“3D printing is not a race” Fried Vancraen transitioned from his role as Materialise’s CEO to Chairman of the Board
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is our pleasure to introduce Fried Vancraen, a pioneering force in the world of 3D printing. Fried co-founded Materialise in July 1990, driven by his passion for 3D printing and his firm belief in its potential to create a better and healthier world. Over the past 34 years, he has led Materialise as its CEO, steering the company to become a global leader in 3D printing software and services.
As of January 1, 2024, Fried transitioned from his role as CEO to Chairman of the Board, passing the leadership baton to Brigitte de Vet-Veithen. Throughout his career, Fried has been dedicated to innovation, holding several patents in the technical and medical applications of 3D printing. His work has consistently aimed at improving and saving patient lives while advancing industrial production processes.
Under his leadership, Materialise has grown into a key player in the 3D printing industry, known for its cutting-edge solutions and commitment to positive change. Fried’s mission to use 3D printing for the greater good continues in his new role as he continues to represent the company and provide strategic direction.
Please join me in welcoming Fried Vancraen.
As some of you know, 2024 has been a very special year for me. At the start of the year, 34 years after I co-founded Materialise, I stepped down as CEO of Materialise. In my new role, I continue to represent the company in an advisory role (as Chairman of the Board)
It has been an amazing run. I am so proud of what we have accomplished through our efforts to improve and save patient lives and to advance the industrial production process with innovative 3D printing solutions. At the same time, I am tremendously excited about the opportunities ahead and the role that Materialise will continue to play in driving our industry forward.
I think back to those early days of Materialise with great fondness. All we had was one machine and a dream. A dream to create a better and healthier world by harnessing the amazing potential of this new technology.
“3D printing is not a race”
Five years ago, Materialise surveyed Chinese manufacturing companies to gauge their interest and attitude toward 3D printing. The survey showed that, at the time, China was mostly focused on prototyping in its adoption of 3D printing and remained doubtful about the readiness of the technology for manufacturing final products.
– Only a small minority (15%) believed that Chinese companies were leading in the adoption of 3D printing, compared to other major manufacturing forces like the US, Japan, Korea and Europe.
– Only 15% of Chinese manufacturing companies considered adopting 3D printing and a majority (65%) had never seriously considered adopting the technology
– only 11% of Chinese manufacturers believe 3D printing is ready to be used for the production of end-use goods.
As a result, 5 years ago, Chinese manufacturers believed global adoption of 3D printing (in the US, Japan, Korea and Europe) could even challenge China’s position as the ‘factory of the world’.
Fast forward five years and it’s a very different picture. More so than in other regions, we are seeing significant advancements in China:
– Costs are under control;
– new machines provide quality and efficiency at scale;
– and affordable materials make much larger orders feasible.
We are seeing large-scale applications such as mobile phone components being produced in substantial volumes, razor-thin titanium hinges for folding phones, and the mass production of smartwatch cases. We’re talking millions of parts per year.
3D printing is not a race! In fact, at Materialise we describe 3D printing as a “Slow Revolution”.
But it’s clear that in the global 3D printing landscape, China has established a leadership position. China deserves recognition for this achievement.
At the same time, we need to be mindful of another race: “the race to the bottom”. In China, 3D printing companies are involved in a downward spiral to the lowest possible cost in an attempt to win over (new) customers. I believe that this is not a winning scenario for our industry and for our customers.
Because the future of 3D printing hinges not on its cost, but on its ability to deliver exceptional added value.
This is where design for additive manufacturing (DFAM) plays a crucial role. DFAM is about tailoring design to leverage the capabilities and advantages of 3D printers, such as geometric complexity and material customization, which are not possible or economically feasible with traditional manufacturing techniques.
When we talk to our customers today, what are they telling us?
They are telling us that they understand the benefits that 3D printing offers. They understand the exceptional value that 3D printing can deliver. But 4 out of 5 companies that have adopted AM struggle. They struggle to scale up to volume production; they struggle to finetune their processes; they struggle to integrate the technology with their standard manufacturing processes. In other words, convincing companies of 3D printing’s benefits is yesterday’s challenge. Today, the focus shifts from convincing companies to guiding them in their efforts to optimize the production process and scale up to volume production.
We call this “the shift from why? to how?”.
That is why, in this industry, we should not compete in a race to the bottom – we should compete to better serve our customers. That is our race!
Software can play an important role, by injecting intelligence into the process, enabling traceability, and quality control at every step of the 3D printing journey.
In fact, software plays a much bigger role than most people think. It goes beyond just enabling the 3D printing process – Software can enable entire Ecosystems.
A good example is CMF (explain CMF!). We start from medical scan data, do image quality checks, do image segmentation, create a surgical plan, design printed tools and implants, communicate with the surgeon for approval, create traceability, prepare data for printing, do quality controls, ensure patient privacy, and deliver the logistical system to handle all of this.
At Materialise, we deliver the building blocks for all of these steps, to reduce cost and accelerate development while maintaining the highest quality level.
As you can see, the development cost of the complete software environment is so much more than just the cost of the printer and material: it includes more engineering and more process control. CMF is a great example, but there are others too: eyewear and footwear. And perhaps the role of software isn’t as extensive for other applications, but what is almost always the case, is that people underestimate the role of software.
However, software alone cannot address existing challenges. It requires collaboration.
Our industry needs to unify to create a stable and harmonious ecosystem with increased interoperability. Our industry needs to define standards and simplify the adoption process, making it cost-effective for manufacturing companies to serve their markets with high-quality final parts in high volume.
But we also need to collaborate with our customers. To remove existing barriers so they can scale up their AM production. Our industry will have to make additional efforts to address the challenges they encounter, including training and workforce development, identifying new business models, and easier-to-use software and hardware.
3D printing is not a race. We want our customers to win, but they can only win if we work together to remove the complexity of AM and work hard to create additional value for our customers.
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