are equity interests and do not constitute indebtedness. This means that the shares of common stock will rank junior to all of our indebtedness and to other non-equity claims against us and our assets available to satisfy claims against us, including our liquidation. Additionally, holders of our common stock are subject to the prior dividend and liquidation rights of holders of our outstanding preferred stock, if any. Our Board of Directors is authorized to issue classes or series of preferred stock in the future without any action on the part of our common shareholders.

As an EGC under the JOBS Act we follow certain permitted corporate governance practices instead of the otherwise applicable SEC and NASDAQ requirements, which may result in less protection than is accorded to investors in a non-EGC.

As an EGC we follow certain corporate governance practices instead of those otherwise required by the SEC and under the listing requirements of the NASDAQ Stock Market. Following our EGC governance practices, as opposed to the requirements that would otherwise apply to a company listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market, may provide less protection to our investors than what is accorded to investors under the Listing Rules for the NASDAQ Stock Market applicable to non-EGC issuers and could make our common stock less attractive to investors.

As an EGC, we delay adoption of new or revised accounting standards, which may make our stock less attractive to investors and our trading price more volatile.

Pursuant to the JOBS Act, as an EGC, we have elected to take advantage of an extended transition period for any new or revised accounting standards that may be issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) or the SEC, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an EGC, will delay adoption of the standard until it applies to private companies. This may make a comparison of our financial statements with any other public company that is either not an EGC or is an EGC that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult, as different or revised standards may be used. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile and could decline.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting in the future, we may not be able to accurately report our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and, as a result, the value of our common stock.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective internal controls for financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. We are required under Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting.

In connection with the preparation of our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016, we concluded that there was a material weakness in the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as defined in SEC Regulation S-X. A material weakness is a control deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. A description of the identified material weakness in internal control over financial reporting is as follows:

The design and operating effectiveness of internal controls related to our information technology system specific to our ExOne GmbH subsidiary was not sufficient to allow for accurate and timely reporting of our consolidated financial results. The information technology system specific to our ExOne GmbH subsidiary responsible for recording, processing and summarizing transactions has not been sufficiently implemented to reduce the amount of manual processes and controls necessary to ensure accurate and timely reporting of financial information, in particular as it relates to our accounting for ExOne GmbH specific inventories. As a result, in

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connection with the financial statement closing process specific to our ExOne GmbH subsidiary, we recorded certain manual, post-close adjustments to inventories which delayed internal reporting of our subsidiary operating results in preparing our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

We are developing a project plan, with oversight from our executive management and Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, to address the identified material weakness in our information technology system platform specific to our ExOne GmbH subsidiary, in particular, how this information technology system platform impacts our accounting for inventories specific to ExOne GmbH. This project plan includes the identification and remediation of known errors in the original implementation of, and subsequent changes to, this information technology system platform in an effort to reduce certain manual processes and controls necessary to ensure accurate and timely reporting of operating results associated with this subsidiary.

We documented and evaluated our internal control over financial reporting in order to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls as of December 31, 2016, and, as described in Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures”, management has determined that our internal control over financial reporting was ineffective as of December 31, 2016. Furthermore, as our business continues to grow internationally, our internal controls will become more complex and will require significantly more resources and attention to remediate existing control deficiencies and improve the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. If our management cannot favorably assess the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, investor confidence in our financial results may weaken, and our share price may suffer.

Notwithstanding the identified material weakness, management believes the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K fairly present in all material respects our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows as of and for the periods presented in accordance with GAAP.

Additionally, Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires an attestation from our independent registered public accounting firm on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. As an EGC, we will not be required to comply with Section 404(b) until we file our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, with the SEC, provided we maintain our status as an EGC through December 31, 2018.

The additional measures necessary to remediate the underlying causes of our identified material weakness and our future compliance with Section 404(b) will require that we incur substantial accounting expense and expend significant management efforts. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting once that firm begins its Section 404(b) attestations, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, investor groups like Institutional Shareholder Services could initiate a withhold vote campaign with respect to the re-election of the members of our audit committee, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by NASDAQ, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.

