3D Systems Corp (DDD) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome to the 3D Systems' fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings call and webcast. (Operator Instructions)

您好，歡迎參加 3D Systems 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議和網路廣播。（操作員指令）

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。

It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mick Koski, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mick.

現在我很高興將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Mick Koski。請繼續，米克。

Good morning and welcome to 3D Systems' conference call to discuss the preliminary results of the fourth-quarter and full-year 2023.

早安，歡迎參加 3D Systems 的電話會議，討論 2023 年第四季和全年的初步業績。

The financial results presented on today's call and included in our earnings release are unaudited. The company is in the process of completing its quarterly and year-end close process. Accordingly, actual results may differ from the anticipated results discussed today and shown in our earnings release.

今天的電話會議上展示的以及包含在我們的收益報告中的財務結果未經審計。該公司正在完成季度和年終結帳流程。因此，實際結果可能與今天討論的和我們的收益報告中顯示的預期結果不同。

We're delaying the filing of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and we'll file a Form 12b-25 notification of late filing with the SEC to extend the deadline to file the Form 10-K. Our final audited financial results will be included in the Form 10-K on file.

我們將推遲提交截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的財政年度的 10-K 表年度報告，並且我們將向美國證券交易委員會提交 12b-25 表延遲提交通知，以延長提交 10-K 表的截止日期。我們的最終審計財務結果將包含在存檔的10-K表中。

With me on today's call are Dr. Jeffrey Graves, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Creech, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Andrew Johnson, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Chief Corporate Development Officer.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Jeffrey Graves 博士； Jeff Creech，執行副總裁兼財務長；以及執行副總裁、首席法律長兼首席企業發展長 Andrew Johnson。

The webcast portion of this call contains a slide presentation that we will refer to during the call. Those following along on the phone who wish to access the slide portion of this presentation may do so on the Investor Relations section of our website.

本次電話會議的網路直播部分包含幻燈片演示，我們將在通話過程中參考它。透過電話關注並希望存取此簡報的幻燈片部分的人員可透過我們網站的「投資者關係」部分進行存取。

Following discussion and responses to your questions reflect management's view as of today only and will include forward-looking statements as described on this slide. Actual results may differ materially. Additional information about factors that could potentially impact our financial results is included in our latest press release and our filings with the SEC, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

以下討論和對您的問題的回答僅反映管理層截至今天的觀點，並將包括本投影片所述的前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能存在重大差異。有關可能影響我們財務表現的因素的其他資訊包含在我們最新的新聞稿和向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中，包括我們最近的 10-K 表年度報告和 10-Q 表季度報告。

During this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. In our press release and slides accompanying this request webcast, you will find additional disclosures regarding these non-GAAP measures, including reconciliations with comparable GAAP measures. Finally, unless otherwise stated, all comparisons in this call will be against our results for the comparable period of 2022.

在本次電話會議中，我們將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。在我們的新聞稿和隨此請求網路廣播附帶的幻燈片中，您將找到有關這些非 GAAP 指標的更多揭露，包括與可比較 GAAP 指標的對帳。最後，除非另有說明，本次電話會議中的所有比較都將針對我們 2022 年可比較期間的結果進行。

So with that, I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Jeff Graves, for opening remarks.

因此，我將把電話轉給我們的執行長 Jeff Graves 來致開場白。

Thanks, Mick, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin this morning with a brief reflection on 2023 performance. I'll then shift focus to 2024 and our path forward discussing not only our restructuring initiatives to take cost out of the business, but equally important, the areas that we are consciously choosing to continue to invest for future growth.

謝謝，米克，大家早安。今天上午，我將首先簡要回顧 2023 年的表現。然後，我將把重點轉向 2024 年和我們的未來道路，不僅討論我們的重組舉措以降低業務成本，而且同樣重要的是，我們有意識地選擇繼續投資以實現未來增長的領域。

Finally, I'll wrap things up with some comments on our 2024 outlook before handing things off to our new CFO, Jeff Creech, for a deeper dive into the financials. As you may recall, Jeff joined the company in mid-December. He brings over 25 years of experience in finance leadership and business transformation and has already hit the ground running as he led us through the year-end close. Welcome aboard, Jeff. It's great to have you with us.

最後，我將對我們的 2024 年展望發表一些評論，然後將工作交給我們的新任財務長 Jeff Creech，讓他更深入地研究財務狀況。您可能還記得，傑夫於 12 月中旬加入該公司。他在財務領導和業務轉型方面擁有超過 25 年的經驗，並且在帶領我們完成年終總結時已經開始行動。歡迎加入，傑夫。非常高興您能加入我們。

Before I begin discussing our recent results and forecast for the year, I think it's an important time to reflect on the state of the industry and where 3D Systems is positioned within it. I'm now on slide 5.

在我開始討論我們最近的業績和今年的預測之前，我認為現在是反思產業現況和 3D Systems 在其中的定位的重要時刻。我現在講的是幻燈片 5。

3D printing has been around since our founder, Chuck Hull, invented the technology in the early '80s. They very quickly prove useful as a prototyping technology, a role that continues to play today. However, the real value of additive manufacturing as it's now more commonly called is when it began to be used to manufacture real components, not just prototype parts.

自從我們的創辦人 Chuck Hull 在 80 年代初發明了 3D 列印技術以來，3D 列印就已經存在。它們很快就證明是一種有用的原型技術，而這一作用一直延續到今天。然而，積層製造（現在更常見的稱呼）的真正價值在於它開始被用於製造真實的組件，而不僅僅是原型零件。

This evolution took over 20 years. And it required advancements in the printing hardware, the software for process control, and most importantly, advancements in materials that could be printed.

這一演變過程耗時20多年。它需要列印硬體、製程控制軟體的進步，最重要的是，需要可列印材料的進步。

Fast forward to today, we have the technology to manufacture an incredible range of products -- from orthopedic and dental implants for human beings to key components for aerospace, automotive, and many other industrial markets. This evolution has today provided companies with four key advantages that are not available through traditional manufacturing processes.

如今，我們擁有製造一系列產品的技術，從人類的骨科和牙科植體到航空航太、汽車和許多其他工業市場的關鍵零件。如今，這項演變為企業提供了傳統製造流程無法實現的四個關鍵優勢。

The first is design flexibility, which means very simply, the engineers can create much more complex shapes that can't be manufactured even with the most advanced machining or casting technologies. Importantly, these parts are made through additive techniques that are often less expensive and less wasteful than traditional methods, bringing costs down, and reducing environmental impacts from manufacturing.

首先是設計靈活性，這意味著很簡單，工程師可以創建更複雜的形狀，即使使用最先進的機械加工或鑄造技術也無法製造。重要的是，這些零件是透過積層技術製造的，與傳統方法相比，這種技術通常更便宜、更少浪費，從而降低了成本並減少了製造對環境的影響。

The second key benefit, one that's bringing many large industrial companies into the market more recently is what we call mass customization. This means producing large quantities of parts with each being slightly different from the prior one.

第二個關鍵優勢是最近吸引許多大型工業公司進入市場的因素，我們稱之為大規模客製化。這意味著要生產大量的零件，而且每個零件都與前一個零件略有不同。

This benefit has been enabled by the improving economics of 3D printing, enabled by increased printer size, speed, and reliability. We clearly see this in our healthcare business where orthopedic implants and dental products can be customized for each person's need. And in fact, in the orthodontic area, our technology enables the manufacture of over 1 million customized clear aligners per day and soon other products, such as custom printed dentures will follow at a similar scale. On the industrial side, the same type of applications are now in focus, spanning both polymer and metal technologies.

這項好處得益於 3D 列印經濟性的不斷提升，以及印表機尺寸、速度和可靠性的提升。我們在醫療保健業務中清楚地看到了這一點，其中骨科植入物和牙科產品可以根據每個人的需求進行客製化。事實上，在牙齒矯正領域，我們的技術每天可以生產超過 100 萬個客製化的透明矯正器，很快其他產品（如客製化列印假牙）也將以類似的規模生產。在工業方面，目前的焦點是同一類型的應用，涵蓋聚合物和金屬技術。

The third benefit is low volume, high complexity parts. Once again, printing speed, combined with new materials that are designed to meet specific application needs, are key to success. Electronic components and those used in semiconductor equipment manufacturing are but two of many examples.

第三個好處是零件數量少、複雜度高。再次強調，列印速度與滿足特定應用需求的新材料結合是成功的關鍵。電子元件和用於半導體設備製造的元件只是眾多例子中的兩個。

And finally, greatly enhanced supply chain flexibility, enabling production where you need it when you need it is more important than ever. Whether you're printing replacement parts for an oil refinery out in the desert or on a ship at sea or you're reducing risk by moving production closer to the point of assembly and operations, many new customers in the post-COVID period are evaluating the capabilities and economics of additive manufacturing and are embracing this new technology.

最後，大大增強了供應鏈的靈活性，能夠在需要的時候在需要的地方進行生產比以往任何時候都更重要。無論您是在沙漠中或海上船舶上列印煉油廠的替換零件，還是透過將生產轉移到更接近裝配和操作地點來降低風險，後疫情時期的許多新客戶都在評估增材製造的能力和經濟性，並正在接受這項新技術。

So what does all this translate to? Well, while recent macro factors have slowed the investment for the entire industry in the short term, these fundamentals support an expectation of compounded annual growth averaging over 20%, which translates to an $80 billion market opportunity over the next five to seven years.

那麼這一切意味著什麼呢？雖然最近的宏觀因素在短期內減緩了整個產業的投資，但這些基本面支持了年均複合成長率超過 20% 的預期，這意味著未來五到七年內有 800 億美元的市場機會。

So with all that as backdrop, I was asked recently by one of our directors is 3D printing a growth industry? Given the expectation of market growth, an appropriate question to ask might be, why don't you as investors see it in the numbers?

基於以上所有背景，我們的一位主管最近問我，3D 列印是否是成長型產業？考慮到市場成長的預期，一個合適的問題可能是：身為投資者，為什麼你們沒有從數字中看到這一點？

So there are two simple reasons. One is that recent economic conditions have impacted CapEx spending by our customers in the short term. This is expected to correct itself as interest rates ultimately decline and consumer demand becomes more predictable.

因此有兩個簡單的原因。一是近期的經濟狀況對我們客戶的短期資本支出產生了影響。隨著利率最終下降以及消費者需求變得更加可預測，這種情況預計會自行糾正。

The second is the new market entrants have emerged, particularly from China in the hardware element of the business. This has created a very fragmented industry, but one that increasingly seeks to consolidate, creating the scale and breadth of technology needed to service our global customer base in their factories around the world.

第二是出現了新的市場進入者，特別是來自中國的硬體業務進入者。這使得行業非常分散，但該行業日益尋求整合，從而創造出服務於世界各地工廠的全球客戶群所需的技術規模和廣度。

So all of this, where does 3D System stand today? And why should an investor be interested in our company specifically? Given that we're fundamentally in a growth industry, there are three reasons to invest in 3D Systems. First, we have the scale needed to support our global customers from a sales and service standpoint, while driving the internal efficiencies needed to sustain the R&D spend to meet our customers' application needs. At almost $500 million of revenue in 2023, we're one of the largest companies in the industry with strong gross margins that continue to improve even in this difficult economic climate.

那麼，綜合以上這些，3D System 目前處於什麼位置？為什麼投資者會特別對我們的公司感興趣？鑑於我們從根本上處於一個成長型產業，有三個理由值得投資 3D Systems。首先，從銷售和服務的角度來說，我們擁有支援全球客戶所需的規模，同時推動維持研發支出所需的內部效率，以滿足客戶的應用需求。2023 年，我們的收入接近 5 億美元，是業內最大的公司之一，毛利率強勁，即使在困難的經濟環境下也仍在持續改善。

Our R&D investments support the broadest range of additive technologies in the entire industry, bringing together metal and polymer hardware platforms and an exceptional materials portfolio with intelligent cloud-based software to deliver targeted application solutions to key customers around the world.

我們的研發投資支持整個產業最廣泛的增材技術，將金屬和聚合物硬體平台、卓越的材料組合與智慧雲端軟體結合在一起，為全球主要客戶提供有針對性的應用解決方案。

We have the sales and service infrastructure to support our customers' manufacturing plants wherever in the world they choose. And we have experienced to show that it works. In one case, we have over 600 printers installed in plants in Central America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, all printing in harmony to deliver custom products every day of the year.

