So the dust has settled on the Inside 3D Printing Conference in Singapore, and everybody is back home in their respective countries after what was an interesting 2 days for the citizens of the 3D printing world. My last 2 articles covered each day, more or less as it happened, and I chose to dedicate the first day of reporting to the international exhibitors and the second day to the local, home-grown companies from Singapore. One company was conspicuous in its absence from my reports, however, because they had a lot to talk about and because their interview warranted a whole article to itself (and also, I only have one pair of hands! I can only type and transcribe so fast!)
Stratasys was the main sponsor of the event, and as well as doing a keynote presentation, sat down in the 3D Printing Industry booth and chatted with us for a good 30 minutes regarding the future plans for the company and also the current philosophy and mission of the company. Joining us in the 3DPI booth were Jonathan Jaglom, General Manager (Asia Pacific & Japan), Ido Eylon, General Manager (South Asia), and Sheji Dass, Marketing Manager (Southern Asia & Pacific).
Phillip Keane: As a company, what are your plans for Asia?
Jonathan Jaglom: We are putting a lot of resources into localizing our staff and our teams. It’s not really about having a platform and the technology, as much as it is about optimizing the solution at hand.
We opened up the Singapore office in July 2014. We are opening up in India in 2015 because we are absolutely focused on expanding operations into India. Something else that I am learning as GM of Asia is the responsibility that we have as leaders… You know, it’s more than just revenue generation… it’s about thought leadership and being the one who steps in first, into India as an example. It’s a significant move that we are doing in stepping into India; none of the other players are anywhere close to it. We want to recruit 25 staff in India by the end of the year, which is a big volume, compared to the 200 staff we already have in Asia, and 3,000 staff globally.
Our philosophy is being as local as possible, serving our channel and customers the best we can, and explaining the value proposition of 3DP in the best possible way. That’s the biggest challenge we have. We have great technology and great solutions, but, at the end of the day, if the audience doesn’t know how to use it, well…
And there are so many examples of customers who have great technology but who are not using it in an optimal way. It stems from a lack of understanding of the solution.
PK: A lot of people aren’t aware of the power that a 3D printing system offers. Many people just use them to print toys, etc….
Jonathan Jaglom: One of the ways that we are teaching optimization is through building up a community, and that’s a big change at Stratasys. If you think about the MakerBot acquisition and Thingiverse… to truly understand MakerBot is to understand Thingiverse. With its close to 300,000 files online, with 1,000,000 downloads per month (and growing), the Thingiverse Community is second to none within the industry. If you think of the volume of people who are buying into that community and tapping those resources… That’s tremendous value. Look at GrabCAD… That’s a recent acquisition of Stratasys and a very exciting one, too. That’s 2 million users online, all sharing CAD files, storing CAD, soliciting and facilitating data with one another. 2 million users… that’s huge!
So, with the recent acquisitions of Solid Concepts and RedEye and so on, Stratasys is shifting to create an ecosystem of solutions within a community where people can talk… So we can go up to a customer and say, “Hey, we’re not just providing printers. We can provide a parts business for you and we can provide an online platform for your thoughts and for education, as well as being local and providing the support that you need.” And that’s very powerful.
PK: Are there any new innovations that Stratasys are working on right now that you would like to talk about?
Jonathan Jaglom: I think the solutions that we have today complete the needs of the vast majority of our customers. In fact, our challenge is in educating these solutions to our customers in a way that will allow them to fully embrace the technology. There has been so much innovation at Stratasys in the last 12 months… Our challenge is now to educate our customer base in how to best use that technology to solve their daily needs using our printers.
I think the real focus for us on innovation right now is in developing the ecosystem and the community. For example, you could be a customer today and order metal parts through us- it’s part of the offering. You could buy a printer from us, and packaged with that printer, you could send an email to Solid Concepts in the USA from your base in Singapore, and could receive a metal part, via FedEx, in your hand, tomorrow. You see, Stratasys is offering all technologies… and that is a misconception, by the way. People think that Stratasys are a “plastic only” company…and actually, we’re really into metal too. We can offer metal printing through Solid Concepts. We can offer all of these products in house.
Imagine if FDM or Polyjet is 80% of the equation…We know its not the full equation because no single system offers all solutions. So, the extra 20% that you need… well, we can service that. What do you care, it means you don’t have to buy another machine. And these metal machines are very expensive pieces of equipment.
So, in answer to your question of what new products we have to offer, I think, in my humble opinion, that we are fine right now (in terms of hardware)… The real challenge now lies in educating and communicating that message and promoting out the portfolio, the ecosystem, and the community that you should tap into, if you’re a customer. And that’s the value that we give.
Ido Eylon: And, just so you don’t get the wrong impression, it’s not that we aren’t investing in R&D, we definitely are… 10% of our turnover, roughly $70 million is going back into R&D. Last year alone, we launched 13 products in November alone, including materials and hardware.
PK: What is the greater vision for Stratasys?
Jonathan Jaglom: Well, the greater cause is not just wealth or revenue. The greater cause is to promote wonderful new technology to smaller and larger firms in Asia and let them be more competitive on a global scale. That is the greater cause. And the message to those companies is that you’ve got to embrace 3D printing. I did a TED talk a while ago and I used the term “3D printing” specifically. I didn’t say “Stratasys” – it’s great if they want to pick our solution, but whether it’s our solution or someone else’s, it all contributes to the greater cause of embracing 3D printing. It’s quite odd to me that there are still some product design firms who do not embrace 3D printing, instead using handmade models.
PK: Can you tell us what sort of indicators you use to track the growth of the industry?
Jonathan Jaglom: We look at 4 main indicators: The first is the number of CAD seats to a 3D printer. There is still a huge disparity in the number of CAD seats per printer. There are currently lots of seats, and not so many printers.
The second indicator is the number of companies dealing with product design versus companies with in-house 3D printing capability.
Thirdly, we look at the education sector. For example, how many students graduate in studies such as product design, 3D printing, or engineering?
And, fourth, we look at lead gen. Lead generation is interesting. The more interest you generate is a good indicator of the direction of the market. We see a lot of traction in Asia. Asia is the fastest growing subsidiary of Stratasys.
PK: Any final thoughts for our readers?
Jonathan Jaglom: If you’re not embracing 3D printing and you’re in product design, then you should absolutely investigate these technologies. Walk into that space because you are falling behind. The companies that we know who embrace this are bringing products to market faster and cheaper than before. This is not an opinion; this is fact. If you are in product design and you are not in this space, you are falling behind. The bread and butter of 3D printing remains as product design; forget the manufacturing sector for the minute.
Ido Eylon: 3D printing is the next big thing and has been for a long time. Don’t wait for the next big thing that may be 6 months around the corner. Now is the time to join this industry. So, if you are interested in joining, then please contact us at Stratasys and we would be more than happy to help you figure out how our solutions might fit your business. And this is why Stratasys is focusing on the local elements. The more local we are as a company, the more able we are to meet the pace. Just call us, and we will meet you anywhere and anytime.