Provisions in our charter documents or Delaware law may inhibit a takeover or make it more difficult to effect a change in control, which could adversely affect the value of our common stock.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain, and Delaware corporate law contains, provisions that could delay or prevent a change of control or changes in our management. These provisions will apply even if some of our stockholders consider the offer to be beneficial or favorable. If a change of control or change in management is delayed or prevented, the market price of our common stock could decline.

Raising additional capital by issuing securities may cause dilution to our stockholders.

We may need or desire to raise substantial additional capital in the future. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including, among others:

If we raise additional funds by issuing equity or convertible debt securities, including through the use of our ATM, we will reduce the percentage ownership of our then-existing stockholders, and the holders of those newly-issued equity or convertible debt securities may have rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those possessed by our then-existing stockholders. Additionally, future sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock or other equity-related securities in the public market could depress the market

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price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity or equity-linked securities. We cannot predict the effect that future sales of our common stock or other equity-related securities would have on the market price of our common stock.  

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

We have the following locations:

 

* In April 2016, we announced a plan to consolidate certain of our 3D printing operations from our Auburn, Washington facility into our North Las Vegas, Nevada facility. In executing this plan, we were able to secure a firmly committed sublease from a third party for our Auburn, Washington facility through December 2018 which substantially covers all of the 11,600 in approximate square footage. Separately, in January 2017, we announced a plan to consolidate our 3D printing operations from our North Las Vegas, Nevada facility into our Troy, Michigan and Houston, Texas facilities. We have also announced a plan to exit our specialty machining operation in Chesterfield, Michigan. We are currently evaluating alternatives (including asset sales) for the properties associated with these operations.  

** We have a cooperation agreement with Swerea SWECAST AB in Sweden which allows for the use of certain undefined operating space sufficient to support our PSC operations at the facility.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

ExOne and its subsidiaries are subject to various litigation, claims, and proceedings which have been or may be instituted or asserted from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Management does not believe that the outcome of any pending or threatened matters will have a material adverse effect, individually or in the aggregate, on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

 

 

 

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

 

Market Information

Our common stock has been listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market since February 7, 2013 under the symbol “XONE.” The following table sets forth the ranges of high and low sales prices per share of our common stock as reported on the NASDAQ Stock Market for the periods indicated. Such quotations represent inter-dealer prices without retail markup, markdown or commission and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.

 

 

Stockholders

As of March 8, 2017, there were 37 stockholders of record, which excludes stockholders whose shares were held in nominee or street name by brokers. The actual number of common stockholders is greater than the number of record holders, and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners and whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record also does not include stockholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.

Dividend Policy

We do not anticipate that we will declare or pay regular dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future, as we generally intend to invest any future earnings in the development and growth of our business. Future dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on many factors, including general economic and business conditions, our strategic plans, our financial results and conditions, legal requirements, any contractual obligations or limitations, and other factors that our Board of Directors deems relevant.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

Our 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) was adopted on January 24, 2013, and approved by our stockholders on August 19, 2013. The table below sets forth information with regard to securities authorized for issuance under the Plan as of December 31, 2016:

 

 

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Stock Performance Graph

The following graph compares the performance of our common stock with the NASDAQ Composite Index and the S&P 1500 Industrial Machinery Index. Such information shall not be deemed to be “filed.”

 

 

 

 

Prepared by Zacks Investment Research, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Copyright 1980-2017.

Index Data: Copyright Standard and Poor’s, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Index Data: Copyright NASDAQ OMX, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

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 Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

The data presented in the Selected Financial Data table should be read in conjunction with the information required to be provided in Part II Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto in Part II Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

 

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

(dollars in thousands, except per-share amounts)

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the “Selected Financial Data” in Part II Item 6 and our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto in Part II Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain statements contained in this discussion may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and, Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in any forward looking statements, as a result of a variety of risks and uncertainties, including those described under Item 1, “Cautionary Statements Concerning Forward Looking Statements” and Item 1A, “Risk Factors”.