我們擁有銷售和服務基礎設施，可以支援客戶在世界任何地方選擇的製造工廠。而我們的經驗證明它是有效的。在一個案例中，我們在中美洲、東歐和亞洲的工廠安裝了 600 多台印表機，這些印表機全年每天都在協同列印以交付客製化產品。

Last year, the single customer delivered hundreds of millions of bespoke products successfully to customers on virtually every continent. And now we're expanding our technology base into regenerative medicine, an emerging market of which the ability to print vascularized human tissue will change healthcare forever. No one in the world is better positioned than we are to bring these solutions to the market, creating value for all of our stakeholders.

去年，該單一客戶成功向幾乎各大洲的客戶交付了數億件客製化產品。現在，我們正在將我們的技術基礎擴展到再生醫學，這是一個新興市場，其中列印血管化人體組織的能力將永遠改變醫療保健。世界上沒有人比我們更有能力將這些解決方案推向市場，為我們所有的利害關係人創造價值。

In the short term, we have the flexibility to adapt to economic volatility by taking out costs and to do so without stifling future growth investments needed to serve that $80 billion addressable market in the years ahead, endorsed by a strong balance sheet with a healthy cash reserve, providing headroom to execute on a strategy that delivers substantial value creation for the horizon ahead.

短期內，我們可以靈活地適應經濟波動，降低成本，而且這樣做不會抑制未來幾年服務於 800 億美元潛在市場所需的未來成長投資，強勁的資產負債表和健康的現金儲備為我們提供了支持，為實施未來創造巨大價值的策略提供了空間。

So with that backdrop in mind, let's turn to slide 6. Without question, 2023 proved to be a challenging year and it all centered on revenue, which remained under significant pressure all year long. Far and away, the most significant impact on our year-over-year revenue decline was attributed to our dental orthodontics business. This was a headwind that we had begun to experience in 2022 when inflation first took its toll on consumer discretionary spending.

記住這個背景後，讓我們翻到第 6 張投影片。毫無疑問，2023 年是充滿挑戰的一年，一切都以收入為中心，而收入全年都承受著巨大的壓力。毫無疑問，對我們年比收入下降影響最大的是我們的牙科矯正業務。這是我們在 2022 年開始經歷的逆風，當時通貨膨脹首次對消費者可自由支配的支出造成影響。

This pressure built significantly in 2023 as demand in the orthodontic space tumbled and inventory spiked. In the end, our full-year dental orthodontics business declined 39%.

隨著正畸領域的需求下降和庫存激增，這種壓力在 2023 年顯著增加。最終，我們的全年口腔矯正業務下降了39%。

Making matters worse from a demand perspective last year was a broad-based macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties created in part by the rapid rise in interest rates used in an effort to dampen inflation. While clearly this was necessary, this rise in rates caused many of our customers to slow their capital spending as they waited to see what the impact would be ultimately on consumer demand.

從需求角度來看，去年情況更糟糕的是廣泛的宏觀經濟和地緣政治不確定性，部分原因是為抑制通膨而快速提高利率所造成的。雖然這顯然是必要的，但利率上升導致我們的許多客戶放慢資本支出，等待觀察最終對消費需求的影響。

When we last spoke in November, our expectation was that this delay in capital deployment would moderate during the fourth quarter following the usual seasonality patterns for our company. Unfortunately, this did not happen. To be clear, this was a delay in placing orders with very few cancellations as our customers remain committed to additive manufacturing as incremental capacity as needed and new products are introduced.

當我們在 11 月上次交談時，我們預計這種資本部署的延遲將在第四季度得到緩解，這符合我們公司通常的季節性模式。不幸的是，這並沒有發生。需要明確的是，這是由於訂單下達的延遲，很少有訂單取消，因為我們的客戶仍然致力於積層製造，因為需要增加產能並推出新產品。

Given that these concerns continue in the new year, we're assuming this trend of slow roll and purchase orders continues in 2024. This may prove to be conservative. But for now, I think it's prudent. For this reason, we continue to take cost actions needed to drive near-term profitability and cash performance even in a static sales environment.

鑑於這些擔憂在新的一年中仍會持續存在，我們假設這種緩慢的滾動和採購訂單趨勢將在 2024 年持續下去。這可能被證明是保守的。但就目前而言，我認為這是謹慎的。因此，即使在靜態銷售環境下，我們也會繼續採取必要的成本行動，以提高近期獲利能力和現金表現。

One thing to point out while navigating this challenging top-line environment, I was very proud of our team's ability to deliver improved gross margins in 2023. Having driven through selective price actions to recover inflationary costs early in the year, as the quarters past, we continue to focus on our in-sourcing of manufacturing into our newly formed centers of production excellence and to begin optimization of our extended supply chain. This led to greater efficiencies from the business throughout 2023 as reflected in our rising gross margins, and we expect it to unlock even more benefits going forward.

在應對這一充滿挑戰的營收環境時，有一點需要指出，我對我們團隊在 2023 年實現毛利率提高的能力感到非常自豪。在年初透過選擇性價格行動收回通膨成本之後，隨著過去幾季的發展，我們繼續專注於將製造業務轉移到我們新成立的生產卓越中心，並開始優化我們擴展的供應鏈。這提高了 2023 年全年的業務效率，體現在我們不斷上升的毛利率上，我們預計它將在未來帶來更多的好處。

The last point I'd like to acknowledge is our EBITDA performance. When we first entered the year, we had a much different outlook for revenue and felt that the levels around $560 million, we could deliver at least breakeven profitability. In response to our more significant revenue challenges, we took extensive actions to remove operating costs from the business. As a result, we're seeing a reduction in core expenses and we expect this to continue.

我要承認的最後一點是我們的 EBITDA 表現。當我們剛進入今年年初時，我們對於收入的展望就大不相同，我們認為 5.6 億美元左右的收入水平至少可以實現盈虧平衡。為了應對更大的收入挑戰，我們採取了廣泛的措施來消除業務的營運成本。因此，我們看到核心支出減少，並且預計這種情況將會持續下去。

Of note, these impacts were overshadowed in the fourth quarter by incremental investment in our regenerative medicine initiative and some higher-than-normal expenses near year end, which Jeff will detail later on. Setting this aside, expectations for 2024 are for reductions in OpEx and continued improvement in gross margin performance, both of which lead to improved EBITDA realization.

值得注意的是，這些影響在第四季度被我們對再生醫學計劃的增量投資和年底前一些高於正常的支出所掩蓋，傑夫稍後將詳細介紹。除此之外，預計 2024 年的營運支出將減少，毛利率表現將持續改善，這兩者都將帶來 EBITDA 實現的提高。

Let's turn to slide 7 to delve deeper into our restructuring initiatives. Like many of our industry peers, pressure on revenue growth in 2023 prompted significant cost reductions as a response. While we've implemented cost actions of our own, I'd argue our philosophy and strategy for doing so is fundamentally different.

讓我們翻到第 7 張投影片來深入了解我們的重組舉措。與我們行業的許多同行一樣，2023 年收入成長的壓力促使我們大幅削減成本。雖然我們已經實施了自己的成本行動，但我認為我們這樣做的理念和策略有著根本的不同。

As a starting point, you just heard me talk about our strong balance sheet. With healthy cash reserves and an opportunity to drive considerable improvements in working capital through inventory reduction in the year ahead, we have the ability to be very methodical and deliberate in our restructuring efforts, balancing the need for improved operating efficiencies with support for critical R&D investments needed to deliver the growth we see ahead. In short, we're eliminating a substantial amount of costs to better reflect the current revenue environment, but we'll never do so at the expense of starving future growth initiatives that we deem to be critical to long-term value creation.

作為起點，您剛剛聽我談論了我們強勁的資產負債表。憑藉著健康的現金儲備和透過減少庫存在未來一年推動營運資本大幅改善的機會，我們有能力非常有條不紊地、慎重地進行重組工作，在提高營運效率的需求與實現未來成長所需的關鍵研發投資支援之間取得平衡。簡而言之，我們正在削減大量成本以更好地反映當前的收入環境，但我們絕不會以犧牲我們認為對長期價值創造至關重要的未來成長計畫為代價。

That said, more simplistically, we're responding to our environment in order to thrive, not just survive. Our focus is not just on preserving this year ahead, but doing so in a fashion that still unlocks enormous potential for the years ahead. So to summarize, at the midpoint of our revenue range, you'll see us pointing to a flattish performance as the economy finds its footing. Our efficiency programs and cost actions should deliver continued improvements in gross margins while decreasing our overall OpEx costs.

這就是說，簡單地說，我們對環境做出反應是為了繁榮，而不僅僅是生存。我們的重點不僅是保護未來一年的成果，而是以一種能夠為未來幾年釋放巨大潛力的方式。總而言之，在我們的收入範圍的中間點，隨著經濟站穩腳跟，你會看到我們指向平穩的表現。我們的效率計劃和成本行動應能持續提高毛利率，同時降低我們的整體營運支出成本。

We believe this combination will result in a positive EBITDA performance this year while maintaining our critical investments for growth. An enabler of this strategy is a keen focus on portfolio optimization, which will be an ongoing effort for us.

我們相信，這一結合將為我們今年帶來積極的 EBITDA 業績，同時保持我們對於成長的關鍵投資。這項策略的推動因素之一是高度重視投資組合優化，這將是我們持續努力的成果。

The result may include decreasing investments in certain areas that no longer provide an acceptable return on capital, which may result in disposal of noncore assets or establishment of partnerships in certain areas, while increasing investments in more attractive parts of our extensive portfolio.

其結果可能包括減少對不再提供可接受的資本回報的某些領域的投資，這可能導致處置非核心資產或在某些領域建立合作夥伴關係，同時增加對我們廣泛投資組合中更具吸引力的部分的投資。

I'd like to give you an idea of some of the areas we find particularly exciting at this juncture. On slide 8, you'll see our offering of end-to-end solutions to address the orthopedic device market. We have manufactured millions of medical devices within our own facilities and a far greater magnitude produced by our customers leveraging our printers, materials, and software in their own facilities.

我想向大家介紹一下我們目前發現的一些特別令人興奮的領域。在第 8 張投影片上，您將看到我們為滿足骨科設備市場需求而提供的端到端解決方案。我們在自己的工廠內生產了數百萬台醫療設備，而我們的客戶利用我們的印表機、材料和軟體在他們自己的工廠內生產了更多數量的醫療設備。

In the $2 billion market for CMF or cranio-maxillofacial, bone structures, we're among the leaders when it comes to supporting the full ecosystem of surgical planning, guides, and implants. This market is growing for us as we now expand from oncology and other planned surgeries to increasingly support trauma patients, using both metal and polymeric solutions.

在價值 20 億美元的 CMF 或顱顏面骨結構市場中，我們在支持手術規劃、指南和植入物的完整生態系統方面處於領先地位。隨著我們目前從腫瘤科和其他計劃手術擴展到使用金屬和聚合物解決方案為創傷患者提供支持，這個市場正在不斷增長。

In the $10 billion spinal market, we have the highest adoption rate of our DMP 300 metal printing technology to produce spinal cages. And surgeons are increasingly taking advantage of additive design capability to provide enhanced patient success. Building on the learnings from our CMF and spinal capability, we're now making significant inroads into the fast-growing foot and ankle market space, which is valued at almost $4 billion today by supporting commercialization of several total ankle applications.

在價值 100 億美元的脊椎市場中，我們採用 DMP 300 金屬列印技術生產脊椎融合器的比例最高。外科醫生越來越多地利用增材設計功能來提高患者的治療成功率。基於我們在 CMF 和脊椎方面所累積的經驗，我們透過支持多種全踝關節應用的商業化，正在向快速增長的足部和踝關節市場領域取得重大進展，目前該市場的價值已接近 40 億美元。

Having now expanded our metals technology from titanium to cobalt-chrome, we have the added capability to support replacement and repair of moving joints that are exposed to higher levels of fatigue over time. This is essential as we penetrate the foot and ankle market and then expand into the $20 billion hip and knee market, which will leverage our new triple laser metal printing system.

