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MakerOS Webinar: Make the Most Profit from Your 3D Printing Business

Web-based collaboration platform for 3D printing and digital fabrication companies MakerOS assists users in developing their products faster, no matter the stage or size of the company. It was founded by CEO Mike Moceri, who has copious amounts of experience in design, manufacturing, software, and business: he co-founded the very first 3D printing retail service bureau, located in Chicago, back in 2013, and followed this move by founding 3D printing and product design agency Manulith the next year.

MakerOS is sponsoring a free webinar, which 3DPrint.com is organizing, called “How to Make the Most Profit from 3D Printing,” which will be held on Wednesday, September 16th, 2020, from 2-3 pm EDT. Any digital fabrication business owner or 3D printing shop manager looking to run a more successful business should definitely sign up for this webinar.

“If you don’t understand your costs, you don’t understand your business,” Moceri told 3DPrint.com.

Let’s say that you have successfully completed a 3D printing job for a client, but instead of the substantial profit you were expecting, you only barely broke even. If you care about staying afloat, you’ll want to determine the underlying cause of something like this. That’s why this webinar is so important—you’ll learn how to keep this from happening and gain a deeper understanding of all the various expenses and costs that go into running your 3D printing business. This way, you will be able to set accurate, fair prices and maximize your profits.

“So what we’ll do in this webinar is we’ll figure out what are the core and most important points of cost analysis. We’ll go into detail on how to determine margins and profits for your operation, as well as the philosophy and rationale behind those calculations,” Moceri explained to us.

“We’ll provide a framework and how to think about your business starting with the costs and then we’ll talk about the philosophical aspects of determining margins and ultimately profits for your business.”

By attending this MakerOS webinar, you’ll come away with the knowledge of how to successfully run your digital fabrication or 3D printing shop. The insights attendees will gain can help steer thinking towards a cost-specific perspective, leading to higher profits, and you’ll learn how to recognize subtle things that could negatively affect your margins.

Every webinar attendee will receive access to a spreadsheet that they can use to make calculations and projections to, as Moceri explained, “see what the most optimal path to profitability is for their business.” In addition, the participants will have the chance to learn all of this from someone who has consulted with industry experts from all around the world and has successfully started multiple 3D printing services…Moceri himself.

Featured on MSN, NBC, Make Magazine, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the D-Business Magazine, which once called him the “Face of 3D printing,” Moceri was once a mentor at TechTown Detroit, and currently serves as a mentor at WeWork Labs in NYC and the Stanley+Techstars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator. He is also an author, having recently published an e-book titled How to Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic as a 3D Printing or Fabrication Shop, along with 9 Lessons for Optimizing Your Product Development Service. You can find both of Moceri’s e-books on the recently launched MakerOS Zone of our website.

What else can you expect to see in the MakerOS Zone? Plenty! There are also free video tutorials, such as “How to Price for SLA 3D Printing” and “Why We Made a 3D Printing Pricing Calculator,” along with the aforementioned pricing calculator itself. The MakerOS Zone also includes articles about the company that have been published on our website, as well as MakerOS articles found elsewhere on the web. Finally, you can access the company’s webinars “How to Optimally Price For Your 3D Printing Service Bureau in 2020,” and “How to Make the Most Profit from 3D Printing,” as previously mentioned. You can register here for the latter, which will be held on Wednesday, September 16th, 2020, from 2-3 pm EDT.

The post MakerOS Webinar: Make the Most Profit from Your 3D Printing Business appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

The Fastest Way to Scale Your 3D Printing Business

Scaling a business is more than just adding customers and profits. Scaling includes having an easy automated process in place for new potential clients to start a project with you. Technology is certainly a big part of this, but more so it involves a mindset to give your customer the tools needed to get answers that move them along the path of doing business with you more often.

We know that prospective customers often just want to know, “how much will this cost?” so we must be able to have a quick answer for them, ideally one that’s automated but also inexpensive. Larger service bureaus are able to afford the front-end tools that prospects increasingly expect – notably, the ability to quote a project online in seconds.

Let’s cut right to it: You need a tool to quote projects faster and more completely, more comprehensively. Ideally, this “get a quote” calculator is built right into your website working 24/7 for you. You want to be able to quote the project without investing tons of your time, your top engineer’s time, or demanding more of the prospective customer’s time.

