An often little understood key element of the 3D printing equation is powder. Powdered metal is the material in powder bed fusion and binder jet systems. We write, read, and hear a lot about machines and parts, but not often do we learn much about powder itself. One man who can teach us a lot about it is Carpenter Additive‘s Ben Ferrar.

Ben is very knowledgeable about powder and in this episode walks us through what can go wrong, what makes a good powder, why storage is important, and tells us some new material developments. Carpenter Additive is one of the largest 3D printing powder providers and has a wide range of materials on offer. We discuss the most notable of these. The omnipresent Ti-64, which was once the end-all-be-all of materials is now being complemented by many materials that are newer to additive. Ben is really great at explaining things in a measured tone, so it was a treat to get to talk to him about the powder side of our business. We really hope that you like this episode!

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In today’s edition of 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re taking a look at some unique projects that were completed using 3D printing. A maker modified a Creality printer to try and make rims for an old Mercedes out of ABS, and Papadakis Racing 3D printed a turbo manifold out of Inconel powder. Moving on, there’s a DIY project about 3D printing a motorized film carrier that uses LiDAR technology. Finally, you can learn how to 3D print your own MagSafe Duo charger.

3D Printed Mercedes Rims Out of ABS

A recent Hackaday post details the work that Dutch maker Jón Schone of YouTube channel “Proper Printing” put in trying to 3D print wheel rims for an older Mercedes car, which isn’t exactly the easiest application. It can be done, but it’s not a real feasible automotive print project, and as Hackaday blogger Danie Conradie put it, “some things just aren’t meant to be printed.” Schone decided to use ABS filament to make the 19″ rims for the Mercedes, and in order to reduce the amount of warping with this material, modified a Creality CR10 S5 printer with a heated chamber. Because it was a pretty large-scale project, he also tried to make a filament joiner so he didn’t have to sit around and wait for the next time he needed to replace the spool, but that didn’t work, so he ended up using filament in bulk-size spools. While Schone did 3D print a full wheel rim in two halves, which were later bolted together, the parts were still warped, which caused a gap at the seam; not ideal for a tubeless tire that needs an airtight rim. He tried to fix this issue by filling larger gaps with sealant and painting the entire interior surface, but ultimately it did not work out.

“In the end it was still unable to hold pressure with a tire mounted, so it was test fitted to the car just to see if it would carry the weight. This test also failed, splitting on the thinnest part of the rim. [Jón] has headed back to the drawing board to try again in 2021,” Conradie concluded. “We probably would have moved on by now, but you have to admire his tenacity.”

3D Printed Racecar Turbo Manifold

California-based sport performance business Papadakis Racing is a multiple championship winner in drag racing and drift competitions, and has started using metal 3D printing to fabricate some of the parts for its 2020 Toyota GR Supra engine, such as an aluminum intake manifold and an Inconel header, the latter of which is what this story is focused on. A FaroArm was used to 3D scan the engine and the engine bay, so the team would know the exact dimensions they were dealing with when designing the parts. Full-Race Motorsports designed the part for 3D printing, and the new SOLIDWORKS Connected software product was used to design both the 3D printed and fabricated parts. Owner Stephan Papadakis worked with Full-Race Motorsports via the software platform and Zoom calls to design all of the individual components, including the wastegates, turbocharger, and header, and then assembling them all.

“The SOLIDWORKS Connected software gives you all the normal 3D design tools, plus cloud-based management and project planning and communication tools, all powered by the software’s connection to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform,” Papadakis said in a YouTube video.

While the project was ultimately successful, Papadakis mentioned in the video that there were some challenges with the 3D printer, and that it was taking so long to print the parts that they worried they might not be able to use them for the last race of the year. So just in case, Full-Race Motorsports also made them an Inconel header with traditional manufacturing techniques, which ended up being the one used at the last race. But the 3D printed version will definitely be used in the future. Check out the video below to learn more about this project:

Making a LiDAR-Driven, 3D Printed Motorized Film Carrier

Photographer and programmer Seckin Sinan Isik had never used a 3D printer before, but went all in when he decided to use the basic function of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology on a 3D printed, motorized film carrier that can digitize film negatives faster. He designed the film carrier using FreeCAD, and randomly chose PrusaSlicer to create the G-code, noting how helpful the online 3D printing community was when he needed help understanding something. His Creality Ender 3 v2 was used to print the film carrier, the design goals and features of which he listed in his blog post. Seckin ended up 3D printing ten parts for the film carrier, though one was optional, out of PLA, though due to warping issues he thinks he’ll try something like carbon-filled nylon in the future. Even though it was his first time, he said the printing was “relatively easy even for the inexperienced person, such as me.”