現在，我們的金屬技術已從鈦擴展到鈷鉻，我們有能力支持更換和修復隨著時間的推移會承受更高疲勞程度的活動接頭。這一點至關重要，因為我們要打入足部和踝關節市場，然後擴展到價值 200 億美元的髖關節和膝關節市場，這將利用我們新的三重雷射金屬列印系統。

Even in the difficult revenue environment of 2023, personalized healthcare was a positive outlier, if you flip to slide 9, delivering double-digit growth year over year. And we expect this trend to continue. While significant element of growth will be expanded indications that I've just reviewed for you, another portion will be driven by geographic expansion beyond our core markets of North America, broadening our reach to more surgeons and patients across the globe. In the aggregate, we view the opportunities in personalized medicine space and our aggressive investments in this business to yield a tripling of revenue over the next five years.

即使在 2023 年艱難的收入環境下，個人化醫療保健也是一個積極的異常值，如果你翻到第 9 張投影片，它實現了同比兩位數的成長。我們預計這一趨勢將會持續下去。雖然成長的重要因素將是我剛剛為您回顧的擴大適應症，但另一部分將由我們北美核心市場以外的地理擴張推動，從而將我們的覆蓋範圍擴大到全球更多的外科醫生和患者。總體而言，我們認為個人化醫療領域充滿機遇，而我們在該業務領域的積極投資將使未來五年的收入成長三倍。

The second element of our healthcare business is dental. Historically, our largest revenue stream in this business has been orthodontics where we pioneered the 3D printing technology for clear aligners over 20 years ago. Now, with the mass adoption of digital imaging advancements and advancements in materials and printing technology, we see continued opportunity to open new dental markets for additive manufacturing.

我們的醫療保健業務的第二個要素是牙科。從歷史上看，我們在這個業務中最大的收入來源是牙齒矯正，20 多年前我們率先採用了透明矯正器的 3D 列印技術。現在，隨著數位成像技術的進步以及材料和印刷技術的進步，我們看到了積層製造不斷開拓新的牙科市場的機會。

A major market is for dentures, which, until now, have been manufactured through machining and hand assembly. For this reason, much of the manufacturing base moved to Asia to access lower labor costs and lead times extended accordingly.

一個主要的市場是假牙，到目前為止，假牙都是透過機械加工和手工組裝來製造的。由於這個原因，許多製造基地轉移到亞洲以獲得更低的勞動力成本，交貨時間也相應延長。

However, just last week, we announced the introduction of the industry's first multi-material one-piece jetted denture solution. By adopting additive manufacturing, production cycle time and even more importantly, the labor content for denture fabrication is dramatically reduced. This allows the process to be moved closer to patients and delivered faster and at a lower cost than ever before.

然而，就在上週，我們宣布推出業界首款多材料一體成型噴射義牙解決方案。透過採用積層製造技術，生產週期時間以及更重要的是假牙製造的勞動量顯著減少。這使得治療過程更貼近患者，並且比以前更快、更便宜。

With the addressable denture market expected to exceed $2 billion by 2028, this presents a tremendous opportunity for our jetted denture solution. This denture combines our next-gen jetted denture teeth and base materials in one printing operation, delivering not only beautiful aesthetics but exceptional brake resistance, the combination never before attained in a printed single-piece denture.

預計到 2028 年，可尋址假牙市場規模將超過 20 億美元，這為我們的噴射假牙解決方案提供了巨大的機會。這種假牙在一次列印操作中結合了我們下一代噴射假牙和基底材料，不僅具有美觀的外觀，而且還具有出色的抗制動性，這種組合在以前的打印單件假牙中是從未實現過的。

Combining our materials with the speed of our jetting printer technology drastically accelerates production rates to deliver these visually beautiful and extremely durable products to patients in a much shorter time frame. When we introduced this product last week at the annual dental show in Chicago, Glidewell, a longtime 3D Systems customer and the world's largest producer of restorative dental devices, commented specifically on it, citing its superior durability and aesthetics. As one of our key launch customers, we're proud to have Glidewell's endorsement and enthusiastic embrace of this new technology as we anticipate 510(k) clearance from the FDA in the second half of this year.

將我們的材料與噴射印表機技術的速度相結合，大大加快了生產速度，從而可以在更短的時間內將這些外觀美觀且極其耐用的產品交付給患者。當我們上週在芝加哥舉行的年度牙科展會上推出這款產品時，3D Systems 的長期客戶和全球最大的修復牙科設備生產商 Glidewell 對其進行了特別評價，稱讚其具有卓越的耐用性和美觀性。作為我們的主要發布客戶之一，我們很榮幸得到 Glidewell 對這項新技術的認可和熱情歡迎，我們預計該技術將在今年下半年獲得 FDA 的 510(k) 批准。

Turning now to slide 11. In offering the broadest range of technologies, we're concentrating heavily on our innovation in metals. Despite pressures in other industrial markets during the year, we delivered solid growth from both semiconductor capital equipment and aerospace and defense markets. We see additive continuing to generate momentum in these industries and others such as shipbuilding going forward.

現在翻到第 11 張投影片。為了提供最廣泛的技術，我們專注於金屬領域的創新。儘管今年其他工業市場面臨壓力，但我們在半導體資本設備以及航空航太和國防市場都實現了穩健的成長。我們認為積層製造將繼續為這些產業以及造船業等其他產業帶來發展動力。

On the right-hand side of 11, you'll see a sample of some of the many proven solutions for different materials and applications we offer in key industries. Our technology enables the consolidation of parts, accelerating time to market for our customers, and does so with improved performance facilitated by freedom of design. It's an overall continuation of the important contributions we can make in mitigating supply chain disruptions.

在 11 的右側，您將看到我們在關鍵產業中針對不同材料和應用提供的眾多經過驗證的解決方案中的一部分樣本。我們的技術能夠整合零件，加快客戶的產品上市時間，並透過設計自由度提高效能。這是我們在緩解供應鏈中斷方面所能做出的重要貢獻的整體延續。

Now, turning to slide 12. Since joining 3D Systems in the summer of 2020, we've had an intense focus on new products. While a few of these have come to market through acquisition, most are being developed through our R&D investments. With a typical three-year development cycle for a new platform, we're now beginning to see the fruits of our investment, which will continue to gain momentum over the next 18 months.

現在翻到第 12 張投影片。自 2020 年夏天加入 3D Systems 以來，我們一直高度關注新產品。雖然其中一些是透過收購進入市場的，但大多數都是透過我們的研發投資開發的。新平台的典型開發週期為三年，現在我們開始看到投資的成果，並且未來 18 個月將繼續獲得發展動力。

During the fourth quarter alone, we delivered nine new products: five new materials, three printer upgrades, and one key accessory. More recently, we shipped our first MJP 300W jetting system, the first of our new generation of jetting printer technology. We completed validation of testing on our SLS 300 machine and are now ramping production as we move toward the second quarter of this year.

僅在第四季度，我們就交付了九種新產品：五種新材料、三種印表機升級和一種關鍵配件。最近，我們推出了第一台 MJP 300W 噴射系統，這是我們新一代噴射印表機技術中的第一款產品。我們完成了 SLS 300 機器的測試驗證，目前正在為今年第二季增加產量。

Additionally, we're on track to deliver on our commitments for our newest metal printer, the DMP 350 triple laser system, as well as our revolutionary PSLA 270, which combines the benefits of SLA with a high-speed projection technology and leverages the materials developed for our Figure 4 printing system. This new printing solution set was introduced in concept at the 2023 Formnext show and was met with great enthusiasm by our customers. Looking ahead, we are continuing to work tirelessly in the development of nearly 40 new product portfolio of printing technology, setting the stage for an exciting 2025 and beyond.

此外，我們正在履行對我們最新的金屬印表機、DMP 350 三重雷射系統以及革命性的 PSLA 270 的承諾，它結合了 SLA 和高速投影技術的優勢，並利用了為我們的 Figure 4 列印系統開發的材料。這套全新的印刷解決方案在 2023 年 Formnext 展會上首次亮相，並受到了客戶的熱烈歡迎。展望未來，我們將繼續不懈地致力於開發近 40 種新的印刷技術產品組合，為令人興奮的 2025 年及以後奠定基礎。

And finally, let's turn to our regenerative medicine initiative on slide 13. As you've heard from me multiple times over the last few years, our regenerative medicine initiative is an unparalleled strategic differentiator with technology that may not only deliver transformational growth and shareholder value for our company, but importantly, profoundly change the future of healthcare. Leveraging our 3D printing technology leadership, regenerative medicine is structured into three distinct opportunities: human organs, non-organ tissue, and drug development.

最後，讓我們討論第 13 張投影片上的再生醫學計畫。正如您在過去幾年中多次聽到的那樣，我們的再生醫學計劃是一項無與倫比的戰略差異化因素，其技術不僅可以為我們的公司帶來轉型增長和股東價值，而且更重要的是，可以深刻改變醫療保健的未來。利用我們在 3D 列印技術方面的領先地位，再生醫學分為三個不同的領域：人體器官、非器官組織和藥物開發。

In December, we announced that Harriss Currie would join 3D Systems in the newly created role as President of Regenerative Medicine for us. Harriss will draw from his 30 years of experience in executive leadership, with a focus on building emerging businesses.

12 月，我們宣布 Harriss Currie 將加入 3D Systems，擔任我們新設立的再生醫學總裁。哈里斯將利用其 30 年的高階主管經驗，專注於打造新興企業。

Prior to joining us, Harriss was Senior Vice President and CFO for Luminex Corporation, spending over two decades with the biotech company helping lead their growth from a start-up to more than $500 million in revenue during his tenure. The creation of his role reflects the increasing maturation of our exciting new technology as we move from early-stage conceptual development toward commercial application.

在加入我們之前，哈里斯曾擔任 Luminex Corporation 的高級副總裁兼財務官，在這家生物科技公司工作了二十多年，幫助該公司從一家新創公司發展成為收入超過 5 億美元的公司。他的職位的設立反映了我們令人興奮的新技術在從早期概念開發轉向商業應用的過程中日益成熟。

Specific to our work on organs and our outstanding partnership with United Therapeutics, we're working vigorously to produce the most complex product ever printed, the human lung. Something that once began as a dream is now well underway and continues to track toward our goal of human trials for 2027.

具體來說，針對我們在器官方面的工作以及與 United Therapeutics 的傑出合作關係，我們正在積極努力地生產有史以來最複雜的印刷產品——人肺。這個曾經只是夢想的事情現在已經在順利進行中，並將繼續朝著 2027 年進行人體試驗的目標前進。

Looking back on the last year, we eclipsed a critical point in lung development during the third quarter. Our progress validated with a recognition of a $4.5 million milestone payment for the program and moving it yet another year closer to our target for human trials.

回顧過去的一年，我們在第三季度過了肺部發展的關鍵點。我們的進展得到了認可，該計畫獲得了 450 萬美元的里程碑付款，這讓我們距離人體試驗的目標又近了一年。

On the drug development front, we're making great progress in our wholly owned subsidiary, Systemic Bio, formed in 2022, and you'll see this on slide 14. h-VIOS, our proprietary organ-on-a-chip platform, is a novel application set, which allows pharmaceutical companies to test their drugs on vascularized cellularized tissue chips that mimic human response to drug therapies at scale in the laboratory.

在藥物開發方面，我們在 2022 年成立的全資子公司 Systemic Bio 取得了長足進步，您可以在幻燈片 14 上看到這一點。我們專有的器官晶片平台 h-VIOS 是一套新穎的應用程序，它允許製藥公司在實驗室中大規模模擬人類對藥物療法的反應的血管化細胞組織晶片上測試他們的藥物。

We believe Systemic's h-VIOS platform has the potential to dramatically improve the drug discovery and development timeline, particularly important, considering market research indicates that 9 out of 10 drugs fail in clinical trials, leading to an average of $2.6 billion invested by pharma companies per drug approved, with over a 12-year time horizon to establish FDA approval for each drug introduced to the market.

我們相信 Systemic 的 h-VIOS 平台有可能大幅改善藥物發現和開發的時間表，這一點尤其重要，因為市場研究表明，10 種藥物中有 9 種會在臨床試驗中失敗，這導致製藥公司平均要為每種獲批藥物投資 26 億美元，並且每種藥物上市後都需要 12 年以上的時間才能獲得 FDA 批准。

To this end, we've gained significant momentum and validation of our technology. And I'm pleased to announce that before the end of last year, Systemic Bio successfully closed their second contract with another large pharmaceutical company.

為此，我們獲得了巨大的發展動力並獲得了技術的驗證。我很高興地宣布，在去年年底之前，Systemic Bio 成功與另一家大型製藥公司簽訂了第二份合約。

In total, this represents collaborative contracts now with two of the top four largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and an impressive pipeline of future opportunities ahead. Based on the extraordinary progress made to date and in order to propel this business forward, we're leveraging the strength of our core business, as well as our balance sheet, to invest for continued progress in regenerative medicine.

