Posted on

We Interview Gil Lavi About 3D Alliances & Selling Through 3D Printing Channel and Resellers

Gil Lavi is a 3D printing veteran who spent nine years at Stratasys doing regional channel management and Strategic Account Management. He then managed strategic accounts for Makerbot in Europe, was the Vice President of Sales at Roboze before becoming Head of Channel Enablement at BigRep. Gil packs a lot of channel and sales expertise as well as very deep 3D printing knowledge. For his next venture he decided not to join a company to manage its channel but to rather bring best practices in channel building and channel management to a wider audience. His company 3D Alliances helps companies built and manage global sales channel and reseller networks. This kind of an approach was new to us so we asked Gil to explain what he’s up to. 

What is 3D Alliances? 

“3D Alliances is a new 3d-printing consulting company that specializes in deployment and management of channel networks for 3D-printing companies. We identify and team up with companies offering unique and innovative solutions to help them ramp up their global channel network.

We also support them with:

  • Setting their go-to market business strategy

  • Training their channel management teams to excel in supporting sales partners”

Why should I have a channel as an OEM? 

Channel deployment is managed today by the 3D printing companies themselves. The big players in the market (HP, SSYS, DDD, MarkForged, Formlabs ect) can afford having experienced channel managers for a minimum of 3 regions – EMEA, America and Asia. However, out of the 500 companies in the market that deals directly with developing and selling 3D printers, there are many innovative small-medium size companies (20-100 employees) that are dealing with their first or second product. Most of the employees are R&D, finance, logistics and technology people, and for sales/channel management they employee 1 to 2 people.

Where is the problem for these companies? In most cases they employ people with little experience with 3D printing channel recruitment & management since they can’t afford to pay an ex-manager from the big companies (their revenue stream is not there yet). These people have a steep learning curve and they make mistakes along the way, losing time they can’t afford. We don’t intend to replace their channel mangers, but rather help them to accelerate the process of seeking, filtering, choosing and managing their sales channels, and set the right management methodology with current partners.

What does having a channel do for a company? 

Having channel partners is the model most of the 3D printing companies choose to work with, very few sell only direct. Having a channel means first of all selling demo units for each, a revenue which can be significant for small-medium size companies. Choosing strong channel partners, even in only a few leading countries, that generate healthy revenue and can help 3D printing companies get closer to their balance point (expanses ver revenue), and improve their position in their next round of investments.

Won’t having a channel mean I lose contact with the market?

On the contrary. As an example, a 3D printing company from Poland that takes on board a channel in France, can access now with the help of the channel, customers across the different industries in the country. They channel sold to these customers in the past, and already has trusted relationship with the market. This channel will know the French market much better than the 3D printing company will and beyond selling printers in the region, they can send back from the customers to the 3D printing company important inputs on their products. All of this is even more critical, for example, when it involves a 3D printing company from Korea trying to manage their business in Europe.

What makes a good channel partner? 

  • Good experience in prompting, selling and supporting 3D printing hardware (several years of experience, 3-4 years).

  • Sell complimentary solutions such as CAD-CAM software’s, CNC/Milling, post processing equipment ect.

  • Already having a large installed base of happy customers where both sides trust each other

  • Can act independently in his region with minimum support needed from the 3D printing companies. Have a clear business plan how to sell each product in their portfolio.

  • Long runner and not opportunistic – willing to invest for the long run and not needing revenue in a very short time.

  • Have the resources to invest in marketing (open houses, trade shows, online campaigns) and in after sales support.

  • Have the right knowledge and understands clearly how to fit the right product to the right industries/segments/applications. For example – low cost desktop 3D printers for education institutes or high performance 3D printers and materials for Aerospace.

How do you align the interests of channel partners and OEMs for the long run?

The side of the 3D printing company – they are looking for strong and long-term channel partners that can cover the regions they would like to sell in. They are looking for trusted business partners that knows their region well, so they could rest assure they are doing a professional job in prompting and selling their products.

On the side of the channel partners – they looking for 3D printing companies that can deliver, over time, good and reliable products, can offer technical support and have the right vision to evolve with the market, meaning to continue over time to deliver new products that will answer their customer’s ongoing needs.

3D Alliances will act as an independent entity, connecting between both sides. Many mistakes are made by 3D printing companies choosing the wrong channels to resell their products (channels that don’t have the right experience, knowledge, understanding, and resources to sell their products), and mistakes made by channels that don’t check in depth the companies behind new products they wish to sell, and discover later on limitations of the product, lack of support from the 3D printing companies ect.

3D Alliances will bridge this gap and make the right fit between 3d-printing companies and 3d printing sales channels.

How will you handle working with multiple competing OEMs?