“Two make up the main body, 2 spacers that ensure a specific length between the main bodies, 4 rollers (2 for the film intake and 2 for the push out), and lastly, the tactile round handle. The optional round collector part is for anyone who have their uncut film wonder off to a mysterious location on a desk after a scan,” he wrote.

“Some typical 3D printing setting I have use are the following. For the main body I generally use at least 2 solid bottom layers and 5 top solid layers, 2 perimeter lines, with 20% infill (10% is also fine). The z-axis resolution was set to 0.25 mm, using 50 mm/s extrusion rate for the perimeters and 70 mm/s for the infill. The two main body can take around around 12 to 15 hours print time. For the rollers I would suggest higher than 40%, possibly even 100% infill.”

If you’re interested in this project, the STL files have been uploaded to GitHub, and you can check out the how-to instructions here.

3D Printed MagSafe Duo Charger

Apple came out with the MagSafe Duo Charger for its new iPhone 12 models not too long ago, and it features an integrated Apple Watch charging puck on one side, with a MagSafe wireless charger on the other. Revealed at the iPhone 12 event this fall, the portable MagSafe Duo Charger is just one of four new accessories for the iPhone 12 phones, and it can charge any compatible iPhone, Apple Watch, Wireless AirPod charging case, and other Qi-certified devices. But, with a price tag of $129 and no upright phone charging or power brick, a lot of people aren’t too happy with the new product. Reddit user blitzkriegtaco took matters into his own hands, and 3D printed a less expensive version of the MagSafe Duo that can be used with the new charger and an existing Apple Watch charger.

This 3D printed charger allows for upright charging, which definitely takes up less space on your desk or counter, and only costs $39 plus the cost of printing, whether you use your own filament on your own printer or use a 3D printing service to make the MagSafe Duo. You do have to use your own Apple Watch charger in conjunction with this 3D printed one, but the file is free to use on Thingiverse, though you can always make a donation to its creator, DonSonsi. I went searching for the file, and didn’t find it, but I did find several remixes of the 3D printable MagSafe Duo Charger here.

I interviewed Joachim Göbner, CEO at 3D MicroPrint, to understand 3D printing at the microscale. 3D MicroPrint is specialized in micro sintering of small metal parts. This means, along with tiny medical devices, small parts for machinery, watches, aerospace, the semiconductor industry, and generally any precision component on the microscale is the company’s metier.

Micro laser sintering is a technology that was developed in 2013 as a joint venture between sintering giant EOS and precision machining company 3D MicroMac. Relatively unknown, it extends 3D printing to the millimeter and micron world. Alternatively, submicron printing is referred to as nanoprinting. The materials used are commonly 316L and 17-4PH steels, as well as titanium. The company sells machines and parts-as-a-service, as well as performs application development.

Clients can come to the firm to look at the feasibility of components, design services for optimizing parts for micro sintering, custom material development, serial production, or buy a machine. The firm is focused on industrializing micro sintering and does this as a one-stop-shop. Not touted as a revolution or game changer, this is simply a solution for hard to make parts for industry. Meanwhile, the firm is focused on true scale serial production and has been working quietly for years to extend the makable. 

For certain industries making items on the microscale with 3D printing may be a fairly common occurrence, while for others this technology will only be used for that one elusive. difficult-to-make part. Whether it is a flow part, a probe, a tiny medical device or a high tolerance watch component, the technology will be used because there is no alternative manufacturing technology or alternative technologies are too expensive. 

To run the business, EOS and 3D MicroMac picked Joachim Göbner, who worked at EOS for 18 years before moving to 3D MicroPrint over six years ago. We often use the term “industry veteran”, but, 24 years, in Göbner really deserves this title. He first started working at EOS on the firm’s (now defunct) stereolithography machines and moved through the company as it morphed and grew into the metals and polymer leader it is today. 