Perfecting the quoting process for 3D printing services is what pushed me to start MakerOS, and it’s one that we continue to solve. We’ve noticed that successful companies go beyond a robust quote methodology and website tool.

Ultimately, they start connecting internal processes (including sales and customer experience tools), and then link it to a healthy customer relationship management (CRM) process (one built specifically for 3D printing and additive manufacturing companies which dramatically help retention and future referrals).

Let’s look at these three areas to improve the customer experience and your profitability:

Start with the Quote

Convert more prospects into paying customers when you use a holistic quoting methodology. People are going to come to your website expecting they can enter some basic parameters, a copy of the file to be printed or made, and get a rough idea of the cost.
Capture relevant information for salespeople and engineers during the quoting process. Information that will close any gaps between sales and engineering will create better collaboration and optimized workflows for you and your customer. Relevant information might include specific instructions the customer shares with the sales person, but in many companies would not get transferred immediately to the engineer. The earlier you put information in front of key people, the sooner your customer realizes he or she is at the center.
You are not in the business of providing quotes; you are in the business of completing projects for clients.

Connect Your Processes to Set Yourself up for Success

Sync the sales process with engineering and product development to become more efficient
Automate a lot of the admin work to free up time to focus on the final product. Most CRM tools will allow you to send automated messages keeping customers up-to-date on what is happening with their project build.
Provide a professional experience for your customer

Retain Customers

Since receiving a fast quote is practically a requirement today, by doing so you will reduce attrition and build a client base. You will have more opportunities to converse with your prospect and win them over if you give them what they want – the quote – as fast as possible.
When you include clients in your workflow, give them access to data about what will happen or is happening with their job, they will see you as a trusted provider. A bit of a shameless plug here: we believe the MakerOS Client Portal and Communication Hub enables a level of client collaboration because it focuses on unique aspects of running a 3D printing service bureau — keeping you in production mode.
When you put the customer at the center, open up visibility into your production process, your clients will become champions of your business. They are more likely to give you referrals because of this transparency.

You’ll be better able to grow when you make it easy for your customer to do business with you via smart quote tools accessible on your website. After you have gained their trust with a fast and responsive quote, given them transparency into the workflow as the job gets done, you earn the right to keep in contact to encourage future business (using your customized CRM process). Keep scaling.

We built MakerOS with a holistic methodology to enhance your ability to quote 3D printing projects, taking into account all aspects of the business. You can test our 3D Printing Pricing Calculator that we developed to complement our new methodology.

MakerOS is a web-based, all-in-one collaboration platform for 3D printing and digital fabrication companies to develop products faster, regardless of company size or stage.

If you’re looking to ensure you’re pricing correctly, or how to scale your 3D printing business, contact us to learn more.

About the Author:

Mike Moceri has deep experience in manufacturing, design, and software. In 2013, he co-founded the world’s first 3D printing retail service bureau in Chicago. In 2014 he founded Manulith, a 3D printing and product design agency, where his clientele included Fortune 500 companies within the aerospace, automotive, and medical industries. Mike is also a mentor at Stanley+Techstars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator, a mentor at WeWork Labs in NYC, and formerly a mentor at TechTown Detroit. He’s previously been featured on MSN, Make Magazine, NBC, and the Encyclopedia Britannica. D-Business Magazine called him the “Face of 3D printing.” Mike is currently the founder and CEO of MakerOS, an all-in-one collaboration platform for additive manufacturing services to efficiently work with clients throughout the entire lifecycle of a project.

The post The Fastest Way to Scale Your 3D Printing Business appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

How I Built a 3D Printing Business in a Bubble and Survived

Let’s rewind to 2013.

Magazine covers, Netflix documentaries, and daily news segments talking about how 3D printing took over the world of tech and gave everyone an impassioned vision of the future.

The ways 3D printing could be applied to modern problems seemed limitless.

This was everywhere in 2013.

3D printing was going to revolutionize everything and companies from every corner of the internet were coming out of the woodwork to get a piece of the action.

Communities like RepRap were forming, projects were being brought to life through crowdfunding, and even surprise venture capital backed startups were all adding to the hype. Then there were also the “big guys” like Stratasys and 3D Systems cashing in by acquiring more companies than they could handle and promising their shareholders the moon.