總的來說，這代表著我們目前與世界四大製藥公司中的兩家簽訂了合作合同，並且未來還有令人印象深刻的合作機會。基於迄今的非凡進展，為了推動這項業務向前發展，我們將利用我們的核心業務以及資產負債表的優勢，投資於再生醫學的持續進步。

For 2024, we expect to invest in key regenerative products to continue our momentum and maintain the unrivaled lead we have over any 3D printing competitor in our space. While this is still a highly developmental area, and undoubtedly, some avenues will advance more quickly than others, we continue to believe that regenerative medicine offers tremendous value creation in the future. We'll be proud to update you on our progress throughout the year.

到 2024 年，我們預計將投資關鍵的再生產品，以延續我們的發展勢頭，並保持我們在領域內相對於任何 3D 列印競爭對手的無可比擬的領先優勢。雖然這仍然是一個高度發展的領域，毫無疑問，有些途徑會比其他途徑發展得更快，但我們仍然相信再生醫學在未來將創造巨大的價值。我們將很榮幸地向您通報我們全年的進展。

So with that, I'll finish on slide 15. So to recap what you've heard from me this morning, given the current economic environment, we expect our full-year revenues for 2024 to be relatively flat given the softness experienced throughout the year last year. We would hope that this is a conservative position to take, but it remains prudent to say so at this time.

因此，我將在第 15 張投影片上結束演講。因此，總結一下大家今天早上聽到的內容，考慮到當前的經濟環境，考慮到去年全年的疲軟表現，我們預計 2024 年全年收入將相對持平。我們希望這是一個保守的立場，但目前這樣說仍然是謹慎的。

Our insourcing, supply chain, and restructuring work to date has provided a strong foundation for gross margin improvement. And we expect that to continue, even in a static sales environment. Any volume leverage on revenue upside would further enhance this performance.

我們迄今為止的內部採購、供應鏈和重組工作為毛利率的提高奠定了堅實的基礎。我們預計，即使在靜態銷售環境下，這種情況仍將持續下去。任何銷量對收入上漲的槓桿作用都將進一步提升這一業績。

And finally, with stable revenue performance, expanded gross margins, and carefully managed opex at reduced levels from 2023, we're committed to deliver positive adjusted EBITDA performance and operating cash flow for 2024. With prudent R&D investments in our highest-priority customer initiatives, we believe we can deliver on an exciting top-line growth and sustain profitability in the years ahead.

最後，憑藉穩定的收入表現、擴大的毛利率以及從 2023 年開始精心管理的降低的營運支出，我們致力於在 2024 年實現正的調整後 EBITDA 業績和營運現金流。我們相信，透過對我們最優先的客戶計劃進行審慎的研發投資，我們能夠實現令人興奮的營收成長並在未來幾年保持盈利能力。

So with that, I'll now turn things over to Jeff. Jeff?

因此，現在我將把事情交給傑夫。傑夫？

Jeff, thank you very much, and I appreciate the warm welcome and good morning to everyone on the call. While I have already met many of you on the conference circuit in January, I look forward to meeting more of our investor and analyst community in the very near future.

傑夫，非常感謝，我感謝大家在電話中對我的熱烈歡迎和早安。雖然我在一月份的巡迴會議上已經見過你們中的許多人，但我期待在不久的將來能與更多的投資者和分析師社區見面。

I'll begin with slide 17 with our revenue summary. For the full-year 2023, we reported consolidated revenues of $488 million, down 9% from the prior year. Year-over-year results were primarily impacted by headwinds in our dental orthodontics business, further amplified by broader macro weakness pressuring most other markets, which was most accurately reflected in printer sales.

我將從第 17 張投影片開始介紹我們的收入摘要。我們報告 2023 年全年綜合收入為 4.88 億美元，較上年下降 9%。同比業績主要受到牙科矯正業務不利因素的影響，而更廣泛的宏觀疲軟給大多數其他市場帶來壓力，進一步加劇了這一影響，這在印表機銷售中得到了最準確的反映。

From a segment perspective, revenues in industrial solutions mostly held firm at $275 million with full-year performance declining about 1% despite a tougher economic backdrop. Within industrial, headwinds from the prior year in more price conscious markets, such as jewelry, were largely offset by continued momentum and growth in areas such as transportation and motorsports, semiconductors, and aerospace and defense.

從分部角度來看，儘管經濟環境更加嚴峻，但工業解決方案業務的收入基本上保持穩定，為 2.75 億美元，全年業績下降約 1%。在工業領域，珠寶等對價格更敏感的市場去年遭遇的阻力很大程度上被運輸和賽車運動、半導體、航空航天和國防等領域的持續發展勢頭和增長所抵消。

Healthcare solutions delivered full-year revenues of $213 million, declining approximately 18% from the prior year. The full-year's performance was most heavily influenced by the decline in our dental orthodontics business down roughly 39% from 2022, while the remainder of our healthcare segment was essentially flat. Although embedded in this was full year growth of 12% for our personalized healthcare business.

醫療保健解決方案全年收入為 2.13 億美元，較前一年下降約 18%。全年業績受牙科矯正業務下滑影響最大，較 2022 年下降約 39%，而醫療保健部門的其餘部分基本持平。但同時，我們的個人化醫療業務全年仍實現了 12% 的成長。

Shifting to our fourth-quarter performance on slide 18, we reported consolidated revenues of $114.8 million, declining approximately 14% from the fourth quarter of 2022. While our materials and services performed well in the quarter, growing from prior year, it simply was not enough to offset weakness in printer sales, again, most significant in dental, but also felt more broadly across our remaining businesses.

轉到投影片 18 的第四季業績，我們報告的綜合收入為 1.148 億美元，較 2022 年第四季下降約 14%。雖然我們的材料和服務在本季度表現良好，較上年同期有所增長，但這不足以抵消打印機銷售的疲軟，這在牙科領域最為明顯，但在我們其餘業務中也更為廣泛地感受到。

From a segment perspective, industrial solutions reported fourth-quarter revenues of approximately $64 million, a 12% decline from prior year. Similar to the full-year trends just mentioned within industrial, strength in markets such as aerospace and defense and semiconductor was more than offset by broader printer weakness in most other industrial end markets.

從分部角度來看，工業解決方案報告第四季營收約 6,400 萬美元，較上年下降 12%。與剛才提到的工業領域的全年趨勢類似，航空航太、國防和半導體等市場的強勁表現被大多數其他工業終端市場中印表機的普遍疲軟所抵消。

Healthcare solutions reported fourth-quarter revenues of $51 million, down approximately 16% from prior year and across most markets. A notable exception to this was again the personalized healthcare, delivering double-digit growth compared to last year's fourth quarter.

醫療保健解決方案報告第四季營收為 5,100 萬美元，較上年同期下降約 16%，且涵蓋大多數市場。一個顯著的例外再次是個人化醫療保健，與去年第四季相比實現了兩位數的成長。

Now to slide 19 for a look at our gross margins. For the full-year 2023, we reported gross profit margin of 40.7%. On this slide, you'll find non-GAAP gross margin. Non-GAAP gross margin for the year was 41.1%, a 130-basis point improvement over the prior year and primarily driven by favorable mix, operating efficiencies, and the positive impact of price increases to offset inflationary pressures.

現在轉到第 19 頁來看我們的毛利率。2023 年全年，我們報告的毛利率為 40.7%。在這張投影片上，你會看到非 GAAP 毛利率。本年度非公認會計準則毛利率為 41.1%，較上年提高 130 個基點，主要得益於有利的產品組合、營運效率以及價格上漲對抵銷通膨壓力的正面影響。

Specific to the fourth quarter, gross margin and non-GAAP gross margin were 40.4% and 41.9%, respectively, with the improvement in non-GAAP margins for the quarter, largely driven by mix. It's important to note that while the favorable impact of mix is more indicative of the associated short-term pressures on customer CapEx deployments for printers, we're increasingly encouraged by our in-sourcing and efficiency efforts and the positive impact we expect them to drive on longer-term margin expansion. Coupled with our technology roadmap for new product introduction expected throughout 2024 and beyond, it's reasonable to expect continued improvement in gross margin performance on a year-over-year basis going forward.

具體到第四季度，毛利率和非公認會計準則毛利率分別為40.4%和41.9%，本季非公認會計準則利潤率的提高主要得益於產品組合的推動。值得注意的是，雖然組合的有利影響更多地表明了與印表機客戶資本支出部署相關的短期壓力，但我們對內部採購和效率努力以及我們預期它們將對長期利潤率擴大產生的積極影響感到越來越鼓舞。加上我們預計在 2024 年及以後推出的新產品技術路線圖，我們有理由預期未來毛利率表現將較去年同期持續改善。

Now let's turn to slide 20 to finish up the P&L. Before I begin our usual readout on metrics for the year-end for the quarter, I want to call your attention to a specific accounting-related charge or charges to GAAP in operating expenses we took during year-end quarter, during the fourth quarter as these are non-cash impacts and excluded from our non-GAAP metrics. In the aggregate, these were approximately $313 million for the full year and $298 million for the fourth quarter related to the impairment of goodwill and other assets.

現在讓我們翻到第 20 張投影片來完成損益表。在我開始例行讀出本季的年終指標之前，我想提請大家注意我們在年終季度和第四季度的營運費用中計入的一項或多項與 GAAP 相關的具體會計費用，因為這些是非現金影響，不包括在我們的非 GAAP 指標中。整體來看，全年商譽和其他資產減損損失約為 3.13 億美元，第四季約為 2.98 億美元。

Additionally, we realized a $32.2 million gain on our repurchase of 2026 convertible notes at a discount and that's also excluded from our non-GAAP metrics. For the full-year 2023, adjusted EBITDA of negative $24.5 million declined from the prior year by $18.7 million. The decline was primarily driven by lower revenues and increased operating expenses.

此外，我們以折扣價回購 2026 年可轉換票據，並獲得了 3,220 萬美元的收益，這也被排除在我們的非 GAAP 指標之外。2023 年全年調整後的 EBITDA 為負 2,450 萬美元，較上年下降 1,870 萬美元。下降的主要原因是收入下降和營運費用增加。

For the year, non-GAAP OpEx was $246.6 million. For the fourth-quarter 2023, adjusted EBITDA of negative $12.3 million declined in the prior year by $7.5 million, primarily driven by the same factors as noted above. For the quarter, non-GAAP OpEx was $66.1 million.

全年非公認會計準則營運支出為 2.466 億美元。2023 年第四季，調整後的 EBITDA 為負 1,230 萬美元，較上年下降 750 萬美元，主要原因是上述相同因素。本季度，非 GAAP 營運支出為 6,610 萬美元。

While we have taken considerable restructuring actions throughout 2023 and have additional items in place from our November initiative, their impact to operating expense was offset by four very distinct events or circumstances. We had increases in our regenerative medicine R&D spend. We experienced a higher-than-normal temporary external support fees associated with our year-end audit. And frankly, my transition.

儘管我們在 2023 年採取了大量重組措施，並且根據 11 月的舉措實施了其他項目，但它們對營運費用的影響被四個截然不同的事件或情況所抵消。我們在再生醫學研發上的支出增加。我們的年終審計產生的臨時外部支援費用高於正常水準。坦白說，這是我的轉變。

We had an accelerated investment in our IT infrastructure for modernization and systems enhancement for cyber security. And we felt this was very important as the world gets scarier and scarier. As you're all aware, cyber security is a key issue for everyone.

我們加快了對IT基礎設施的投資，以實現現代化和網路安全系統增強。我們認為這一點非常重要，因為世界變得越來越可怕。眾所周知，網路安全是每個人關注的重要議題。

And finally, we incurred advisory and legal fees in association with December's convertible note repurchase. It's important to note as we consider kind of where we stand going into 2024. One of the key costs that we incurred as part of my transition were some accelerated fees or rather a larger-than-normal fees associated with our year-end audit. We are currently transitioning to a Big Four due to our increasing complexity associated with our business.

最後，我們產生了與 12 月可轉換票據回購相關的諮詢費和法律費用。當我們考慮 2024 年的立場時，這一點很重要。我們在過渡期間產生的主要成本之一是一些加速費用，或者說是與年終審計相關的高於正常水平的費用。由於我們的業務日益複雜，我們目前正在向四大會計師事務所過渡。

I mentioned these items specifically to clarify that we view them as temporary and specific operating expenses and reiterate our expectation to reduce operating expenses in 2024 based on the restructuring actions previously announced.