The goal of 3D Alliances, at this stage, is to pick up to 5 innovative and unique 3D printing companies that don’t compete with each other. For example – an FDM company, SLS, Metal and PCB 3d-printing company. These companies will be our customers, when the goal would be to fit each other the right channels in different regions. As of today, we have in our network over 550 3D printing resellers (channel partners) from 57 countries. They sell leading brands from professional desktop 3d printers, mid-range, to heavy production systems. So there could be a case in which we approach one channel and he would be fit and interested to sell more than one product out of the companies we are working with like SLS & FDM. So no conflict in that perspective. 

What has changed since you started working in 3D printing?

I started to work in the industry back in 2006 for Objet, which later on merged with Stratasys. Back then there were no more than 12 3D printing companies in the world. Today there are over 500 companies globally. Things that changed in this period of time:

  • Innovation was, and still is, fueled mostly by small start up companies.

  • Much higher general awareness by all sides.

  • Many patents have expired, and more to come, which led to more companies in the industry, some are focused on specific segment/solution like dental.

  • Many new technologies has entered that enable to reduce costs of ownership, cost per part, increase printing speed and enable new high-performance metal replacement materials.

  • New and big players has entered the market – HP, BASF, Georg Fisher, GE and others, focusing mostly on the implementation of 3D printing in manufacturing.

  • More players in the software side – slicing software’s, design for AM, data base management ect.

What trends do you see in printers?

  • First trend – clear split between low-cost desktop printers with mostly PLA for basic concept modeling, to professional printers offering high-performance materials for functional prototyping/short run production of end-use parts.

  • Second trend – the rise of more affordable and easy to use metal 3D printing solutions. A lot of room there to grow. Out of the 500,000 3D printers sold last year, over 90% of them were desktop printers, the rest are professional/production and a small portion of that were metal.

  • Third trend – more and more solutions are focused on lower costs of ownership, lower cost per part, faster printing speed and new high-performance metal replacement materials (manufacturing)

  • Fourth trend – printers that were developed with the understanding of how they should fit a real manufacturing lines, meaning – automation, specs & standards, and software wise.

Will all desktop machines be high temperature eventually? 

A clear split into (1) low-cost for education, hobby and basic concept modeling (2) affordable high performance printers with high-temp materials.

Whats your business model?

First of all, our goal as a company is to be the largest trusted global hub that connects between 3D printing companies and resellers. Our business model, as a consulting company, is to form business alliances with 3D printing companies to help them ramp up channel partners. We don’t intend to replace their channel mangers, but rather help them to accelerate the process of seeking, filtering, choosing and managing their sales channels.

What kind of resellers are you looking for?

Although we have over 550 resellers in our network, we are looking to reach out to much more that are eager to expand their portfolio over the coming years, with the understanding that their customer’s needs are constantly changing. We welcome to our network resellers that are looking to focus on 3d-printing solutions for mostly manufacturing.

And OEMs? 

  • 3D printing companies that offer unique and innovative solutions, mostly around manufacturing.

  • Are ready to expand globally and have the right resources and infrastructure to do so.

  • Understand the value of setting the right working plan on how to recrite and manage sales partners in the 3D printing industry.

  • Wish to accelerate their revenue stream in a competitive environment, and lay the right foundations for the business growth of their company. 

What other issues are there?

In many cases they are cultural gaps between business partners, especially, for example, when an American 3D printing company would like to deploy channels in Asia, or an Asian 3D printing company would like to deploy channels in Europe. 3D Alliances will help to bridge these cultural gaps as well, that sometimes causes misunderstanding and damage the relationship between both sides.

Posted on

Virginia Tech Researchers 3D Print Kapton Using Direct Ink Writing

Daniel Rau works with a 3D printer in the DREAMS Lab.

Last year, a group of Virginia Tech researchers developed a method for 3D printing Kapton, a foil-like polyimide that possesses excellent thermal and chemical stability and therefore is commonly used in insulation for aerospace applications. It also acts as an electrical insulator and is resistant to ultraviolet radiation. It doesn’t dissolve in solvents and has a degradation temperature of about 550°C.

“(Kapton) can withstand all kinds of harsh environmental insults: radiation, high temperature, chemical reagents,” said Timothy Long, a professor of chemistry and the director of Virginia Tech’s Macromolecules Innovation Institute (MII). “It’s one of these molecules that is the ultimate in terms of performance.”

Prior to last year’s study, Kapton was only available in thin two-dimensional sheets, like tape or the “gold foil” that wraps around satellites to insulate them, but the researchers then figured out how to 3D print the material using SLA. Now they have developed a second method for 3D printing Kapton: direct ink writing, or DIW. They detailed their research in a recent paper entitled “Ultraviolet-Assisted Direct Ink Write to Additively Manufacture All-Aromatic Polyimides.“

“If you think of caulking a bathtub or decorating a cake with icing, (DIW is) a very similar process,” said Daniel Rau, one of the co-authors and a Ph.D. student in the Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems (DREAMS) Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Because it’s so simple, (DIW) gives us incredible flexibility on the ink, synthesis, and the properties it has.”