As all of this was bubbling up, people were sent into a frenzy as the media told them not to miss out on the next “industrial revolution.” Dumb money and bad ideas were everywhere.

What could go wrong?

“TOUR DE RUST BELT”

In 2013, I co-founded 3DPX in Chicago with an eclectic group of passionate dreamers that were hellbent on bringing this technology to the masses. Then in 2014, I founded Manulith in Detroit to service the automotive, aerospace and medical industries and help them rapidly prototype new technologies. Throughout both of those businesses, I was taking the lessons learned and bootstrapping what would ultimately become MakerOS.

The 3DPX Showroom in Chicago

I was every bit a part of the 3D printing hype machine of 2013-2015. However, while the industry has changed since those early days I’ve seen a few things stand the test of time:

People don’t care how their thing is made.

All they care about is if it’s made on time, within budget, and meets their quality expectations.

This is extremely relevant to the term “3D Printing” as it has been characterized as the apex of manufacturing that will make things faster, cheaper, and easier. It’s better to consider it as part of an ecosystem where it’s applied in the appropriate context.

Most clients will have a hard time conceptualizing how their products are made which makes it difficult to share progress throughout development.

Before starting a project ask yourself: what is your client expecting to see along the way?

Trying to sell complicated tools to consumers is a bad idea. Focus on B2B.

Everyone can own a hammer, but not everyone is capable of building a birdhouse. This applies equally well to computers and software too.

Both hardware and software startups have a knack for thinking that they can take a generally complex process and distill it down to a consumer-facing product.

We saw this as MakerBot shifted from “everyone should own one” to “this is for professionals and educators”.

The same is true of 3D printing marketplaces that originally catered to the consumer/hobbyist crowd who then later reposition their platforms to professionals.

Before launching a product or service, do a clear audit of the different use cases of how it can be used.

Ask yourself: who will this benefit most?

The media is irresponsible when it comes to new technology.

All new technology goes through a hype cycle.

When computers were first hooked up to the internet there was mass hysteria that everything would be hacked. Drones were hot then the media told us to fear them. 3D printing was the darling technology meant to help kids with their physical handicaps, then the media turned their attention to a megalomaniac wielding a 3D printed weapon.

Then last year they were saying Bitcoin was going to replace money, and all of a sudden it was for criminals.

Control the narrative of your technology/product/industry before someone tells it for you.

Large OEM’s have their hands tied when it comes to innovation.

In 2014 GM’s 3D printing facility in Southfield, Michigan, flooded and destroyed $30M of equipment. Their engineering team approached me at Manulith asking if I could help with their backlog of prototypes they still needed to produce.

Exactly the work we were set up for, however, we didn’t get the job.

It all came down to the purchasing department requiring a Dun and Bradstreet score and other qualifications to allow us into their system.

Be prepared to run into politics and policies where you have no control.

It’s never been easier to start, but it’s never been harder to scale.

It’s incredibly expensive and burdensome to run a product development and fabrication service. When starting our fabrication businesses, we easily acquired everything we needed to get started. But, little did we know about the storm we would have to go through to scale our operations.

It’s going to be your job to find efficiencies in everything you do.

This was our process and from our research, this is how most product based services operate.

Marketplaces don’t work for you. You work for the marketplace.

Sites like Upwork or Fiverr have made it easier to begin or sustain a career as an independent contractor. The trouble, however, is that these marketplaces put you up against thousands of other people with similar skills and those early adopters or “highly” rated get all the business. The platforms don’t care who gets the work, so long as work is getting done so they can make their cut on each transaction.

A sense of professionalism is needed for people to move beyond the marketplaces. To grow, you’ll need to expand your capabilities and be a part of a supplier network that allows you to leverage the skillsets of others.

The key to survival is to do things that scale your business automatically.

Network like hell.

The last and more important thing is to network like hell.

It’s dangerous to try any of this alone. Communities, incubators, meetups, anything you can do to expand your network will benefit you in the long run. Be someone that helps other people tell their story. Become their go-to person as someone who helped them become successful. Learn how to play the game. Politics are everywhere and the sooner you’re able to learn how to navigate them the better off you’ll be.

Mike Moceri is the Founder& CEO of MakerOS

MakerOS is an all-in-one efficiency platform with all of the custom order management features a 3D printing business needs to collaborate with clients and better their workflow.