我特別提到這些項目是為了澄清我們將它們視為臨時和特定的營運費用，並重申我們根據先前宣布的重組行動在 2024 年減少營運費用的預期。

Our earnings per share full-year 2023 resulted in a fully diluted loss per share of $2.85 compared to a loss per share of $0.96 for 2022. Excluding stock-based compensation and other nonrecurring charges detailed in our appendix, this resulted in non-GAAP loss per share of $0.26 compared to $0.23 for the prior year. For the fourth quarter, we reported fully diluted loss per share of $2.30 in 2023 compared to a loss per share of $0.2 in 2022. Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.11 in '23 compared to a loss per share of $0.06 in '22.

我們 2023 年全年每股收益導致每股全面攤薄虧損 2.85 美元，而 2022 年每股虧損 0.96 美元。不包括股票薪酬和附錄中詳述的其他非經常性費用，這導致非 GAAP 每股虧損為 0.26 美元，而去年同期為 0.23 美元。就第四季而言，我們報告 2023 年每股全面攤薄虧損為 2.30 美元，而 2022 年每股虧損為 0.2 美元。23 年非公認會計準則每股虧損為 0.11 美元，而 22 年每股虧損為 0.06 美元。

Now let's turn to slide 21 for the balance sheet. We closed the year with $331.5 million of cash and cash equivalents on our balance sheet with no short-term investments compared to a total of $568.7 million in these same items at the end of 2022. The year-over-year decrease was primarily driven by cash used in operations at $80.7 million, acquisitions and other investments of $29.2 million, and capital expenditures of $27.2 million.

現在我們翻到第 21 張投影片來看資產負債表。截至今年年底，我們的資產負債表上的現金和現金等價物為 3.315 億美元，沒有短期投資，而 2022 年底這些項目的總額為 5.687 億美元。年減主要由於經營活動現金流出 8,070 萬美元、收購和其他投資 2,920 萬美元以及資本支出 2,720 萬美元。

Additionally, this also reflects slightly over $100 million used in the repurchase of the company's 0% 2026 convertible notes. Announced in December, we opportunistically repurchased $135.1 million notional value at a significant discount. The transaction strengthened our overall balance sheet with the extinguishment of nearly 30% of the outstanding maturity, while leaving healthy cash reserves to invest in future growth, fund core operations, and strategic optionality.

此外，這也反映了該公司用於回購 0% 2026 年可轉換票據的略高於 1 億美元的資金。我們在 12 月宣布，趁機以大幅折扣回購了名義價值 1.351 億美元的債券。此交易增強了我們的整體資產負債表，消除了近30%的未償還到期債務，同時留下了健康的現金儲備用於投資未來成長、資助核心業務和策略性選擇。

Looking forward, we maintain the expectation that our in-sourcing actions taken over the past two years will deliver a significant return in the form of increased gross margin and generating cash from inventory. Our expectation of improved profitability would also return us on the path to the annual regular generator of cash flow.

展望未來，我們仍然期望過去兩年採取的內部採購行動將以提高毛利率和從庫存中產生現金的形式帶來可觀的回報。我們對獲利能力提高的期望也將使我們走上每年定期產生現金流的道路。

That said, as Jeff and I mentioned throughout this morning's call, we view 2024 as a year of continued investment. And we'll continue to evaluate strategic opportunities through R&D and capital expenditures to fund our most critical growth programs. We'll be doing this while keeping a very close eye on cash usage across the system and throughout the year.

話雖如此，正如傑夫和我今天早上的電話會議中提到的那樣，我們將 2024 年視為持續投資的一年。我們將繼續透過研發和資本支出評估策略機遇，為我們最重要的成長計畫提供資金。在這樣做的同時，我們將密切關注整個系統和全年的現金使用。

I'll conclude now on slide 22 with our 2024 outlook. As you've heard from us this morning, from current economic conditions, we view 2024 as a year of driving improved profitability while continuing to fund growth in a relatively flat revenue environment.

我現在將在第 22 張投影片上總結我們對 2024 年的展望。正如您今天早上所聽到的，從目前的經濟狀況來看，我們認為 2024 年是在相對平穩的收入環境中繼續為增長提供資金的同時推動盈利能力提高的一年。

In that regard, we expect full-year revenues in the range of $475 million to $505 million. And to aid with modeling, we expect a seasonally soft start to the first quarter with revenues down sequentially and year over year, however, consistent sequential improvement each quarter throughout 2024.

在這方面，我們預計全年營收將在 4.75 億美元至 5.05 億美元之間。為了幫助建模，我們預計第一季將出現季節性疲軟開局，營收將環比和同比下降，但整個 2024 年每季都將持續環比改善。

Non-GAAP gross margins in the range of 42% to 44% as a result of our ongoing operational efficiencies and with particular strength in the second half of '24. Non-GAAP operating expense in the range of $223 million to $238 million, reflecting a reduction in costs from our previously announced restructuring activities and including incremental offsets in critical growth programs as discussed throughout this morning's call.

由於我們持續的營運效率以及24年下半年的強勁表現，非公認會計準則毛利率在42％至44％之間。非公認會計準則營業費用在 2.23 億美元至 2.38 億美元之間，反映了我們先前宣布的重組活動帶來的成本減少，並包括今天上午電話會議上討論的關鍵增長計劃的增量抵消。

Finally, adjusted EBITDA for the full year is expected to be breakeven or better as the efforts in our proved margin profile and cost reductions should drive substantial improvement to consistent profitability without the expectation of top-line growth at the midpoint of our guide.

最後，預計全年調整後的 EBITDA 將達到盈虧平衡或更好，因為我們在已證實的利潤率狀況和成本削減方面的努力將推動盈利能力大幅改善至持續盈利水平，而無需預期營收成長處於我們指引的中點。

We thank you for your time and continued support of 3D Systems. And we'll now open the line for questions. Operator, please.

我們感謝您的時間和對 3D Systems 的持續支持。我們現在開始回答提問。接線員，請說。

(Operator Instructions) Troy Jensen, Cantor Fitzgerald.

（操作員指令）特洛伊·詹森 (Troy Jensen)、康托·菲茨杰拉德 (Cantor Fitzgerald)。

Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my question. And Jeff, welcome to the team.

嘿，先生們。感謝您回答我的問題。傑夫，歡迎加入團隊。

Thank you.

謝謝。

I guess first thing I want to ask is just dental all in, are you expecting this to grow here in 2024?

我想我首先想問的是，就牙科領域而言，您預計到 2024 年這個數字會成長嗎？

Yes, Troy. It's certainly in the process of bottoming. If you look at -- you know, we've got pretty good visibility to the ultimate customer and the end market. So clearly, demand is rising. The complexity as '23 takes by was the clearing of inventory in the supply chain. So there's a lot of work done last year to clear that inventory.

是的，特洛伊。確實，它正處於觸底過程中。如果你看一下——你知道，我們對最終客戶和終端市場有相當好的了解。顯然，需求正在上升。隨著 23 年的到來，複雜性在於清理供應鏈中的庫存。因此，去年我們做了很多工作來清理庫存。

So I would tell you that it's pretty much cleared. And so we're -- I would call Q1 here bottoming and then we should see a lift going forward after that, primarily in materials and services for that for that business. I believe there's plenty of printing hardware capacity in that supply chain. It's more materials consumption rising now to meet rising demand.

所以我想告訴你，一切都已經基本解決了。因此，我認為第一季已到達底部，之後我們應該會看到業績上漲，主要是在材料和服務方面。我相信該供應鏈中有足夠的列印硬體產能。現在為了滿足不斷增長的需求，材料消耗量正在增加。

So I think you'll see it kind of bottom out. Whether it would bottom in Q4 or it's bottoming in Q1 is kind of hard to tell, but it's in the process clearly of turning.

所以我認為你會看到它觸底反彈。目前很難說它會在第四季觸底還是在第一季觸底，但顯然它正處於轉變過程中。

Okay, perfect. And then sticking in dental here, I know you said you expect to get FDA approval for NextDent later this year. Is there also insurance qualifications you guys need to before it can really take off?

好的，完美。然後繼續談論牙科，我知道您說您希望今年晚些時候獲得 FDA 對 NextDent 的批准。在它真正起飛之前，你們還需要具備保險資格嗎？

No, we're good to go. As soon as we get the 510(k) approval, we're good to go, Troy. It's a -- in fact, we're putting in printing capacity to handle printing that product now. So we're really bullish on that new product. It's a terrific-looking and performing product. We've got to, as always, work our way through the FDA regulatory approvals, but we view that as very manageable. And we should have it in the market later in the year.

不，我們可以走了。一旦我們獲得 510(k) 批准，我們就可以出發了，特洛伊。事實上，我們現在正在投入印刷能力來處理該產品的印刷。所以我們對該新產品非常看好。這是一款外觀和性能都極為出色的產品。像往常一樣，我們必須努力獲得 FDA 監管部門的批准，但我們認為這是非常容易實現的。我們應該會在今年稍後將其投放市場。

Okay, perfect. And last question; I'll cede the floor here. Can you remind us what you're spending quarterly at regenerative right now?

好的，完美。最後一個問題；我就此放棄發言權了。您能提醒我們一下您目前每季在再生能源方面的支出是多少嗎？

What we're spending quarterly on regenerative? It's -- and I'm not trying to hedge, Troy, it's a bit complicated because the -- we've spent a certain amount, and we get some of that reimbursed from United Therapeutics. There are some things we do on our own, especially around pharma. But a lot of the organ work, obviously, is reimbursed.

我們每季在再生方面的支出是多少？這是 — — 我並不是想迴避，特洛伊，這有點複雜，因為 — — 我們已經花了一定數額，我們從聯合治療公司獲得了部分補償。有些事情我們自己做，特別是在製藥領域。但顯然，很多器官手術的費用都是可以報銷的。

So we've spent about $10 million last year of our own money. If you take away all the noise, we spent about $10 million last year of our own money on regenerative medicine, okay, primarily to pursue the pharmaceutical market. And we continue to look at the range of applications. We could be chasing dozens of them.

因此，去年我們花了大約 1000 萬美元自有資金。如果你撇開所有的噪音，我們去年在再生醫學上花費了大約 1000 萬美元，主要用於開拓醫藥市場。我們將繼續研究其應用範圍。我們可能正在追捕數十名這樣的人。

We're trying to be very disciplined about what we actually chase. And our highest priority with our own internal funding is the pharmaceutical pursuit, okay? Because it's -- the payoff to making progress against the drug introduction timelines is enormous. So -- and the receptivity of the pharma companies has been really encouraging.

我們試圖對我們真正追求的東西保持高度自律。我們利用自身內部資金最優先考慮的是製藥事業，好嗎？因為——在藥物引進時間表上取得進展的回報是巨大的。所以——藥廠的接受能力確實令人鼓舞。

We landed our second contract late last year, as I mentioned. We've got a really nice pipeline of interest coming forward, especially after the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference. So things are looking very promising for the pharma pursuit. So we're clearly giving priority to that right now. And then obviously, the lung work with United Therapeutics is an extremely high priority as well for the longer term.

正如我所提到的，我們在去年年底簽訂了第二份合約。我們收到了大量感興趣的訊息，特別是在摩根大通醫療保健會議之後。因此，製藥業的前景非常光明。因此我們現在顯然優先考慮這一點。顯然，與 United Therapeutics 合作進行的肺部研究長期來看也是極為重要的。

Understood. Well, good luck going forward, and a special shout-out here to Andrew. Thanks for all the hard work over the years.

明白了。好吧，祝你未來好運，在這裡特別感謝安德魯。感謝您多年來的辛勤工作。

Thanks, for that as well. And thank you, Troy, for doing such great job covering us. We really appreciate it.

我也為此感謝你。感謝特洛伊為我們提供如此出色的報道。我們非常感激。

Greg Palm, Craig-Hallum.

格雷格·帕姆、克雷格·哈勒姆。

Hey, good morning, everybody. I guess, just thinking now back to Q4, it sounds like the vast majority of the shortfall was more system based, CapEx driven than anything. Do you have the growth rates in systems versus consumables for the quarter and any sort of general sense on how that trended for the full year as well?

