The fundamental objectives of manufacturing — improve quality, decrease cycle time and reduce costs — are the primary reasons that jigs and fixtures are so abundant. By Joe Hiemenz from Stratasys

Scott Crump, chairman and chief innovation officer of Stratasys explains how direct digital manufacturing, otherwise known as 3D printing, is fast emerging as a disruptive technology that may make manufacturers rethink manufacturing.

Minneapolis, US and Rehovot , Israel : Stratasys, the 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company has named IBM veteran Tim Bohling as its chief marketing officer. Mr Bohling joins the company’s leadership team and will lead Stratasys worldwide marketing strategies to drive growth and deliver the company’s value promise to its customers.

Mr Bohling has served as vice president and head of North America marketing at HCL Technologies, an IT global ser vice provider, where he was charged with both formulation and execution of a marketing strategy designed to strengthen existing client relationships, fuel new signings, and elevate the HCL brand. He has also spent more than 10 years at IBM, engineering successful digital marketing and demand generation efforts as vice president of worldwide performance marketing at IBM Global Technology Services and as vice president of marketing at IBM Global Technology Services, Growth Markets.

A frequent guest speaker at industry conferences and whose research has been published in several scholarly journals including Marketing Science and the Journal of Marketing Research, Mr Bohling’s experience extends from helping organisations make and shape markets and transition from being produc t-or iented companies to integrated solutions focused companies to developing tested methodologies across a range of disciplines such as branding, digital marketing, end-to-end demand generation and market insight.

“Tim is a transformational market leader whose experience fits perfectly into our long-term strategy. A respected voice in the IT industry with a strong track-record, Tim will play a critical role as we accelerate Stratasys’ position as the driving force and dominant player in 3D printing,” said Joshua Claman, chief business officer of Stratasys.

Commenting on his new appointment and role, Mr Bohling said: “Stratasys has been at the forefront of the 3D printing industry since its inception and I believe it has tremendous future growth potential. This is an exciting time to be in the market, and I look forward to helping elevate the Stratasys brand to even greater heights and contributing to the company’s growth and market leadership.”

The Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Center (HVAMC) at The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz) has opened an additive manufacturing superlab. The superlab, which is defined as employing high-end 3D printers of both PolyJet and FDM technologies, has received a designation by 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company Stratasys as a “SMART lab”, that is, a Stratasys MakerBot Additive Research and Teaching laboratory.

HASCO, a worldwide mouldmaker, has integrated Stratasys 3D printing with its K3500 quick-change mould system for a rapid, cost-effective method for producing low volumes of injection-moulded prototypes.

Additive manufacturing, or more commonly known as 3D printing, will be adopted extensively over the next few years, says 3D printing equipment and materials manufacturer Stratasys Limited. This was based on their 36-question survey involving 700 respondents who are engineers, executives, designers and project managers who already use the technology in their manufacturing processes or plan to do so in the next three years.

Stratasys Limited has announced that China partner Kangshuo Group Company Limited is opening a 3D printing service bureau network dedicated to serving China’s domestic market with up to 1,000 high precision 3D printers from the company’s Solidscape Incorporate subsidiary. The 80,000 sq ft multi-storey facility in Foshan City, Guangdong, China, represents the first phase of a multi-year agreement to build and equip four service bureaus.

MakerBot and Stratasys AP Limited, a subsidiary of MakerBot's parent company Stratasys Limited, announced earlier this month the plan to strengthen MakerBot's market presence in Asia Pacific through the formation of a new division, MakerBot Asia Pacific & Japan (MakerBot APJ).

Stratasys Limited has announced that in December 2014, Airbus has produced more than 1000 flight parts using its FDM 3D Production Systems for use in the first-of-type A350 XWB aircraft.

Statasys Limited announced early this month, the appointment of Joshua Claman as Chief Business Officer (CBO). In this newly created role, Mr Claman will oversee the company’s global sale, service and channel organisations.