Learn how MakerOS will improve your business when you request a demo.

The post How I Built a 3D Printing Business in a Bubble and Survived appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Bossard Group continues 3D printing expansion with 30% stake in Ecoparts

Bossard, a Swiss fastener technology and logistics group has acquired a 30% share in fellow Swiss company Ecoparts, a 3D printing service bureau. The move is the latest in a series of 3D printing deals made by the company in the last few years. Commenting in relation to the new shares, the company stated, “This […]

Why 3D Printing Might Be Good for Your Jewelry Business

The 3D printing industry seemingly knows no bounds, and the revolution is as exciting as ever.

Jewelry producers have been putting incredible results on our fingers, on our necks, and around our wrists. And within this powerhouse industry, 3D printing has already established a strong foothold.

So what can you expect when you implement 3D printing in jewelry making?

Why 3D Printing Might Be Good for Your Business

Traditional jewelry operations alone are no longer enough to meet the changing needs of evolving consumer tastes. Those who work with 3D printed jewelry are helping to respond to a shift in consumption, where creativity and personalization are valued above mass produced accessories.

1. Enhanced Creativity

One of the benefits of 3D printed jewelry is increased flexibility and creativity to try out new designs, patterns, and textures. Not only can you make larger designs, but you can also create multiple versions of an individual piece. This technology opens up a world of options when the constraints of traditional mold creation is removed.

2. Provide Personalization

3D printing allows for a higher level of connection with your clients, allowing you to better understand their needs and, in a matter of hours, enabling you to show renders of 3D models for instant feedback. This tactile experience brings the piece to the customer in real time, making the experience much more hands-on than merely seeing an image on a screen.

You can also easily add personal touches to 3D printed jewelry like engraving, or modify existing designs to the customer’s preference for a truly one-of-a-kind piece.

3. Streamline Processes

3D technology allows you to create custom jewelry quickly, often in a matter of days, which is a huge advantage over traditional jewelry making that can take weeks.

3D printing also allows the client a more hands-on approach to creating jewelry, as you can make multiple changes to get the piece just right, at minimal cost. 3D iterations let you check for accuracy and allow you to finalize every aspect before casting, giving the client exactly what they want.

4. Forget About Production

3D printing services like Shapeways take care of producing the jewelry once you create the 3D file, which greatly minimizes your worries over production.

5. Attention to Detail

Lastly, this technology allows you to attain a high level of detail in jewelry making when the same may not be achievable when pieces are crafted by hand.

This technology has carved a place for itself in the jewelry industry, and those who learn how to utilize it can take advantage in creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art.

See Examples

Check out our interviews with jewelry business owners that use 3D printing to push creative limits. Meet Jorge Rojas, who creates “containers of emotion” in his jewelry collection marrying organic forms, shapes and elements; and Ola Shekhtman, whose love of architecture and travel inspired her to create her Cityscape Ring Collection.

Upload Your File

Ready to get started with your own jewelry line? Upload a file now and let us help print your first product.

Grow Your Business

Learn how you can utilize 3D printing to expand the manufacturing capabilities of your business.

The post Why 3D Printing Might Be Good for Your Jewelry Business appeared first on Shapeways Magazine.

3D Printing News Briefs: December 12, 2018

Today’s 3D Printing News Briefs are short and sweet, but still full of important news that’s not to be missed. First, UK-based medical technology firm axial3D is partnering with Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare in order to enhance patient outcomes with 3D printing. Sawing machine manufacturer Kasto has announced that it is supporting the NextGenAM project for industrial 3D printing automation. Finally, Hobs 3D has purchased Canon UK’s 3D printing business.

axial3D Partnering with Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare

Daniel Crawford, axial3D

Private, not-for-profit community healthcare system Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) is teaming up with UK medical technology firm axial3D to make 3D printed medical models to ensure better patient outcomes in the neurosurgical services. The strategic partnership will use 3D printing to achieve a “transformative approach to pre-surgical care,” according to axial3D, which can now call TMH its only neuroscience industry partner in the US. TMH will also work with other international partners to collate data on the use of 3D printing in neurosurgery, complete case studies and research, and eventually expand to other surgical specialties.