嘿，大家早安。我想，現在回想一下第四季度，聽起來絕大多數的缺口更多的是基於系統、由資本支出驅動的。您是否有本季系統與消耗品的成長率，以及全年的整體趨勢？

We'll see if we can dig up a number. I can tell you qualitatively, it -- Greg, it -- the equipment was really tough last year with CapEx spending being down. We were quite surprised in Q4 to not see the normal seasonal lift, especially because customers -- customer engagement and sales has been very high. Then we have a -- this advanced applications group on our sales organization, and they are bursting at the seams with work to do for customer -- new customer applications.

我們將看看是否能夠找到一個數字。我可以從品質上告訴你，格雷格，去年設備確實很差，因為資本支出下降了。我們非常驚訝第四季度沒有看到正常的季節性成長，特別是因為客戶參與度和銷售額一直很高。然後，我們的銷售組織中有一個高級應用程式小組，他們正忙著為客戶做新客戶應用程式的工作。

So we were very surprised to not see that flow through as it usually does seasonally at the end of the year. But I think it just reflects customers' nervousness about what the rising interest rates will do to end demand. No lack of interest, which is the encouraging thing. I think it's more of a timing issue. The problem in our '24 guidance was it's very hard to say. When does that nervousness subside?

因此，我們非常驚訝沒有看到這種流量，而通常在年底會出現季節性流量。但我認為這只是反映了消費者對於利率上升對最終需求的影響的緊張。並不缺乏興趣，這是令人鼓舞的事。我認為這更多的是一個時間問題。我們的 24 年指引中存在一個問題，那就是很難說。什麼時候緊張情緒才會消退？

And so we've modeled it as a pretty flat year this year, and I hope that's conservative. Did we -- do we come up with an actual number for Greg? We don't normally break that out. But I can tell you, Greg, just qualitatively, our shortfall in revenue was hardware driven, not materials and services. Materials usage was actually pretty darn strong all year long. It's just people weren't adding incremental capacity.

因此，我們將今年的預測視為相當平穩的一年，我希望這是保守的。我們是否為格雷格提供了實際的數字？我們通常不會揭露這一點。但我可以告訴你，格雷格，從品質上講，我們的收入短缺是由硬體造成的，而不是材料和服務。全年的材料使用量其實都非常強勁。只是人們沒有增加增量容量。

Yeah, makes sense. And specific to the Q4 decline, I mean, yeah, it's going back a long time and unable to really see that sort of sequential decline. Usually, you see sort of the opposite, but just the confidence level around that. It wasn't competitive loss. It wasn't share loss. It was more timing. Can you just maybe go in a little bit as we go on?

是的，有道理。具體來說，對於第四季度的下滑，我的意思是，是的，這已經持續了很長時間，而且無法真正看到這種連續的下滑。通常，你會看到相反的情況，但只是圍繞該情況的信心水平。這並不是競爭性的失敗。這不是股票損失。這更多的是一個時機問題。我們繼續講下去的時候可以稍微講一下嗎？

We've got -- it's a -- it was a big question internally that I had, Greg. And I can tell you, we chased it to ground. And we've got a line of sight to almost every printer hardware sale of significance, and it was not lost market share. It was not a drop in customer interest. It was strictly slow-rolling purchase orders, what I would call it on their part is -- look, and we -- and it's not that they're short of cash.

我們有 — — 這是一個 — — 這是我內心的一個大問題，格雷格。我可以告訴你們，我們追到了它的根源。而我們已經看到了幾乎每台印表機硬體銷售的重要意義，也沒有失去市場份額。這並不是顧客興趣的下降。這完全是緩慢滾動的採購訂單，我稱之為他們所說的——你看，我們——並不是他們缺少現金。

I mean, most of the people we sell to are fine from a cash perspective, balance sheet, and very, very creditworthy big customers. It's more they weren't certain they needed the incremental capacity given where interest rates had gone. I think everybody just wanted to see the year turn over and how end demand affected their business.

我的意思是，從現金角度和資產負債表來看，我們銷售給的大多數人都很好，而且都是非常非常有信譽的大客戶。更重要的是，他們不確定在利率已經改變的情況下是否需要增加產能。我認為每個人都只是想看看今年的轉變以及最終需求如何影響他們的業務。

That's as much as I can tell you. But I don't -- I truly don't believe there was any share loss, and I think it was strictly slow-rolling purchase orders on our customers' part, by and large.

我能告訴你的就這麼多。但我真的不相信有任何份額損失，我認為總的來說，這完全是由於我們客戶的採購訂單進展緩慢。

Got it. Okay. And then last question, Jeff, did you say -- did you give a non-GAAP operating expense number from the quarter?

知道了。好的。最後一個問題，傑夫，您是否給出了本季的非 GAAP 營業費用數字？

It did. Non-GAAP OpEx was about $66 million for the quarter.

確實如此。本季非 GAAP 營運支出約 6,600 萬美元。

Okay. That strikes me as being up quite a bit relative to the levels that you saw throughout the year. And obviously, should have maybe take into account a little bit of the restructuring and -- that you announced in October. So is that right? And I guess what's -- just to be clear, that restructuring you announced in October, can you just remind us just timeline and how much is OpEx versus gross margin?

好的。我覺得，與全年的水準相比，這一數字上升了不少。顯然，我們可能應該考慮到你們十月份宣布的一些重組措施。那麼這是對的嗎？我想問的是——為了清楚起見，您 10 月宣布的重組，您能否提醒我們一下時間表以及營運支出與毛利率的比例是多少？

It's a very logical question, Greg. It's a good one. So there were there were four items in OpEx in Q4 which we did not take out -- we did not exclude into a non-GAAP number because they're truly, by definition, more strictly one-time. But I would tell you they were very short-term investments focused in Q4.

這是一個非常合乎邏輯的問題，格雷格。這是個很好的主意。因此，第四季度的營運支出中有四項我們沒有剔除——我們沒有將其排除在非 GAAP 數字之外，因為根據定義，它們確實是更嚴格的一次性支出。但我想告訴你，這些投資都是短期的，主要集中在第四季。

Why don't you run through those, Jeff, real quickly?

傑夫，為什麼不快速瀏覽一遍這些內容呢？

I will. So again, what we saw in the fourth quarter were spikes, higher-than-normal expenses, and our external support fees. And again, this consists of audit fees and external consulting fees that we had to make a very intentional investment in to get us to the end of the year, and quite frankly, to provide some added assistance in the CFO and internally at a CAO transition level. So those were very intentional for us.

我會。因此，我們在第四季度看到的是高峰、高於正常的支出以及我們的外部支援費用。再次強調，這包括審計費用和外部諮詢費用，我們必須非常有意地投資這些費用才能維持到年底，坦白說，也是為了在財務長和內部首席行政官過渡層面提供一些額外的幫助。所以這對我們來說都是有意而為之。

We did make some accelerated investments in our IT infrastructure and really around, again, this concept of cybersecurity. We've had a lot of conversation internally about cybersecurity exposure. We know that it's a very scary world out there, and we know that we in a technology business, where maintaining intellectual and proprietary information is extremely important to us, we need to be cognizant of what those threats are. So we accelerated some of our investments in that area.

我們確實對我們的 IT 基礎設施進行了一些加速投資，並且再次真正圍繞網路安全。我們內部已經就網路安全風險進行了大量討論。我們知道外面的世界非常可怕，我們也知道，身處科技業，維護知識和專有資訊對我們來說極為重要，我們需要認識到這些威脅是什麼。因此我們加快了在該領域的一些投資。

We, of course, had some very distinct legal and advisory services associated with our debt repurchase, and those expenses hit in the fourth quarter and, again, as I mentioned, some increases in our regenerative medicine R&D.

當然，我們在債務回購方面有一些非常獨特的法律和諮詢服務，這些費用在第四季度產生了影響，而且正如我所提到的，我們的再生醫學研發費用也有所增加。

So all four of those things were higher than normal, and with the exception of reg med, would be considered temporary in nature. And we would expect to see them go to more moderate, and in some cases, be eliminated altogether. (Multiple speakers)

因此，所有這四種情況都高於正常水平，除了常規醫療外，都被認為是暫時的。我們希望看到它們變得更加溫和，並且在某些情況下，被徹底消除。（多位發言者）

Okay, good. That took care of it. And we're happy to follow up with you, Greg, on those details. But thanks for the question. It's a good one.

好的，很好。事情就這樣解決了。格雷格，我們很高興與您跟進這些細節。但感謝您的提問。這是個很好的主意。

Brian Drab, William Blair.

布萊恩·德拉布，威廉·布萊爾。

Hi. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify one thing first. When you say the dental orthodontics was down 39%, is that a different number than dental overall, or is that -- it's a number for dental?

你好。謝謝。我只是想先澄清一件事。當您說牙齒矯正下降了 39% 時，這個數字與牙科整體數字不同嗎，或者這是一個牙科的數字？

It is a different number than dental overall, but it is the predominance of dental if you look at it today, Brian. So it was the big driver. The rest of dental did not suffer the same kind of impacts because the rest of dental is much more reconstructive work that we do in the mouth, and that's really not optional spending. It's back -- the orthodontic work that we're involved with, it's a big number, and obviously, it's discretionary.

這個數字與牙科的整體數字不同，但如果你今天來看，牙科占主導地位，布萊恩。因此，這是最大的驅動因素。其餘牙科沒有遭受同樣的影響，因為其餘牙科更多的是我們在口腔內進行的重建工作，而這實際上並不是可選的支出。我們所涉及的牙齒矯正工作是一個很大的數目，而且顯然是可自由支配的。

So when consumer -- when inflation spikes, consumers just put off buying them. And I think you can see that. And I'm very pleased with the commentary around, hey, people are buying more of them now. It's coming back, blah, blah, blah. But there was a lot of excess supply chain inventory to work down, and we worked through that largely in '23.

因此，當通貨膨脹飆升時，消費者就會推遲購買。我想您也能看到這一點。我很高興看到這樣的評論，嘿，現在人們購買更多的產品了。它又回來了，等等等等。但供應鏈中有大量過剩庫存需要減少，我們在23年基本上解決了這個問題。

I'm just curious. I think that you've been giving the dental number in the past, right, the decline or increase in the dental business overall. I don't know if you have that potentially at your fingertips or -- I'd just be curious what 2023 will look like for dental and for the fourth quarter for dental overall, just given that's something I think a lot of people have been tracking.

我只是好奇。我認為您過去一直在給出牙科數據，對，總體而言，牙科業務的下降或增長。我不知道您是否有可能掌握這些資訊——我只是好奇 2023 年牙科行業以及第四季度牙科行業整體情況會是什麼樣子，因為我認為很多人都在追蹤這一點。

Yeah, so performance for dental overall in '23?

是的，那麼 23 年牙科整體表現如何？

32%.

32%。

Yeah. It was down 30%, 32%, all of dental?

是的。下降了 30%、32%，全部都是牙科費用嗎？

All of dental.

全部牙科。

All of dental was down 32%. And then we gave you the orthodontics number, It was down -- what did we say? 30%, 39%? So yeah, so the rest of it was up. And I'm glad you're watching the rest of it, Brian, because as we -- as dentistry now converts to 3D printing -- and I was at this dental show last week. It's remarkable.

全部牙科費用下降了32%。然後我們給了你一個牙齒矯正的數字，它下降了——我們說了什麼？30%、39%？是的，其餘部分都已經完成了。我很高興你能觀看剩下的內容，布萊恩，因為隨著牙科逐漸轉向 3D 列印，我上週也參加了這次牙科展會。這真是太了不起了。

As dentures and other reconstructive items in dental go, I think you'll see a much of a broadening in that market, away from orthodontics -- just orthodontics. Orthodontics will grow. But the rest of it, I think, has enormous growth coming. And we're really excited about it. That's why our focus is broad -- is very broad on dentistry right now.

隨著假牙和其他牙科重建項目的發展，我認為你會看到這個市場將大大拓寬，不再局限於牙齒矯正——僅僅是牙齒矯正。牙齒矯正將會發展。但我認為，其餘部分將迎來巨大的成長。我們對此感到非常興奮。這就是為什麼我們的關注點如此廣泛——目前非常廣泛地關注牙科。

And overall, dental is probably down less than 32% in the fourth quarter, I imagine, right? The decline gets moderated?

我認為，總體而言，第四季牙科費用的下降幅度可能不到 32％，對嗎？下降趨勢有緩和嗎？

Yes, correct.