Overview

Our Business

We are a global provider of 3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products, materials and services to industrial customers. Our business primarily consists of manufacturing and selling 3D printing machines and printing products to specification for our customers using our installed base of 3D printing machines. Our machines serve direct and indirect applications.  Direct printing produces a component; indirect printing makes a tool to produce a component. We offer pre-production collaboration and print products for customers through our network of PSCs and EACs. We also supply the associated materials, including consumables and replacement parts, and other services, including training and technical support that is necessary for purchasers of our 3D printing machines to print products. We believe that our ability to print in a variety of industrial materials, as well as our industry-leading volumetric output (as measured by build box size and printing speed) uniquely position us to serve the needs of industrial customers.

Recent Developments

On January 26, 2017, we committed to a plan to consolidate certain of our 3D printing operations from our North Las Vegas, Nevada facility into our Troy, Michigan and Houston, Texas facilities and exit our non-core specialty machining operations in our Chesterfield, Michigan facility. These actions were taken as a result of the accelerating adoption rate of our sand printing technology in North America which has resulted in a refocus of our operational strategy. Both actions are expected to be completed by June 30, 2017. We expect to record restructuring charges associated with this plan of approximately $1,100 to $1,600, of which approximately $1,000 to $1,300 will be non-cash. The restructuring charges are expected to consist of approximately $100 to $200 for employee termination costs, approximately $1,000 to $1,300 in asset impairment charges for certain property and equipment and intangible assets expected to be sold or abandoned, and approximately $100 for other associated exit costs.

In April 2016, we committed to a plan to consolidate certain of our 3D printing operations from our Auburn, Washington facility into our North Las Vegas, Nevada facility and reorganize certain of our corporate departments as part of our 2016 operating plan. As a result of these actions, during the quarter ended June 30, 2016, we incurred a net charge of approximately $170 including, $57 associated with involuntary employee terminations and $113 associated with the disposal of certain property and equipment related to our Auburn, Washington facility which was either sold or abandoned. This net charge was split between cost of sales ($129), research and development ($2) and selling, general and administrative expenses ($39) in the accompanying statement of consolidated operations and comprehensive loss. In addition to the net charge incurred by us in connection with this plan, we also have an operating lease commitment for the Auburn, Washington facility with a lease term through December 2018. At the time of closure of this facility, we were able to secure a firmly committed sublease arrangement with a third party which fully offsets our remaining contractual operating lease liability. There are no additional charges expected to be incurred associated with this plan in future periods. We have settled all amounts associated with involuntary employee terminations. The consolidation of our 3D printing operation in our Auburn, Washington facility into our North Las Vegas, Nevada facility is not expected to have a significant impact on our revenues in future periods. We expect annualized cost savings related to the plan (including the closure of the Auburn, Washington facility and reorganization of corporate departments) of approximately $1,000, with approximately $800 in the form of cash cost savings and approximately $200 in the form of reduced depreciation expense.

Note the following additional developments for 2016:

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Outlook

Our 2017 priorities include the following:

Backlog

At December 31, 2016, our backlog was approximately $19,700 of which approximately $17,700 is expected to be fulfilled during the next twelve months. At December 31, 2015, our backlog was approximately $16,500.

Impairment

During the quarter ended December 31, 2016, as a result of continued operating losses and cash flow deficiencies, we identified a triggering event requiring a test for the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use at the asset group level. Assessing the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use requires significant judgments and estimates by management.

For purposes of testing long-lived assets for recoverability, we operate as three separate asset groups: United States, Europe and Japan. In assessing the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use, we determined the carrying amount of long-lived assets held for use to be in excess of the estimated future undiscounted net cash flows of the related assets. We proceeded to determine the fair value of our long-lived assets held for use, principally through use of the market approach. Our use of the market approach included consideration of market transactions for comparable assets. Management concluded that the fair value of long-lived assets held for use exceeded their carrying value and as such no impairment loss was recorded.   