After 3D printing the material using direct ink writing, the printed parts had similar properties to commercially available Kapton film. They had similar mechanical properties up to 400°C, and their degradation temperature was 534°C. According to Rau, while SLA is better for 3D printing entire objects, direct ink writing is better for 3D printing different materials side by side.

“All of the different additive manufacturing processes are like different tools in the workshop,” Rau said. “You have hammers and that has its strengths. You have saws and that has its strengths.”

In addition to multi-material 3D printing, the researchers can also now print Kapton directly onto an existing material using direct ink writing, said Christopher Williams, director of the DREAMS Lab and associate director of MII. They can also print the material on curved surfaces.

“As soon as we were able to print Kapton, people asked us about applications,” Williams said. “The answer we often gave was printed electronics, but that’s challenging to do in stereolithography. This new technique could really enable that as we look towards simultaneous printing of conductive materials and this excellent insulator.”

In last year’s study on SLA 3D printing, Jana Herzberger, a postdoctoral student in the Long Group, created a precursor polymer to Kapton in liquid form. The liquid wouldn’t work for direct ink writing because it wouldn’t hold its shape after extrusion. Instead, Herzberger created a resin with a consistency similar to peanut butter.

“When Dr. Williams challenged us to modify the resin for the direct ink write process, we all thought it would be rather straightforward,” Herzberger said. “It turned out that the ‘easy’ route didn’t work, and we had to make some modifications to the original resin. Often times, I synthesized a resin and studied its rheological properties [rheology is the study of how a matter flows or moves in the presence of deformation], and Danny tested if it performed in the printer as we predicted. It was a new experience for me to work with engineers, and I think we learned a lot from each other and improved our communication skills quite a bit.”

Herzberger and Rau both worked on finding the right balance of an ink that she could synthesize and he could print.

“We both had to meet in the middle and make concessions and communicate,” Rau said. “This was a great partnership — an iterative process — to make this ink printable. Neither of us had the knowledge to go from material creation to final part.”

Long’s and Williams’ groups worked closely together as well to create the new method.

“My group makes macromolecules and Chris’ group puts them into unique geometric shapes,” Long said. “It’s almost like one group working together to solve really complex questions like this.”

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[Source/Images: Virginia Tech]

 

Posted on

Holiday Planning Tips: #5 Promote Your Products In Tactful Ways

You may not be a marketing specialist, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use some marketing tips to help promote your products this holiday season. These simple, easy-to-follow tips will not only help generate more interest in your products over the next few weeks but also lead to more long-term business success.

Dive Deep Into Your Google Analytics Account

One of the best ways to fully understand your customers is by using Google Analytics. Reviewing your traffic data will give you a good indication of what your customers are most interested in and which products they view the most. If you haven’t set up your Google Analytics account, it is easy to do — and free! — just follow our tutorial here.

Once you’re all set up, make it a habit to check it regularly. Know how many visitors your shop receives on a weekly and monthly basis, the demographics of your visitors, how they’re finding your shop, and what your most popular products are.

Utilize Social Media

If you see through Google Analytics that your shop is receiving decent referrals from social media, it’s worth allocating some time to further develop your social channels. Whatever your preferred  channel is, these tips could help:

  1. Comments are worth more than likes: Not only from an engagement scoring perspective, but meaningful conversations can help you understand your customers’ needs and wants much more than likes.
  2. Know what time zones your audience is in and when they are most active. Use this insight to plan your posts at times when there is more engagement.
  3. Aim to only share high quality photos, meaning that none of them should be blurry or hard to see. Additionally, candid photos work well on social because they feel more personal, and behind-the-scenes photos shot on cell phones can be just as effective.
  4. Build relationships online and offline: Ultimately, you want people to message, contact, and purchase from you. Don’t lose sight of your end goal, which is to generate revenue, not to reach x number of followers or likes.

Don’t Underestimate Word of Mouth

As useful as digital marketing is, word of mouth is still extremely important. If customers are happy with the products you make for them, chances are they’re going to tell their friends and family. Don’t be shy about letting your social circles know about your 3D products. You are your own best advocate, so give out your products as gifts, bring them to holiday parties, wear them, display them, use them at home, at work and when you travel, so that when people think of your product category, they think of you.

Ask For Customer Testimonials

Getting customer testimonials is also useful. Remember that customers are humans, and behind each purchase is somebody looking to make their lives happier or more productive with your product. Ask your customers for feedback and use the feedback to improve your shop, and to let the world know why people have chosen to purchase from you.

