The Digital Factory

Fireside Chat: FedEx’s CIO on the future of the digital supply chain

Sep 25 • 22 min

Rob Carter has served as FedEx’s Chief Information Officer for nearly 20 years, developing the company’s information infrastructure and implementing new cutting-edge technologies. In this fireside chat with Jeff Immelt recorded at the Digital Factory…

25: Sustainability as a business model

Sep 25 • 37 min

Corporate sustainability has its roots in risk management and health and safety management—sort of a conservative, back-office function. Now it’s a competitive differentiator. In this episode of the Digital Factory Podcast, Jon Bruner talks with Zoé…

24: The environmental impact of 3D printing is not what you’d expect

Aug 28 • 49 min

How sustainable is 3D printing? Ask most experts and you’ll get some hand-waving: it creates less waste than machining and reduces transportation energy, but many materials aren’t recyclable. All of those factors turn out to be overstated when they’re…

23: Terry Wohlers on 3D printing at scale

Jul 30 • 34 min

Terry Wohlers, President of Wohlers Associates and author of the authoritative Wohlers Report on 3D printing, joins the podcast to talk about 3D printing at scale, the importance of design for additive, the emergence of metal 3D printing, and the…

22: Networked, Decentralized, AI-driven manufacturing with Bram de Zwart

Apr 28 • 26 min

3D Hubs reoriented its business last fall, away from hobbyists and toward the professional market. Now it’s planning to invest heavily in AI-driven automation. In this episode: 3D Hubs CEO Bram de Zwart. His co-founder, Brian Garret, is speaking at the…

21: Inside the world’s largest 3D printing operation

Apr 17 • 26 min

The 3D printers at Align Technology turn out half a million parts every day—an exceptional scale that makes the company the largest user of 3D printing in the world. In this episode: Emory Wright, Align’s Senior Vice President for Global Operations.…

20: Standard reference peanut butter with Steven Choquette

Mar 1 • 45 min

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, offers a striking catalog of reference materials that includes peanut butter, New Jersey soil, domestic sludge, Lake Michigan fish tissue, and Spam. These materials turn out to illuminate the…

19: Dayna Grayson: can startups compete in manufacturing?

Feb 20 • 24 min

Manufacturing can be an unforgiving sector for startups, but that’s changing, says NEA partner Dayna Grayson. Visit http://bit.ly/2Xco9WR for full episode notes and links. And visit https://www.thedigitalfactory.com/ to learn more about The Digital…

18: Jeff Immelt on the Four A’s of Advanced Manufacturing

Jan 31 • 21 min

The Digital Factory Conference, our advanced-manufacturing leadership summit, is coming back to Boston on May 7, and it’s hosted by Jeff Immelt. Visit https://thedigitalfactory.com/ to learn more about the conference. For full episode notes, visit…

17: 2018 in review

Dec 21, 2018 • 34 min

Jon Bruner and Andrew Edman talk about the value of proprietary manufacturing technology, the aesthetics of generative design, the influence of social media on product design, and the acceleration of the product lifecycle. For links related to this…

16: Live from Formnext with Joris Peels, Nora Toure, and John Hart

Nov 21, 2018 • 37 min

Last week a large part of the 3D printing industry gathered in Frankfurt to visit Formnext, an immense additive manufacturing trade show. In this episode, recorded in the hallway outside the Formnext show floor, we bring you interviews with three…

15: Stephen Hooper on the integration of design and manufacturing

Oct 25, 2018 • 33 min

Computer aided design software is becoming more sophisticated: it’s moving to the cloud, it’s beginning to offer generative capabilities, and, broadly speaking, it’s bringing manufacturing closer to design. In this episode of the Digital Factory Podcast,…

14: Elizabeth Koprucki reflects on IMTS

Sep 27, 2018 • 11 min

At IMTS 2018, Jon Bruner speaks with Elizabeth Koprucki, Assistant Director of Fab Lab and Design at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, about the importance of giving creators direct access to tools. Be sure to…