A significant decrease in the market price of a long-lived asset, adverse change in the use or condition of a long-lived asset, adverse change in the business climate or legal or regulatory factors impacting a long-lived asset and continued operating losses and cash flow deficiencies associated with a long-lived asset, among other indicators, could cause a future assessment to be performed

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which may result in an impairment of long-lived assets held for use, resulting in a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations.

During the quarter ended September 30, 2015, as a result of the significant decline in our market capitalization and continued operating losses and cash flow deficiencies, we identified a triggering event requiring both (i) a test for the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use at the asset group level and (ii) a test for impairment of goodwill at the reporting unit level.  Assessing the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use and goodwill requires significant judgments and estimates by management.

In assessing the recoverability of long-lived assets held for use, we determined the carrying amount of long-lived assets held for use to be in excess of the estimated future undiscounted net cash flows of the related assets.  We proceeded to determine the fair value of our long-lived assets held for use, principally through use of the market approach.  Our use of the market approach included consideration of market transactions for comparable assets.  Management concluded that the fair value of long-lived assets held for use exceeded their carrying value and as such no impairment loss was recorded.

We subsequently performed an impairment test for goodwill.  For purposes of testing goodwill for impairment, we operate as a singular reporting unit. In assessing goodwill for impairment, we compared the fair value of our reporting unit to its carrying value.  We determined the fair value of our reporting unit through a combination of the market approach and income approach.  Our use of the market approach included consideration of our market capitalization along with consideration of other factors that could influence the use of market capitalization as a fair value estimate, including premiums or discounts to be applied based on both market and entity-specific data.  Our use of the income approach included consideration of present value techniques, principally the use of a discounted cash flow model.  In performing the impairment test for goodwill, we determined the carrying amount of goodwill to be in excess of the implied fair value of goodwill.  As a result, we recognized an impairment loss of approximately $4,419 associated with goodwill during the quarter ended September 30, 2015.

How We Measure Our Business

We use several financial and operating metrics to measure our business. We use these metrics to assess the progress of our business, make decisions on where to allocate capital, time and technology investments, and assess longer-term performance within our marketplace. The key metrics are as follows:

Revenue. Our revenue consists of sales of our 3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products, materials and services.

3D printing machines. 3D printing machine revenues consist of 3D printing machine sales and leasing arrangements. Sales of 3D printing machines may also include optional equipment, materials, replacement components and services (installation, training and other services, including maintenance services and/or an extended warranty). 3D printing machine sales and leasing arrangements are influenced by a number of factors including, among other things, the adoption rate of our 3D printing technology, end-user product design and manufacturing activity, the capital expenditure budgets of end-users and potential end-users and other macroeconomic factors. Purchases or leases of our 3D printing machines, particularly our higher-end, higher-priced systems, typically involve long sales cycles. Several factors can significantly affect revenue reported for our 3D printing machines for a given period including, among others, the overall low unit volume of 3D printing machine sales, the sales mix of machines for a given period and the customer-driven acceleration or delay of orders and shipments of machines.

3D printed and other products, materials and services. 3D printed and other products, materials and services consist of sales of products printed in our global PSC and EAC network or manufactured through our specialty machining operations or castings, consumable materials and replacement parts for the network of 3D printing machines installed by our global customer base and services for maintenance and certain research and development activities. Our PSCs and EACs utilize our 3D printing machine technology to print products to the specifications of customers. In addition, our PSCs and EACs also provide support and services such as pre-production collaboration prior to printing products for a customer. Sales of consumable materials, replacement parts and service maintenance contracts are linked to the aftermarket opportunities from our growing network of 3D printing machines installed by our global customer base. Research and development arrangements are a function of customer-specific needs in applying our additive manufacturing technologies.

Cost of Sales and Gross Profit. Our cost of sales consists primarily of labor (related to our global workforce), materials (for both the manufacture of 3D printing machines and for our PSC, EAC and other manufacturing operations) and overhead to produce 3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products, materials and services. Also included in cost of sales are license fees (based upon a percentage of revenue of qualifying products and processes) for the use of intellectual properties, warranty costs and other overhead associated with our production processes.