“Our 3D printed models are used extensively by leading surgical centers across Europe and as we continue to develop our presence in the United States, we are excited about the clinical and research potential of this partnership with TMH. Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare offers a leading neurosurgery program and by utilizing 3D printing, it is expanding its already high standards and providing a better experience for its patients and clinical team,” said Daniel Crawford, the Founder and CEO of axial3D.

Kasto Joins NextGenAm Project

The KASTOwin amc bandsaw

Last year, the NextGenAM collaborative project was launched by Premium AEROTEC, EOS, and Daimler AG. NextGenAM is dedicated to developing and implementing next generation industrial 3D printing technology in order to cut costs and optimize workflows, and now sawing machine manufacturer Kasto has announced that it is supporting the project. The overall project aim is to develop a complete system to produce aluminum components for both the aerospace and automotive industries, and Kasto can definitely offer some assistance with this.

The automatic, fully enclosed KASTOwin amc sawing technology was specifically designed to separate 3D printed components from the build platform by inverting them and sawing horizontally, so they fall into a container below. Its cutting range is 400 x 400 mm, with an infinitely adjustable electromechanical servo motor blade feed and an optional extraction system. The other NextGenAM project partners were impressed with the saw’s ability to efficiently perform component separation, and one is now being used at the Technology Centre in Varel (TZV), where its automated pilot plant for industrial 3D printing, post-processing, and quality assurance was recently commissioned.

Canon UK’s 3D Printing Business Purchased by Hobs 3D

Three years ago, Canon Europe announced a distribution agreement with 3D Systems to market, support, and sell the company’s 3D printers in the UK and Ireland – marking its official entrance into the UK 3D printing scene. Canon UK has now been reselling professional 3D printers and offering service support and consumables to many clients across the UK for the last few years. But this week, Hobs 3D, which provide 3D printing bureau services, has announced that it has purchased the assets relating to Canon UK’s 3D printing business.

“Canon remains committed to pursuing all the growth opportunities we have within our Industrial & Production Solutions business. To ensure that each of our customers receives the best experience for managing their 3D printing operation going forward, we chose to work with leading company Hobs 3D,” said Dominic Fahy, the Head of AEC and Manufacturing for Canon UK. “We are happy that our customers are in excellent hands given the company’s long relationship with Canon and proven ability to deliver a high standard of service. We look forward to a continued strong partnership with Hobs 3D.”

Discuss these stories and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

Make Order Management a Breeze with Shopify Integration

It’s that time of year again. Colorful leaves and pumpkin-spiced drinks can only mean one thing – the holiday season is just around the corner. To be more specific, we are only 36 days away from Black Friday!

If you plan to or are already selling 3D products, it’s time to prepare your business for holiday shoppers. We highly recommend using our new integration with Shopify, the Shapeways Fulfillment app (see step-by-step setup instructions here). Not sure whether this is something you need? We’re here to help you make that decision.

The Shapeways Fulfillment App

This integration directly connects a Shopify store to Shapeways’ 3D printing manufacturing and fulfillment network, giving your business seamless access to 3D printing technology in over 40 materials and finishes. When your customer makes a purchase from your Shopify store, the order will flow through to Shapeways and can be fulfilled manually or automatically, depending on your business needs.

Who Is It For?

It’s for anyone who wishes to sell 3D models and have the orders fulfilled by Shapeways. The two accounts you need to set up are:

A Shapeways account: you can sell any or all products on your Shapeways shop, if you have one, or you can sell private models uploaded to your Shapeways account.
A Shopify store: there are multiple plans available, but you can always start with a free trial to test it out.

Integration Benefits

Access batch ordering – Eliminate repetitive order entries all together.
Automate customer orders – Orders can be processed immediately and automatically.
Print on demand in over 40 3D printed materials and finishes – No need to stock inventory or worry about products collecting dust on shelves.
Print without your own 3D manufacturing equipment – You will have access to Shapeways’ 3D printing manufacturing and fulfillment network.
Ship directly to you or your customers – Shapeways can package and ship orders straight to your customers. We can also ship them to you for additional processing.

Our early app adopters are enjoying the benefits of keeping customers on their own storefronts, and being able to go on vacation knowing that orders will take care of themselves in reaching the customers. If that sounds appealing to you, give the integration a try. And if you need assistance, we’re here to help you at storefronts@shapeways.com.

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