13: Zach Kaplan reflects on IMTS

Sep 27, 2018 • 19 min

Jon Bruner speaks with Zach Kaplan, founder and CEO of Inventables, about the importance of accessibility in manufacturing tools. Be sure to listen to the other two episodes in this series, #12 featuring The Prepared’s Spencer Wright, and #14 with…

12: Spencer Wright on IMTS

Sep 27, 2018 • 30 min

Jon Bruner speaks with Spencer Wright, author of The Prepared and head of partnerships at nTopology, about what emerged in 3D printing at IMTS this year. Be sure to listen to the other two episodes in this series, #13 featuring Inventables CEO Zach…

11: How Jabil Circuit Adopts New Manufacturing Technologies with John Dulchinos

Sep 20, 2018 • 31 min

Jon Bruner speaks with John Dulchinos, Jabil Circuit’s Vice President of Digital Manufacturing. He’s responsible for evaluating new manufacturing technologies and finding ways to apply them in Jabil’s supply chain, and he’s got hard numbers and real…

10: CAD in the cloud with Jon Hirschtick

Aug 9, 2018 • 27 min

Computer aided design, or CAD, has followed the arc of computing over the last 50 years: the first CAD programs were command-line applications that ran on mainframes, which gave way to graphical software that ran on desktop PCs. The next generation of CAD…

9: 3D Printing for Railroads with Stefanie Brickwede

Apr 23, 2018 • 17 min

We speak with Stefanie Brickwede, who runs the additive manufacturing program at Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s rail operator and an international logistics powerhouse. We discuss the company’s applications for 3D printing, how she’s approached cultural change…

8: 4D Printing with Kristina Shea

Apr 5, 2018 • 33 min

Most people who design 3D printed objects want them to keep their shape as closely as possible after printing, but an emerging field known as 4D printing aims to make objects that can reconfigure themselves after fabrication. In episode 8 of the Digital…

7: Digital Assembly with Michael Todd

Mar 21, 2018 • 27 min

Product assembly is a big factor in production time, labor cost, and complexity. 3D printing can be used to consolidate multiple parts into a single part that couldn’t be produced conventionally, but most products still need at least some assembly.…

6: The evolving business of hardware with Eric Klein

Dec 12, 2017 • 37 min

We sit down with Eric Klein, partner at Lemnos, a leading early stage hardware venture fund. Klein and his partners provide direct investment and intensive coaching for hardware entrepreneurs in areas like robotics, aerospace, and connected devices. Play…

5: Urban Manufacturing with Krisztina “Z” Holly

Nov 29, 2017 • 30 min

In episode 5, we sit down with Krisztina “Z” Holly, host of the Art of Manufacturing podcast and founder of the MAKE IT IN LA initiative, a coalition of organizations that support the manufacturing ecosystem and inspire entrepreneurs to turn their…

4: Reinventing Metal 3D Printing with Ric Fulop

Aug 2, 2017 • 23 min

In honor of our conference on digital manufacturing, The Digital Factory, Formlabs has started a podcast! In this series, hosted by Jon Bruner and guest host David Cranor, we’ll explore the future of the factory floor through conversations with experts…

3: Metal, Lattices, and Beyond with Spencer Wright

Jul 5, 2017 • 34 min

Jon Bruner and David Cranor sit down with Spencer Wright, head of product at nTopology, where he helps build software that generates specialized lattices suited for specific manufacturing constraints. Wright also authors The Prepared, a weekly newsletter…

2: Connecting the Dots with Gian Paolo Bassi

May 24, 2017 • 26 min

Jon Bruner talks with Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO of SolidWorks, one of the leaders in 3D computer-aided design (CAD) technology. SolidWorks has revolutionized the availability of sophisticated, parametric solid modeling since its release in 1995. During his…

1: The Future of 3D Printing with Max Lobovsky

May 9, 2017 • 23 min

In honor of our conference on digital manufacturing, The Digital Factory, Formlabs is pleased to publish the first episode of our new podcast! In this series, hosted by Jon Bruner, we’ll explore the future of the factory floor through conversations with…