Our gross profit is influenced by a number of factors, the most important of which is the volume and mix of sales of our 3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products, materials and services.

As 3D printing machine sales are cyclical, we seek to achieve a balance in revenue from 3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products, materials and services in order to maximize gross profit while managing business risk. In addition, we expect to reduce our cost of sales over time by continued research and development and supply chain activities directed towards achieving increased efficiencies in our production processes.

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Operating Expenses. Our operating expenses consist of research and development expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses.

Research and development expenses. Our research and development expenses consist primarily of salaries and related personnel expenses aimed at 3D printing machine development and materials qualification activities. Additional costs include the related software and materials, laboratory supplies, and costs for facilities and equipment. Research and development expenses are charged to operations as they are incurred. We capitalize the cost of materials, equipment and facilities that have future alternative uses in research and development projects or otherwise.

Selling, general and administrative expenses. Our selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of employee-related costs (salaries and benefits) of our executive officers, and sales and marketing (including sales commissions), finance, accounting, information technology and human resources personnel. Other significant general and administrative costs include the facility costs related to our United States and European headquarters and external costs for legal, accounting, consulting and other professional services.

Interest Expense. Interest expense consists of the interest cost associated with outstanding long-term debt and capital and financing lease arrangements. We expect our interest expense to continue to decrease as our outstanding debt is lowered over time. Included in our business strategy is the consideration of early retirement of debt (where practicable).

Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes. We are taxed as a corporation for United States federal, state, local and foreign income tax purposes. Current statutory tax rates in the jurisdictions in which we operate, the United States, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Japan, are approximately 35.0% (including state taxes), 28.4%, 31.0%, 22.0% and 31.0%, respectively.

Results of Operations

Net Loss

Net loss for 2016 was $14,598 or $0.92 per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss of $25,865 or $1.79 per basic and diluted share for 2015. The decrease in our net loss was due to an increase in our revenues and gross profit principally based on an increase in volumes and favorable mix of sales of 3D printing machines, coupled with the elimination of certain production inefficiencies experienced during 2015 as a result of our global facilities transition and expansion activities and European enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system deployment (effective January 1, 2015). Net operating expenses decreased for 2016 as compared to 2015 as a result of lower selling, general and administrative spending offset by increased research and development spending (see further discussion below) and the absence of a goodwill impairment charge recorded during 2015.

Net loss for 2015 was $25,865 or $1.79 per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss of $21,843 or $1.52 per basic and diluted share for 2014. The increase in our net loss was principally due to a decrease in our revenues and gross profit attributed to an unfavorable mix of sales and increases in production costs associated with the expansion of our global facilities and a goodwill impairment charge of $4,419 as a result of a significant decline in our market capitalization, combined with continued operating losses and cash flow deficiencies. These changes were partially offset by decreases in both research and development activities (for materials qualification and machine development) and selling, general and administrative expense (due mostly to lower provisions for bad debts and selling commissions and favorable currency exchange).

Revenue

The following table summarizes revenue by product line for each of the years ended December 31:

 

 

Revenue for 2016 was $47,788 compared with revenue of $40,353 for 2015, an increase of $7,435, or 18.4%. The increase in revenue was as a result of increases to both of our product lines (3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products, materials and services). The increase in revenues from 3D printing machines resulted from both an increase in volume of 3D printing machines

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sold (33 3D printing machines sold during 2016 as compared to 26 3D printing machines sold during 2015) and a favorable mix of 3D printing machines sold (as we sold 18 indirect printers during 2016 as compared to 11 indirect printers during 2015, indirect printers generally bearing a higher average selling price than direct printers). The increase in revenues from 3D printed and other products, materials and services resulted from an increase in consumable materials revenues associated with an increased global installed base of our 3D printing machines, the sale of the remaining inventories associated with our former laser micromachining production line (approximately $475) during the quarter ended June 30, 2016, and an increase in revenues derived from certain contractual research and development activities.