是的，正確。

Okay. I'll follow up more on that later. One other question I wanted to ask at the moment, though, is that I noticed inventories and accounts receivables remained somewhat elevated going into the end of the year. I mean, I guess the main driver of that is discrepancy between your expectation and actual sales. But could you comment on that? And then also, I'm just curious if the elevated inventory potentially weighs on gross margin in the near term?

好的。我稍後會進一步跟進此事。不過，我現在想問的另一個問題是，我注意到到年底庫存和應收帳款仍然處於較高水準。我的意思是，我猜造成這現象的主要原因是您的預期和實際銷售額之間的差異。但您能對此發表評論嗎？另外，我只是好奇庫存增加是否會在短期內影響毛利率？

Yeah, so actually, a simple answer on the inventory part of that, Brian, was we completed our insourcing activity last year. We were really aggressive about insourcing our manufacturing. We started in '22. We completed it in '23.

是的，布萊恩，實際上，關於庫存部分，一個簡單的答案是，我們去年完成了內部採購活動。我們非常積極地推進內部生產。我們從'22年開始。我們在'23年完成了它。

With that insourcing from contract manufacturers, you have to pick up the inventory they had on hand. So that big spike in inventory from last year is -- was the taking on of their inventory that we now have to burn down. The AP and AR balance, we generally were able to hold pricing in the marketplace.

透過從合約製造商進行內部採購，你必須取得他們手邊的庫存。所以，去年庫存大幅增加是——是因為他們承接了我們的庫存，現在我們必須燒掉這些庫存。透過應付帳款和應收帳款的平衡，我們通常能夠維持市場定價。

We did have to extend some credit terms to some folks, especially smaller customers. And we've been a good payer of suppliers to -- particularly since COVID to make sure we had adequate supplies. So we're working on all elements of working capital.

我們確實必須向一些人提供一些信貸條款，特別是小客戶。我們一直向供應商支付良好的款項——特別是自新冠疫情以來，以確保我們有足夠的供應。所以我們正在研究營運資金的所有要素。

Clearly, there's a really nice ability to generate cash from that working capital this year, and we're working that aggressively. So we're done with the inventory purchases from contract manufacturers. We'll be burning it down now.

顯然，今年我們確實有很強的利用營運資金產生現金的能力，而且我們正在積極努力。所以我們已經完成了從合約製造商的庫存採購。我們現在就把它燒毀。

And just the last question on that topic is, you said EBITDA breakeven is a target for the year. Is it logical to make the conclusion that you'd also expect to be cash flow breakeven in 2024?

關於這個主題的最後一個問題是，您說 EBITDA 損益平衡是今年的目標。您預期 2024 年現金流也將達到收支平衡，這樣的結論合乎邏輯嗎？

We'll be positive in operating cash flow. And the free cash question is just how much we end up spending on CapEx. We do -- we have our normal CapEx required for maintenance, and there are some factory improvements with the insourcing we have to do.

我們的經營現金流將維持正成長。而自由現金問題只是我們最終在資本支出上花了多少錢。確實如此——我們有維護所需的正常資本支出，而且我們必須透過內部採購來改善工廠。

There's a couple of extraordinary growth areas that we have to put capital in in '24 to grow in '25. They're not huge numbers, but it will put pressure on CapEx.

有幾個成長速度極快的領域，我們必須在24年投入資金，才能在25年成長。雖然這個數字並不大，但會為資本支出帶來壓力。

So you'll probably see a -- you'll see positive operating cash flow this year. You'll see a slightly negative -- my guess is a slightly negative free cash flow as we invest CapEx. And we'll update you on that throughout the year.

所以你可能會看到——今年你會看到正的營運現金流。你會看到稍微負面的——我猜是因為我們投資資本支出，所以自由現金流會稍微是負。我們將全年向您通報最新情況。

Yeah, okay. Thank you very much.

嗯，好的。非常感謝。

Thanks, Brian.

謝謝，布萊恩。

Jacob Stephan, Lake Street.

雅各‧史蒂芬 (Jacob Stephan)，湖街。

Yes, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my question. I just want to focus more on industrial side.

是的，大家早安。感謝您回答我的問題。我只是想更多地關注工業方面。

Good morning.

早安.

Yeah, I just want to focus on the industrial side of the business. We've seen more investments in kind of the aerospace market. So what kind of investments are you making there, if any?

是的，我只想專注於業務的工業方面。我們看到航空航太市場的投資增加。那麼，如果有的話，您在那裡進行什麼樣的投資呢？

So in terms of investments, I would tell you, the primary investment there you'd see really is in our cost of sales, and it's our application engineers. What we see from aerospace right now is they really -- they like -- they really do embrace polymer processing a lot, but a lot of their interest is in metal processing and the use of proven but new materials with additive.

因此就投資而言，我會告訴你，你會看到的主要投資實際上是我們的銷售成本以及我們的應用工程師。我們現在從航空航太業看到的是，他們確實非常喜歡聚合物加工，但他們的興趣更在於金屬加工和使用經過驗證的新材料和添加劑。

So I'd say they're not as far along as developing a lot of new materials, brand-new chemistries for additive as the polymer side is, but they're deeply in the process of evaluating existing materials on 3D printers.

所以我想說，他們在開發大量新材料、全新添加劑化學品方面還沒有像聚合物方面那麼深入，但他們正在深入評估 3D 列印機上的現有材料。

So we spend a lot of investment money on our application engineers, working with customers on specific applications. And it's very interesting, the driver of that. There's two cans. One of them is improved performance. They want to design a part that can't be machined, at least not easily. So there's the performance-driven designers. And then we're seeing an increase in the -- in those that are motivated by risk reduction for their existing infrastructure. So like oil and gas.

因此，我們在應用工程師身上投入了大量資金，與客戶一起合作開發特定的應用。其驅動因素非常有趣。有兩罐。其中之一就是提高了性能。他們想要設計一個無法加工的零件，至少無法輕易加工。所以就有了注重性能的設計師。然後，我們看到，那些受降低現有基礎設施風險驅動的人的數量增加。就像石油和天然氣一樣。

We have a lot of interest in oil and gas because, oftentimes, those oil rigs or refineries are in very difficult parts of the world. And so their customers are forced to hold huge amounts of inventory to make sure they stay up and running. They're really interested in localized manufacturing that could do just-in-time production of spare parts.

我們對石油和天然氣很感興趣，因為這些石油鑽井平台或煉油廠往往位於世界上非常困難的地區。因此，他們的客戶被迫持有大量庫存以確保業務能夠正常運作。他們對能夠及時生產備件的本地化製造非常感興趣。

So we're pursuing a lot of that for the electrical infrastructure, for oil and gas. So if you look at investments, that doesn't require us to build new plants and things. There's not a lot of investment except in sales for application development for those folks. So if you see an increased spending, it's around sales cost for those new industrial markets. Does that make sense?

因此，我們正在為電力基礎設施、石油和天然氣等領域進行大力投資。因此，如果你看投資的話，這並不要求我們建造新工廠和新東西。除了銷售應用程式開發方面，這些人沒有太多的投資。因此，如果您看到支出增加，這是與這些新興工業市場的銷售成本有關的。這樣有道理嗎？

Yeah, that's helpful. And then you noticed that you were -- or sorry, you had said that your insource initiative has been completed in 2023. But maybe just kind of give us an overall progress update on the restructuring initiative. Do you still expect the majority to be completed by Q1 end?

是的，這很有幫助。然後您注意到—或者很抱歉，您說過您的內部採購計劃已在 2023 年完成。但也許只是向我們提供一下重組計劃的整體進展。您是否仍預計大部分工作將在第一季末完成？

Yeah, I'd say -- I would say mid year more than Q1. So there's different -- there's three legs of the stool of our restructuring. There are straight headcount reductions. And of course, you got to look at North America versus Europe in terms of timing there. All of the North American actions actually were completed. The European stuff is in progress.

是的，我想說——我想說的是年中而不是第一季。因此，我們的重組有三條腿，有所不同。員工人數大幅減少。當然，你必須從時間角度比較北美和歐洲的情況。北美的所有行動實際上都已完成。歐洲事務正在進行中。

You've got -- for us, you've got site closures. We're closing 20 of 50 sites. And these are acquisitions that were done years ago largely that had remaining small groups of people that we're now able to get efficiencies by closing those and consolidating into hubs, if you will, for design and manufacturing. We've got a lot of that work going on this year.

對我們來說，你們已經關閉了站點。我們將關閉 50 個站點中的 20 個。這些都是幾年前完成的收購，主要是為了保留小團隊，現在我們可以透過關閉這些團隊並將它們合併到設計和製造中心來提高效率。我們今年有很多這樣的工作要做。

And the tricky part of that is when does the -- when do the accounting regulations allow you to recognize the savings? So we're driving to specific dates this year on these site closures, which are all underway. All 20 of the 50 are underway. It's a matter of when do they -- when are they completed from an accounting standpoint and what credit can you take in the year? That's why there's a range on our restructuring savings, frankly, because those accounting rules are really complicated.

其中棘手的部分是，會計法規何時允許您確認儲蓄？因此，我們將在今年確定這些站點關閉的具體日期，這些站點目前正在進行中。50 個項目中有 20 個目前已全部在進行中。問題在於它們何時完成——從會計角度來看它們何時完成，以及你在一年內可以獲得多少學分？坦白說，這就是為什麼我們的重組儲蓄有一個範圍，因為那些會計規則確實很複雜。

So we're just driving to get them closed, get them done, get it finished and consolidated. And then, of course, we have the efficiency gains from insourcing. So driving operational efficiencies all the way through the supply chain now that it's insourced, we recognized a little bit of that in Q4 and last year, but there's a lot more to come this year as we go forward.

所以我們只是努力把它們關閉、完成、完成並鞏固。當然，我們也可以透過內部承包來提高效率。因此，既然供應鏈已經內部化，那麼推動整個供應鏈的營運效率，我們在第四季度和去年已經認識到了一點，但隨著我們不斷前進，今年還會有更多事情要做。

So those hit both the OpEx line and the -- the restructuring hits both OpEx line and the COGS line, especially in manufacturing. So that's why we see a lift this year in our gross margin in '24, and we'll get obviously a big swing in EBITDA by bringing OpEx down. So that -- qualitatively, that's within those three buckets, and you'll -- that's why you'll see the lift in both gross and EBITDA margins even in a flat sales environment.

因此，這些都會影響營運支出線和——重組會同時影響營運支出線和銷貨成本線，尤其是在製造業。這就是為什麼我們今年的毛利率會在 24 年有所提升，而且透過降低營運支出，我們的 EBITDA 顯然會大幅上漲。所以 — — 從品質上講，這屬於這三個範疇，這就是為什麼即使在銷售環境持平的情況下，你也會看到毛利率和 EBITDA 利潤率的提升。

Okay. Thank you. I'll turn it over.

好的。謝謝。我把它翻過來。

Okay.

好的。

Ananda Baruah, Loop Capital Markets.

Ananda Baruah，Loop Capital Markets。

Yeah, thanks, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. And yeah, Andy also, really enjoyed working with you over the years, so best of luck on everything for sure, 100%

是的，謝謝大家。早安.感謝您回答這些問題。是的，安迪也非常享受這些年來和你一起工作的時光，所以祝你一切順利，100%

Jeff, could you just maybe put a little context around the remarks you made about the China competition? When you started the call, what are you seeing there and [what the rate] should be?

傑夫，您能否簡單介紹一下您對中國比賽的評論？當您開始通話時，您看到的是什麼？ [費率]應該是多少？

Yeah, Ananda. The industry is very interesting. The industry is really changing. We've got our traditional competitors in the industry, and there are smaller companies and then obviously some bigger companies. And some of them, the bigger ones, are owned by very large industrial companies. So you've got that historic competitive base.

是的，阿南達。這個行業非常有趣。這個行業確實正在改變。我們在業界擁有傳統的競爭對手，有規模較小的公司，當然也有一些規模較大的公司。其中一些較大的企業由非常大的工業公司擁有。所以你們已經擁有了歷史性的競爭基礎。

But increasingly, we see the emergence of Chinese players. And it's very interesting because you can buy a lot of the key components on the market. And where we see them coming into the market from primarily is on the hardware side, not as much on materials and certainly not as much on software. But in terms of just raw hardware design and sales, they're moving into the markets. They're moving into Europe. They're moving into the States. It's definitely happening.