So you’ve reviewed our material cutoff dates, refreshed your products, added in the best images possible, and now you’re marketing your products to your target audience. We hope these tips have been helpful and wish you a great holiday season of selling.

The post Holiday Planning Tips: #5 Promote Your Products In Tactful Ways appeared first on Shapeways Magazine.

Posted on

MTC and NASA partnership underway for space additive manufacturing technologies

Following the establishment of the Additive Manufacturing Benchmarking Center (AMBC) by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), located in Coventry, UK, is developing a partnership with NASA scientists for technology used on space missions. “NASA came to us through our collaboration within the ASTM Additive Manufacturing Centre of Excellence and our […]
Posted on

UCL combats breastfeeding difficulties in babies with 3D printed sensor

Researchers from University College London (UCL), Imperial College London (ICL), and Universitá Campus Bio-Medico di Roma have developed a 3D printed device to study the sense of touch in babies. In doing so, the research hopes to yield insights into reasons why some newborn babies have difficulty breastfeeding. Etienne Burdet, Professor of Human Robotics in […]
Posted on

Deep Learning Used to Predict Stress in SLA 3D Printed Structures

In a thesis entitled “Deep Learning Based Stress Prediction for Bottom-Up Stereo-lithography (SLA) 3D Printing Process,” a University at Buffalo student named Aditya Pramod Khadlikar describes a method of predicting stress distribution in SLA 3D printed parts using a Deep Learning framework. The framework consists of a new 3D model database that captures a variety of geometric features that can be found in real 3D parts as well as “FE simulation on the 3D models present in the database that is used to create inputs and corresponding labels (outputs) to train the DL network.”

As Khadlikar points out, part deformation and failure during the separation process are common problems encountered in bottom-up SLA 3D printing.

“Cohesive Zone Models have been successfully used to model the separation process in bottom-up SLA printing process,” Khadlikar says. “However, the Finite Element (FE) simulation of the separation process is prohibitively computationally expensive and thus cannot be used for online monitoring of the SLA printing process.”

Therefore, Khadlikar created an alternate method of predicting stress. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was used to develop a deep learning framework that could calculate the stress induced in any layer of a CAD model in real time to assist in online monitoring of the bottom-up SLA 3D printing process. To train the network, a dataset was created using Autodesk Inventor API, and ABAQUS python script was used to carry out FE
simulations on the generated dataset.

Experiments were carried out on multiple samples using the CNN. Several parts with similar cross-sections at a particular layer were examined to see the stress distribution on that layer for a given part. Khadlikar and colleagues discovered that different parts with the same cross-section at a particular layer had different stress distribution at that layer.

“This shows that for non-uniform 3D parts, along with given layer information we need information from the previous layers as well,” Khadlikar says. “This motivated us to develop a new architecture where the stress information of the previous layer is also used for stress prediction for a given layer.”

Stress distribution on the cured layer

An important conclusion reached was that CNN is drastically faster than FEA simulation. The created dataset worked effectively, helping to determine parameters such as peak stress and dependence on previous layer information to determine the stress distribution on a layer. The deep learning model, overall, outperformed the simple neural network model previously used for stress prediction.

“This framework can also be further used for training a larger dataset of 3D parts with varying heights as well,” Khadlikar says. “This framework cannot be used to predict stress on all the layers in a 3D part. This is due to the fact that previous layer stress information to predict current layer stress. Using a prediction of the previous layer to predict current layer stress induces more error due to compounding. Future work will be stress prediction on each layer of the 3D part…A good direction for future research can be incorporating more parameters like the height of slice and pull-up velocity to mimic the 3D printing process more realistically and to get better control over the process.”

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

 

Posted on

A*STAR calls for industry to ‘take full advantage’ of additive manufacturing possibilities

The Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has discovered how to maximise the strength of 3D printed, free-form lattice cores. Integral to the structure of sandwich panels, used in light weighting aircrafts, the group’s findings have been demonstrated to reduce premature buckling, one of the most common means of failure for this type of […]
Posted on

Whirlpool to introduce 3D printing to appliance aftersales with Spare Parts 3D

American multinational home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has entered into a 3D printing partnership with Singapore service bureau Spare Parts 3D. Together the companies have committed to digitise Whirlpool’s part catalog, combatting obsolesce and fulfilling part-shortage areas. Already, through a pilot project which ran through 2017, Spare Parts 3D has validated the technical suitability of three […]
Posted on

HRE Wheels and GE Additive unveil 3D printed titanium wheel

HRE Wheels, a luxury and sports vehicle wheel manufacturer from California, has partnered with GE Additive to produce a new titanium 3D printed product.  The new, lightweight wheel core, named Byanzantine after the powerful Eastern Roman Empire, draws on inspiration from other production model HRE components, and was made using two metal 3D printing systems in […]