Revenue for 2015 was $40,353 compared with revenue of $43,900 for 2014, a decrease of $3,547 or 8.1%. This decrease was principally due to decreases in revenues from 3D printing machines as a result of lower volumes (26 units sold in 2015 versus 28 units sold in 2014) and an unfavorable mix of sales of 3D printing machines based on unit type (principally a reduction in sales of S-Max units from 2014 to 2015, resulting in a lower average selling price of 3D printing machines sold). Partially offsetting this decrease was a net increase in revenue associated with 3D printed and other products, materials and services driven by an overall continued increase in customer acceptance and demand for our additive manufacturing technologies, resulting in higher PSC volumes, an increase in materials and service revenues associated with an increased network of our 3D printing machines installed by our global customer base and strategic price reductions for certain of our product offerings.  Unfavorable changes in currency also impacted revenues from both product lines (principally appreciation of the United States dollar against the Euro and Japanese Yen).

The following table summarizes 3D printing machines sold by type for each of the years ending December 31 (please refer to Part I Item 1, “Our Machines and Machine Platforms” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a description of 3D printing machines by type):

 

Cost of Sales and Gross Profit

Cost of sales for 2016 was $33,626 compared with cost of sales of $32,010 for 2015, an increase of $1,616 or 5.0%. The increase in cost of sales was primarily due to increases in our variable cost of sales associated with our increased revenues, resulting in an improved gross profit net of our fixed cost base. Offsetting this increase was a reduction in certain production inefficiencies experienced during 2015 as a result of the transition and expansion of our facilities in Germany and the United States, and the deployment of our European ERP system (effective January 1, 2015).

Gross profit for 2016 was $14,162 compared with gross profit of $8,343 for 2015. Gross profit percentage was 29.6% for 2016, compared with 20.7% for 2015. The increase in gross profit was the result of the increase in revenues offset by the increase in cost of sales as further cited above.

Cost of sales for 2015 was $32,010 compared with cost of sales of $33,443 for 2014, a decrease of $1,433, or 4.3%. This decrease was principally as a result of a decrease in the volume of sales of 3D printing machines and the mix of 3D printing machines sold, resulting in overall lower revenues (and cost of sales) from the sale of 3D printing machines.  This decrease was offset by an increase in our production costs associated with our global facilities transition and expansion in Germany and the United States, costs incurred in connection with our European ERP system deployment and costs associated with our continued development of operations at our Italy PSC and commencement of operations at our Sweden PSC, all resulting in production inefficiencies. Favorable changes in currency also impacted cost of sales (principally appreciation of the United States dollar against the Euro and Japanese Yen).

Gross profit for 2015 was $8,343 compared with gross profit of $10,457 for 2014. Gross profit percentage was 20.7% for 2015, compared with 23.8% for 2014. The decrease in gross profit was the result of the decrease in revenues offset by the decrease in cost of sales as further cited above.

Research and Development

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Research and development expenses for 2016 were $7,814 compared with research and development expenses of $7,279 for 2015, an increase of $535, or 7.3%. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to an increase in costs associated with machine development activities, principally material costs incurred associated with sodium silicate and cold-hardening phenolic 3D printing machine projects.

Research and development expenses for 2015 were $7,279 compared with research and development expenses of $8,178 for 2014, a decrease of $899, or 11.0%. The decrease in research and development expenses was primarily due to a reduction in costs associated with machine development activities following the introduction of the Exerial and Innovent in 2015. Favorable changes in currency also impacted research and development expenses (principally appreciation of the United States dollar against the Euro).

