A worker puts together MakerBot Replicator desktop 3D printers at the company’s factory in Brooklyn, N.Y. Image credit: MakerBot
3D printer company MakerBot is restructuring, including a 20 percent reduction in staff, after the company has been forced to dial back on some of its goals.
Jonathan Jaglom, who has been CEO of MakerBot for six months, made a blog post on Oct. 8 detailing some of the changes that the company is facing.
He wrote, “We have achieved a lot as a team, but we have also been impacted by the broader challenges in our industry. For the last few quarters, we did not meet our ambitious goals and we have to make significant changes to ensure MakerBot’s future growth and success.”
As well as noting the setbacks the company has faced – it closed all three of its retail stores in April – Jaglom called for the company to “get back to our entrepreneurial spirit and address our fractured organizational structure.”
MakerBot CEO Jonathan Jaglom speaks at the opening of the company’s Brooklyn factory in 2015. Image credit: MakerBot
In an effort to do this, the R&D teams at the Industry City office in Brooklyn will be moved to the corporate headquarters at MetroTech in downtown Brooklyn, bringing the teams together to easier collaboration and communication. The MakerBot factory, located in Industry City, will remain there.
MakerBot will also reach out to a contract manufacturer to produce their 4th generation products, saving on costs and allowing the team at the MakerBot factory to focus on the current generation of printers.
Nadav Goshen will be brought on as president, and will focus on supporting the MakerBot community and building their 3D printing ecosystem out globally.
MakerBot also laid off 20 percent of its employees during a previous staff change in April, during the effort to return to the company’s core values which also included closing the retail stores. In July, the company opened a new 170,000-square-foot factory in Brooklyn doubling production capacity.
The identity of the contract manufacturer who will be involved in the next generation of MakerBot printers hasn’t yet been announced, but it looks like the company in general is slimming down, focusing on supporting their hardware and their ecosystem.
(Via 3DPrint.)
Filed Under: 3D printing • additive manufacturing • stereolithography, Industrial automation