Göbner says, “Size matters. Our 3D printing on the microscale is a powder bed process that fully melts parts—using powder that is less than five microns in size, and is usually used for 30-micron to five-micron parts, with wall thicknesses of 30 to 9 microns, depending on the design.”

A micron is one-millionth of a meter or .00004 inches. 50 to 75 microns is the thickness of a human hair, a red blood cell is five microns in diameter. Fine sand is 125 microns in size. The width of a spider web is three to eight microns, while paper is around 70 to 180 microns thick.

We operate in a human-sized world where things are hand- and chair-sized and often don’t consider the tiny things that industry needs. Micromachining, microelectromechanical systems, and micro surfacing are not commonly used or thought-of processes and technologies. In the medical sector, we tend to think of human-sized things, such as orthopedic implants that replace a knee, and not tiny stents that have been manufactured to work inside veins. Items like stents, pacemaker parts, bone screws, surgical anchors, and cochlear implant parts are tiny but essential. It is these kinds of minuscule essentials that are made with 3D Micro Print. 

Göbner states, “We have good resolution, can make 20-micron gaps, can do assemblies, and we can do up to 5,000 parts per batch. The printers have a build volume of 60 by 60 by 30 cm and are usually used for small series made through a joint development with the customer because most customers just want parts.”

Given the miniature sizes, it is difficult to use saws or other mechanical tools for post-processing, so they rely on electropolishing and electrical discharge machining (EDM). EDM involves an electric arc that is created between a liquid and two electrodes, which causes sparks to erode a piece, smoothing it or removing unwanted material. EDM is a common post-processing technology for DMLS and other metal printing technologies used widely along with CNC and tumbling.  

Göbner says that “80% of our business is medical devices” underscoring the many hidden high precision needs that this industry has.  Fine details, cavities, and an increased design space or the tooling needs for MIM can cause customers to opt to 3D print parts. Often though, it’s the only technology that works, especially “for very complex things.” The company now has 18 employees and is “concentrated on microfabrication, especially for new emerging applications in medicine and industry.”

We don’t often think of the microscale and really small parts. As 3D MicroPrint’s success illustrates, however, tiny components can lead to exciting, lasting applications in 3D printing. What’s more, these applications and parts are being used as end-use components in some of the most exacting and highly regulated industries globally. Small series production of high-value items in these areas brings lasting profitability and long-term trust. The tiny may, therefore, potentially be a very big business.

To get conversions, you need leads – and finding them seems like a difficult task. But, you can reach your target audience, educate and filter through them all with one platform.

In this article, you’ll find use cases for GetResponse tools to help you generate more leads online.

Table Of Contents

Reach your target audience. Find potential customers for your business.

The first stage of your lead generation process is called awareness. At this stage, your goal is to find potential customers among the people who would benefit from using your product or service. Below are 8 GetResponse tools for reaching new prospects, and here’s how to use them:

1. Create signup forms for your website and landing pages

A signup form is an essential lead generation tool. It works like this: people visit your website, learn about your business, and sign up for your email marketing communication if they are interested in the offer. A website with a signup form and an email marketing series is already a working lead generation process.

Pro tip: Create a form for visitors who want to stay in touch with your brand and know more about your products. To create a signup form, choose the Forms and surveys feature in the menu and click the “create form” button. There are seven types of forms to choose from. Perhaps the most common types are the fixed bar and popup.

You can save time by choosing one of the predesigned templates and customizing it to match your brand identity. The color magic feature allows you to quickly apply your website colors to the available templates.

Once your form is ready, you can copy the JavaScript code to embed it on your website.

2. Create videos, banners, and slideshows for social media with the Social Ads Creator

Social media is where your potential customers are. That’s why you should build your online presence using social media platforms. To drive more quality traffic to your website and landing pages, use both organic social media activity and paid ads.

In both cases, you’ll need great-looking content to appeal to your audience. Here’s how you can quickly create social media content with GetResponse Social Ads Creator – an app designed to simplify the process of creating social media marketing assets.