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses for 2016 were $20,722 compared with selling, general and administrative expenses of $22,576 for 2015, a decrease of $1,854 or 8.2%. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses was principally due to a reduction in consulting and professional fees (including costs associated with the deployment of our European ERP system during 2015), travel expenses and costs associated with trade show activities (including the absence of costs associated with the GIFA International Foundry Trade Fair in June 2015), all of which was offset by the reversal of approximately $193 in remaining contingent consideration associated with our acquisition of Machin-a-Mation during the quarter ended June 30, 2015, which did not recur in 2016.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for 2015 were $22,576 compared with selling, general and administrative expenses of $24,029 for 2014, a decrease of $1,453, or 6.0%. This decrease was principally due to a lower provision for bad debts (a net credit in 2015 versus a charge for 2014 associated with certain customer balances) and lower sales commissions expense. Partially offsetting this decrease were increases for personnel costs associated with an increased headcount (including salaries, related benefits, travel expenses and equity-based compensation, and other growth-related expenses (principally consulting and professional fees, including costs associated with the deployment of our European ERP system). Favorable changes in currency also impacted selling, general and administrative expenses (principally appreciation of the United States dollar against the Euro).

Interest Expense

Interest expense for 2016 was $298 compared with interest expense of $152 for 2015, an increase of $146, or 96.1%. The increase in interest expense was principally due to the effect of the termination of the revolving credit facility with a related party during the quarter ended March 31, 2016, which resulted in an acceleration of amortization of debt issuance costs of approximately $204, partially offset by a lower average outstanding debt balance for 2016 for all other instruments as compared to 2015.

Interest expense for 2015 was $152 compared with interest expense of $144 in 2014, an increase of $8, or 5.6%. This increase was due principally to the commitment fee on the unused portion of our revolving credit facility (added in October 2015), partially offset by a lower average outstanding debt balance for 2015 for all other instruments as compared to 2014.

Other (Income) Expense — Net

Other (income) expense — net for 2016 was ($141) compared with other (income) expense — net of ($45) for 2015 and other (income) expense — net of ($210) for 2014. Amounts for all periods consist principally of net currency exchange gains on certain intercompany transactions between subsidiaries either settled or planned for settlement in the foreseeable future and interest income on cash and cash equivalent balances.

Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes

The provision (benefit) for income taxes for 2016, 2015 and 2014 was $67, ($173) and $159, respectively. The effective tax rate for 2016, 2015 and 2014 was 0.5% (provision on a loss), 0.7% (benefit on a loss) and 0.7% (provision on a loss), respectively. For 2016, 2015 and 2014, the effective tax rate differed from the United States federal statutory rate of 34.0% primarily due to net changes in valuation allowances for the period.

We have provided a valuation allowance for our net deferred tax assets as a result of our inability to generate consistent net operating profits in jurisdictions in which we operate. As such, any benefit from deferred taxes in any of the periods presented in our consolidated financial statements has been fully offset by changes in the valuation allowance for net deferred tax assets. We continue to assess our future taxable income by jurisdiction based on (i) our recent historical operating results, (ii) the expected timing of reversal of temporary differences, (iii) various tax planning strategies that we may be able to enact in future periods, (iv) the impact of potential operating changes on our business and (v) our forecast results from operations in future periods based on available information at the end of each reporting period. To the extent that we are able to reach the conclusion that deferred tax assets are realizable based on any combination of the above factors in a single, or multiple, taxing jurisdictions, a reversal of the related portion of our existing valuation allowances may occur.

Impact of Inflation

Our results of operations and financial condition are presented based on historical cost. While it is difficult to accurately measure the impact of inflation due to the imprecise nature of the estimates required, we believe the effects of inflation, if any, on our results of operations and financial condition are not significant.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity

We have incurred a net loss in each of our annual periods since our inception. We incurred net losses of approximately $14,598, $25,865 and $21,843 for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. In connection with the completion of our initial public offering and subsequent secondary offerings, we received cumulative unrestricted net proceeds from the sale of our common stock of approximately $168,361 to fund our operations. At December 31, 2016, we had approximately $27,825 in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents.

We believe that our existing capital resources will be sufficient to support our operating plan.  If we anticipate that our actual results will differ from our operating plan, we believe we have sufficient capabilities to enact cost saving measures to preserve capital.  Further, we may seek to raise additional capital to support our growth through additional debt, equity or other alternatives (including asset sales), or a combination thereof.

