Proto Labs, Inc. (PRLB)
Custom machined and molded parts on demand. Read November 11, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 20, 2026. Ranked 176 of the 275 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
27%
projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index
End of 2028
31%
Employees, annual report
2,280
Leading staffing pattern
Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- Now27%
- End of 202731%
- End of 202831%
- End of 203031%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 68%
- Becomes checking a model's work 26%
- Handed over with lighter checks 5%
A digital manufacturer of custom parts whose filing states full-time employees by region and sales by process.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 27% now, 31% at the end of 2027, 31% at the end of 2028, 31% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 31% desk work, 11% people work and 57% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 68% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 26% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
2,280 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). 1,627 of 2,280 full-time employees are in the United States and 653 in Europe.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we had 2,280 full-time employees, including 1,627 full-time employees in the United States and 653 full-time employees in Europe.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing | 50% | By product sales (c): CNC machining is 46% of sales and sheet metal 3%, custom machined parts made to order; no count by product line. |
| Plastics Product Manufacturing | 50% | By product sales (c): injection molding is 36% of sales and 3D printing 15%, custom plastic parts made to order; no count by product line. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Full-time employees; independent contractors and temporary employees augment the staff and are not in the count. The 2025 attrition rate of 13.6% includes workforce reductions in areas being restructured, as the filing states.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- NN, Inc. (NNBR, 2,300 employees)30% now, 35% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
14 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing says it uses AI in pricing and sourcing algorithms, automated quality inspection in injection molding, toolpath verification in machining and software development.
- “Protolabs uses artificial intelligence ("AI") in a number of different ways to improve our efficiency and the value we offer to customers, including: intelligent pricing and sourcing algorithms, automated quality inspection in injection molding, toolpath verification in CNC machining, software development, and various other AI end use cases.”
- “In the age of AI, we are well-positioned with our long history of leveraging technology to solve legacy manufacturing challenges and are deploying AI to power how we drive innovation to better serve our customers.”
- “AI is enabling us to move faster than ever before and continue to scale our business efficiently.”
- “The artificial intelligence and machine learning provided by each analysis allows us to continually improve our DFM technology.”
- “For parts produced by the manufacturing network, our proprietary software automatically routes the parts to the right manufacturing partner within minutes using an AI-infused smart order routing system built on machine learning data of millions of parts produced.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20211median 0
- Fiscal 20221median 0
- Fiscal 20233median 1
- Fiscal 20247median 4
- Fiscal 202514median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 2,280 | 2026-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 2,357 | 2025-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 2,415 | 2024-02-16 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 2,568 | 2023-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 2,663 | 2022-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 2,408 | 2021-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 2,535 | 2020-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 2,487 | 2019-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 2,266 | 2018-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 1,700 | 2017-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 1,549 | 2016-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 1,077 | 2015-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 749 | 2014-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 622 | 2013-03-22 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The filing states full-time employees only.
- The even split between machining and plastic parts follows product sales, not a count.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001443669-26-000010, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.2 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Proto Labs, Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Proto Labs, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 27% now and 31% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Proto Labs, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Proto Labs, Inc. employ?
- 2,280 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states. About 71% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Proto Labs, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 31% desk work, 11% people work and 57% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Proto Labs, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 14 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 1, 1, 3, 7 and 14 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.2 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on November 11, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.