We use 3D printers to produce our products. There are different types of printers and countless different processes. We have specialized in what is sometimes revered to as FFF (fuse filament fabrication). The process is rather cost effective and uses a simple process of depositing a thermoplastic material layer by layer. 3D printing technology used to be locked down by patents for decades, limiting the technology to large and costly machines. Once those patents ran out, a new generation of desktop printers started to emerge. These machines are rather simple in design, but manage to output parts with astounding quality. Also, due to the small investment costs, the process can now be parallelized which has a profund influence on production costs. At the core of all this, is the material. After all, it is the material in combination with a specific design that enables a desired functionality. And today, in 2020, PLA or 'polylactic acid' is one of the most widespread materials in desktop 3D printing. PLA outperforms almost any other material in this category in terms of strength and stiffness (yes, those are two different things ;)). An interesting comparison is published by simplfy3d here . This is especially true if we take into account the directional dependency of the material properties which is introduced by the FFF process. Out of plane strength, i.e. layer adhesion, suffers greatly for most materials. The overall knock down for PLA is relatively low.