Related Party Revolving Credit Facility

On October 23, 2015, ExOne and its ExOne Americas LLC and ExOne GmbH subsidiaries, as guarantors, entered into the Credit Agreement with RHI Investments, LLC (“RHI”), a related party, on a $15,000 revolving credit facility to (i) assist us in our efforts to finance customer acquisition of our 3D printing machines and 3D printed and other products and services and (ii) provide additional funding for working capital and general corporate purposes.  RHI was determined to be a related party based on common control by our former Chairman and CEO (our Executive Chairman effective August 19, 2016). Prior to execution, the Credit Agreement was subject to review and approval by a sub-committee of independent members of our Board of Directors (which included each of the members of the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors). We incurred approximately $215 in debt issuance costs associated with the Credit Agreement.

On January 10, 2016, we delivered notice to RHI of our intent to terminate the Credit Agreement in connection with the closing of a registered direct offering of common stock to an entity under common control by our former Chairman and CEO (our Executive Chairman effective August 19, 2016) (see further discussion below). There were no borrowings under the Credit Agreement from its inception through the effective date of its termination, January 13, 2016.  In connection with the termination, we settled the remaining accrued interest under the Credit Agreement of approximately $5 relating to the commitment fee on the unused portion of the revolving credit facility (100 basis points, or 1.0% on the unused portion of the revolving credit facility). In addition, during the quarter ended March 31, 2016, we recorded approximately $204 to interest expense related to the accelerated amortization of debt issuance costs. During 2015, we recorded interest expense relating to the Credit Agreement of approximately $39, of which approximately $28 was related to the commitment fee on the unused portion of the revolving credit facility and $11 was related to the amortization of deferred financing costs. Upon termination of the Credit Agreement, all liens and guaranties in respect thereof were released.

ATM Offerings

On January 8, 2016, we announced that we had entered into an ATM with FBR and MLV pursuant to which FBR and MLV agreed to act as distribution agents in the sale of up to $50,000 in the aggregate of ExOne common stock in “at the market offerings” as defined in Rule 415 under the Securities Act. Both FBR and MLV have been identified as related parties to us on the basis of significant influence in that a member of our Board of Directors also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of FBR (which controls MLV).  The terms of the ATM were reviewed and approved by a sub-committee of our Board of Directors (which included each of the members of the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors except for the identified director who also holds a position on the Board of Directors of FBR).  Terms of the ATM require a 3.0% commission on the sale of common stock under the ATM and a reimbursement of certain initial legal expenses of $25.  During the quarter ended March 31, 2016, we sold 91,940 shares of common stock under the ATM at a weighted average selling price of approximately $9.17 per share resulting in gross proceeds to us of approximately $843.  Net proceeds to us from the sale of common stock under the ATM during the quarter ended March 31, 2016 were approximately $595 (after deducting offering costs of approximately $248, including certain legal, accounting and administrative costs associated with the ATM, of which approximately $50 was paid to FBR or MLV relating to the aforementioned reimbursement of certain legal expenses and commissions on the sale of common stock under the ATM). There were no sales of shares of common stock under the ATM during any periods subsequent to the quarter ended March 31, 2016.

Our ongoing ability to issue and sell common stock under the ATM is dependent on our ability to use our shelf Registration Statement on Form S-3 (“Shelf”), as filed on April 10, 2015. As a result of our delinquent filing of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2015, our offerings and sales under the Shelf (and therefore the ATM) were suspended. On August 18, 2016, we filed a post-effective amendment to our Shelf. Subsequent to the post-effective amendment filing, we re-activated the ATM on November 9, 2016. It is our intention to keep the ATM active during 2017 to the extent that our Shelf is available for use.

Registered Direct Offering to a Related Party

On January 11, 2016, we announced that we had entered into a subscription agreement with Rockwell Forest Products, Inc. and S. Kent Rockwell for the registered direct offering and sale of 1,423,877 shares of ExOne common stock at a per share price of $9.13 (a

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$0.50 premium from the closing price on the close of business on January 8, 2016).  The terms of this transaction were reviewed and approved b