There are two ways you can use the app:

1. Add your product photos, names, and prices, and the app will automatically create different sets of branded promotional videos, banners, and slideshows.
2. Choose the ones you like, edit if needed, and share them with your audience.

Or

1. Choose from 200+ predesigned templates.
2. Add your photos or browse the photo library.
3. Edit the text, change the color, size, and font.
4. Add your message and logo and share the post with your fans and followers.

3. Create a landing page for your newsletter or product

A landing page is a simple website with a single call to action, e.g., download an ebook or sign up for a newsletter. It can be a signup page for your newsletter that you can promote on Facebook.

Here’s how to create a landing page in GetResponse:

1. Choose one of the pre-designed templates and customize it so that it reflects your brand identity:

• Write copy that clearly presents the benefits of joining your mailing list. Explain why I should sign up for your newsletter.
• Create a mobile version for your landing page. Make sure it looks great on mobile devices.
• Fill in the landing page and subscription settings.

2. Publish your landing page.
3. Use the landing page URL to promote it.

Here’s a landing page promoting BULLETPROOF LEADERSHIP ONLINE MASTERCLASS from Digital University:

The CTA in the above the fold section of the landing page links to a webform:

4. Run paid ads to generate leads on Facebook and Instagram

Run paid ads to reach your target audience on Facebook and Instagram. The goal is to drive traffic from social media to your website or landing page, where people convert by subscribing to your newsletter or buying your product.

You don’t need to use the Facebook Ads Manager. You can use the Facebook Ads tool in the Paid Ads section.

We’ve simplified ad creation. The whole process boils down to 5 easy steps:

1. Enter a name for your ad campaign
2. Connect your Facebook page
3. Choose the right audience for your ad
4. Set the total budget and ad runtime
5. Create the content following the Facebook advertising policies

Here’s an ad created by Alex Terrier – a jazz musician – to promote his workshop: How to use the melodic motif to improvise.

In just three days, this ad generated fantastic results:

• reach: 18,180
• impressions: 19,614
• clicks: 911

If you want to learn more about using GetResponse to sell an online course, view the complete case study.

5. Generate leads using Google Ads

Run paid ads to reach your target audience in Google. The goal is to appear in the search engine whenever people type in the keywords related to your business and drive traffic to your website or landing page.

While Facebook and Instagram are great platforms to build awareness and show your product to people who are at the beginning of the buyer’s journey, Google works best for the people who are gathering information and evaluating available options.

Here’s how you create Google ads in GetResponse. Once again, the process boils down to 5 easy steps:

1. Enter a name for your ad
2. Connect your Google account or create a new one
3. Add content (headlines, URL, and descriptions)
4. Choose the right audience for your ad
5. Set the budget and ad runtime

Preview your Google ad on desktop and mobile before going live.

6. Run webinars to bring new leads and interact with your audience

Webinars are among my favorite and most effective lead generation tools. A well-planned and executed webinar is a standalone lead generation campaign.

Webinars allow you to reach your target audience, engage with attendees in real time during the webinar, and stay in touch with registrants and attendees after the webinar with follow-up emails.

Choose Webinars from the menu and click the “Create webinar” button.

Here, you’ll create a webinar in three steps:

1. Enter your webinar title
2. Configure the basic settings
   • webinar URL
   • date
   • duration
   • thank-you page
3. Configure registration and subscription settings
   • contact list to assign attendees to
   • reminders

Here’s how we created our webinar titled 7 ways to make your sales emails better:

We created a dedicated landing page for the event with its details.

We used the landing page to promote the event through email and social media campaigns.

Pro tip: Use the post-registration thank you page to drive traffic to a dedicated offer. We test it regularly, and it continues to be incredibly useful.

7. Create a lead gen campaign with a list-building funnel

To automate the process of setting up lead generation campaigns, we have created the Conversion Funnel. This feature guides you through the marketing assets required for three types of lead generation campaigns:

• contact list building
• selling a product
• promoting a webinar

Here’s how it works. Choose the conversion funnel from the menu and click the “create funnel” button. You’ll see two funnels that allow you to build a list:

• Lead magnet funnel
• Standard opt-in funnel

Let’s take the lead magnet funnel as an example. The first step is to choose a lead magnet that you want to use for the campaign. My target audience are people who want to start running email marketing campaigns, so I picked the How to Plan and Send Your First Email Marketing Campaign ebook.

