Protolabs expands manufacturing capacity with new building, added machines

Protolabs, Maple Plain, Minn., has purchased a new manufacturing facility in Brooklyn Park, Minn., to expand its prototyping and low-volume production capacity. The new, 152,000-sq.-ft. facility will be expanded by another 50,000 sq. ft. and used primarily for CNC machining.

About 225 jobs at the company’s Plymouth, Minn., plant will relocate to the new building, enabling the company to expand the injection molding capacity in the Plymouth facility. The Brooklyn Park plant is scheduled to become fully operational by the end of 2018.

The firm also has expanded its manufacturing capacity, purchasing more than 75 CNC mills and 25 injection molding presses in the U.S. over the past 12 months, and adding 25 CNC machines and six injection molding presses to its facility in Telford, U.K.