但我們越來越多地看到中國球員的崛起。這非常有趣，因為你可以在市場上購買很多關鍵零件。我們看到他們進入市場主要是硬體方面，而不是材料方面，當然也不是軟體方面。但僅就原始硬體設計和銷售而言，他們正在進入市場。他們正在遷往歐洲。他們正在搬往美國。這確實正在發生。

And they're just like -- and not to generalize too much, but they're competing on price with hardware. Strategically, the way we compete with that is on not only the hardware technology but bringing it together with materials and software and servicing the customer well because they often struggle with that.

而且他們就像——不想概括太多，但他們在硬體上進行價格競爭。從策略上講，我們競爭的方式不僅在於硬體技術，還在於將其與材料和軟體結合起來，為客戶提供良好的服務，因為他們經常在這方面遇到困難。

So broad-based, we're seeing a lot more entrants from China on the hardware side, and it does make it a challenge when you strictly look at the hardware itself. So part of the pressure on R&D spend is to make sure that technologically, we stay ahead in our core markets. That we stay ahead.

總體而言，我們看到硬體方面越來越多的中國進入該領域，如果嚴格從硬體本身來看，這確實是一個挑戰。因此，研發支出的壓力之一是為了確保我們在核心市場保持技術領先。我們保持領先。

I mean, I'm not talking about regenerative medicine. Clearly, we're ahead on that. But it's our core industrial and even healthcare markets. Make sure we stay ahead on hardware, software, and materials, and then make sure we -- we are -- we have the scale enough to service customers from a sales and service standpoint.

我的意思是，我不是說再生醫學。顯然，我們在這方面處於領先地位。但這是我們的核心工業甚至醫療保健市場。確保我們在硬體、軟體和材料方面保持領先，然後確保我們——我們——擁有足夠的規模來從銷售和服務的角度為客戶提供服務。

So while I will comment that we have sufficient scale to do it, we spend a lot of money servicing customers. And that's where, when you talk about consolidation in the industry, scale helps. It really helps you more economically spread the cost. So that's the full landscape around China. I'm glad you asked the question.

因此，雖然我認為我們有足夠的規模來做到這一點，但我們在服務客戶上花費了大量資金。這就是當你談論行業整合時，規模有幫助的地方。它確實可以幫助您更經濟地分攤成本。這就是中國各地的全貌。我很高興你問了這個問題。

Yeah, and just a quick follow up there. So they've sort of -- they've been present in the way that you've described it in the past, call it, at the consumer/workshop level but the same kind of approach.

是的，我只是想快速跟進。所以它們有點——它們以你過去描述的方式存在，在消費者/車間層面，但採用的是同一種方法。

Is it now you're seeing it move up into -- sort of into the bread-and-butter markets? And I guess one more question to ask, kind of a distinction, is it both prototyping and production? And I guess just sort of where -- context around that question would be great. Thanks.

現在您是否看到它正在進入——某種意義上是進入基本市場？我想還有一個問題要問，有點差別，它既是原型設計又是生產嗎？我想，只要知道這個問題的背景就很好了。謝謝。

Well, yeah. Sure, all good questions. So clearly, it's more industrial and healthcare. And I'm very glad we have a healthcare business because with all the regulatory environment and the quality concerns and everything else, healthcare is the most difficult market for them to penetrate, as is aerospace and defense. So I think those are probably the last markets at a production level that would be exposed to that.

嗯，是的。當然，這些都是很好的問題。顯然，它更面向工業和醫療保健領域。我很高興我們有醫療保健業務，因為考慮到所有的監管環境和品質問題以及其他所有因素，醫療保健是他們最難滲透的市場，航空航太和國防也是如此。因此我認為這些可能是最後受到該影響的生產層面的市場。

Again, talking about production applications, they're going to work in their way -- and again, I'm sorry for the broad-brush commentary, but work in their way into the other industrial markets, particularly industries that produce consumer products, where quality is important, but it's not a differentiator, things like that.

再次談到生產應用，他們會以自己的方式發揮作用——再次抱歉，我的評論過於籠統，但他們將以自己的方式進入其他工業市場，特別是生產消費品的行業，質量很重要，但並不是差異化因素，諸如此類。

They're working their way into those kind of consumer-driven markets, which, again, we have lighter exposure on broadly. But it's still important because that trend will continue, and it's one we have to set ourselves up for.

他們正在努力進入這類消費者驅動的市場，而我們在這方面的曝光度較低。但它仍然很重要，因為這種趨勢將會持續下去，我們必須為此做好準備。

Initial prototyping, clearly, easier market, lower risk for them to get into. But it is -- it's definitely -- they're definitely working on the industrial markets now, beginning with the easier ones and working their way up to the harder ones. So hopefully, that answers both parts of your question.

顯然，初始原型設計更容易進入市場，進入風險更低。但確實——他們現在肯定正在進軍工業市場，從較容易的市場開始，然後逐步轉向較難的市場。希望這能回答您問題的兩個部分。

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate the context. Just with an eye on time there, I'll leave it there and just get you guys on the call. Thanks a lot.

是的，絕對是如此。我很欣賞這個背景。考慮到時間問題，我就把它留在那裡，然後讓你們接電話。多謝。

Okay. We'll look forward to talking to you, Ananda, as always. Thanks.

好的。一如既往，我們期待與您交談，阿南達。謝謝。

James Ricchiuti, Needham & Co.

詹姆斯·里基烏蒂（James Ricchiuti），Needham & Co.

Hi, good morning. Most of my questions have been asked, but I just wanted to follow up to see if I can get a little bit more color on the decline in the industrial business, which, in quarterly level, looks like the lowest quarter of the year.

嗨，早安。我的大部分問題都已經被問過了，但我只是想跟進一下，看看是否能對工業業務下滑有更多的了解，從季度來看，工業業務下滑似乎是今年以來最低的一個季度。

And you talked about areas where the business has held up better, I think aerospace, defense, semi. But what areas in particular were weak in the quarter? And did that -- was it more pronounced in any one geography?

您談到了業務表現更好的領域，我認為是航空航太、國防和半導體。但本季哪些領域尤其薄弱？那麼，在某個地區這種現像是否更為明顯呢？

Jim, I'll try to answer all of those. It was pretty equal between the US and Europe. Most of our sales are in the US and Europe, so it was pretty equally split there. And because, frankly, central banks in both parts of the world have been raising interest rates, it was much more consumer market driven -- consumer end market driven.

吉姆，我會盡力回答所有問題。美國和歐洲的比例相當。我們的大部分銷售都在美國和歐洲，因此那裡的銷售份額相當均等。坦白說，由於世界兩個地區的央行都在提高利率，因此這更多的是由消費市場驅動——消費終端市場所驅動。

So if you look at all of our customers, industrial customers, big industrial customers -- customers on the industrial side, they -- but some of them serve consumer markets. And I think the concern, Jim, that they all had was with this rapid rise in interest rates. Will consumers going to be able to buy as much, and do they need the capacity?

因此，如果你看看我們所有的客戶，工業客戶，大型工業客戶——工業方面的客戶，他們——但其中一些服務於消費市場。吉姆，我認為他們所有人的擔憂都是利率的快速上升。消費者能否購買這麼多？他們需要這樣的容量嗎？

So it's not like they canceled orders, but they just -- again, I keep using the phrase they slow roll POs. So you call them and say where's the PO? Next week, next week, next week. It's coming. So they weren't canceled. And I believe they are all coming.

所以，這並不是說他們取消了訂單，而是他們只是——我再說一遍，我一直使用「他們緩慢發布採購訂單」這個短語。所以你打電話問他們郵差在哪裡？下週，下週，下週。它來了。因此它們沒有被取消。我相信他們都會來。

I believe we'll continue to see a slow roll until they're convinced that the consumer isn't going to go away. And the closer you get to specialized equipment, like semiconductor equipment manufacturer, very strong for us.

我相信，我們將繼續看到緩慢的發展，直到他們確信消費者不會消失。而且你越接近專業設備，例如半導體設備製造商，對我們來說就越強大。

We've been working in that market for a long time, so people that are putting in semiconductor equipment, heavy industrial equipment, that business remains strong. No doubt about it. Defense and aerospace remain strong. It was as you go closer to companies that make consumer products. Those are the ones that were hesitant on the CapEx spend.

我們已經在這個市場工作了很長時間，因此對於從事半導體設備、重型工業設備的人來說，這個行業的業務仍然很強勁。毫無疑問。國防和航空航太產業依然強勁。當你走近生產消費品的公司時就會發現這一點。這些人對資本支出猶豫不決。

And with all of that said, industrial hung in there better than healthcare last year. But again, healthcare was dominated by dental being off due to orthodontics. And then again, they had a lot of capacity in printers themselves. So you saw some roll-off in printers, even in healthcare.

綜上所述，去年工業表現優於醫療保健產業。但同樣，由於牙齒矯正，醫療保健主要受到牙科治療的主導。而且，他們本身的印表機產能也非常大。因此，您會看到印表機行業，甚至醫療保健行業都出現了一定程度的下滑。

But industrial, we've almost offset the decline by new customers coming in. So while we didn't see an uptick, we didn't see as much of a decline on the industrial side either. So if there's a ray of sunshine in there somewhere, it's probably that. My disappointment was Q4 is usually a very strong quarter, and clearly, it was not. We did not see the lift we usually see. People just hung on to their purchase orders.

但在工業領域，我們幾乎透過新客戶的加入抵消了下滑。因此，雖然我們沒有看到上漲，但我們也沒有看到工業方面的大幅下滑。所以，如果某處有一縷陽光，那很可能就是它了。令我失望的是，第四季通常是一個非常強勁的季度，但顯然事實並非如此。我們沒有看到我們通常看到的電梯。人們只是保留他們的採購訂單。

Got it. And just a last question for me is just on the non-GAAP OpEx to what you're guiding for in '24. That would seem to suggest a pretty healthy step down in Q1, but I don't know if that's going to be more back-end loaded with some of the restructuring actions you're taking?

知道了。對我來說，最後一個問題是關於非 GAAP 營運支出，以及您對 24 年的預期。這似乎表明第一季的降幅相當健康，但我不知道這是否會對您正在採取的一些重組行動產生更大的後端影響？

Yeah, Jim. I would say it's probably a little bit more back-end loaded. We took a lot of action quickly in North America when we launched this in terms of the headcount component. The tricky part is now the site closures, which, again, are split between the US. and Europe. The site closures take a little bit more time. And then the accounting resolution isn't -- it isn't done until you're out of the facility, basically. So we've got to be a little careful.

是的，吉姆。我想說的是，它可能需要更多的後端負載。當我們在北美推出這項計劃時，我們在員工人數方面迅速採取了許多行動。現在棘手的部分是站點關閉，同樣，關閉也由美國分擔。和歐洲。關閉站點需要更長的時間。然後，會計決議就不會完成——基本上，直到你離開設施後它才算完成。因此我們必須要小心一點。

So you see a range of OpEx in our guidance. And again, I'd like to think we'll do better than that. But it's -- we tried to be realistic about timing because I do think you'll see a big hit in the first half, which is good. But a lot of the benefits don't start flowing through until the second half.

因此，您會在我們的指導中看到一系列的營運支出。我再次相信我們會做得更好。但是，我們試圖現實地把握時機，因為我確實認為你會在上半年看到巨大的衝擊，這是好事。但很多好處直到下半場才開始顯現。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Thanks, Jim.

謝謝，吉姆。

Thank you. We reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Dr. Graves for any further closing comments.

謝謝。我們的問答環節已經結束。我想將發言權交還給格雷夫斯博士，請他發表進一步的結論。

Thanks, Kevin. Listen, thank you all very much. I know we went beyond time, but I wanted to field questions because I know it's a volatile time for our company and for the industry. So thank you very much for hanging in there and asking the questions you did. I appreciate you joining.

謝謝，凱文。聽著，非常感謝大家。我知道我們超越了時間，但我想回答問題，因為我知道對於我們公司和整個產業來說，這是一個動盪的時期。非常感謝您堅持下去並提出這些問題。感謝您的加入。

We are cautiously optimistic about '24. We look forward to the year ahead. We'll look forward to updating you each quarter on progress. Thanks very much for calling.

我們對‘24’持謹慎樂觀的態度。我們對新的一年充滿期待。我們期待每季向您通報進度。非常感謝您的來電。

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.

謝謝。今天的電話會議和網路直播到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路並享受美好的一天。