Once I saved the lead magnet, it’s automatically added to the available predesigned templates.

Now it’s time to create the required marketing assets:

• Create a signup page – landing page with a signup form
• Create a download page – landing page with a link to download your lead magnet
• Create an email – autoresponder that will be sent automatically when someone sends their data via your signup form

8. Get more leads through integrations

Use your favorite products to run more lead generation campaigns. Some of the most popular integrations are:

• Zapier – Integrate different applications to allow them to communicate with each other without using any code.
• Eventbrite – Get the word about your events out to your current and future attendees. Keep them informed and engaged with announcements and reminders. Show them your appreciation with follow-ups.
• Salesforce – Automatically add prospects to your contact list.

Educate your audience. Let them know if your product or service is what they are looking for.

You already know how to use GetResponse tools to reach potential customers during the so-called awareness stage. Now it’s time to learn more about connecting with the people who expressed their interest in your offer.

This section provides some information about the tools that will help you educate your contacts and help them decide to buy your product or service.

Create an email series using automation

Email remains the preferred channel for communication between brands and customers. You can use email to send relevant information about your brand and products.

I recommend creating a welcome email series consisting of the following messages:

• Welcome email: these tend to have the highest engagement rates: 88.7% open rate and 35.07% click-through rate.
• Education emails: a series of emails providing essential information about your brand, products, or services. The goal of this series would be to educate your customers and present your strong selling points.
• Buying incentive: once your audience receives the educational series, it’s time to incentivize the purchase. Let them know that if they are interested in your product or service, now it’s the perfect time to buy.  For example, you can provide a limited-time discount for the first purchase or a special offer for first-time buyers.

Plan your content and create emails using the pre-designed templates. When your emails are ready, you can create an automation workflow using conditions, actions, and filters.

Here’s a marketing workflow template for a basic welcome email series:

Check who is really interested in your product or service.

Automation also allows you to track contact engagement and behavior. This way, it provides you with data for further improvement and optimization.

Here’s how you can track engagement and see who is interested in your communication.

1. Identify hot leads with engagement score

An engagement score is a tool that identifies and scores your contacts’ activity based on their interactions with your emails. There’s a 5-step engagement level scale:

• Not engaged
• At-risk
• Neutral
• Engaged
• Highly engaged

You can use engaged and highly engaged as your hot lead segments since these are people who open your emails and click the links.

2. Use automation to send relevant communication

Marketing automation allows you to assign tags to your contacts. You can label anyone in your database who opened your email, clicked a link, made a purchase, or visited your website.

Based on tags, you can personalize your communication and streamline your lead generation process.

“Tags let us identify the people who bought from us as a result of the educational campaign. People who didn’t buy got an email with a discount coupon for their first purchase.” – Łukasz Janik, Founder of LandCafe.pl

Back to you

Each business has a unique approach to online marketing. Use the information provided in this blog as inspiration to start your lead generation campaigns. You can start for free – sign up for the 30-day free trial and test out GetResponse lead gen tools without spending any money.

Picking the right email marketing service provider can have a tremendous effect on your marketing performance and your company’s potential to grow.

This article is going to compare two email service providers: GetResponse vs. MailerLite. 

The question is, which of these providers is the best fit for your needs? 

If it were up to us, we would say, “GetResponse!”

But for obvious reasons, we’d be biased, so we won’t. 

Instead, we’ll break down 11 critical factors of each tool so you can make your own choice about which service is best for you. 

Here are features you should be considering when trying to pick between GetResponse and MailerLite!

Author’s note:

This comparison is accurate on January 20th, 2021. We do our best to keep it as accurate as possible, and we check it on a regular basis, however, if you want to acquaint yourself with the offer of our competitors, you should check it at their official website or contact their representatives.

Table Of Contents

1. Which one provides ready-made templates?

GetResponse

GetResponse’s main aim is to make it as easy as possible for you to launch professional marketing campaigns. 

And that starts with our templates. 

We have a library filled with ready-made newsletter templates. And if you want to tweak them or build your own, we’ve got that covered too with our GetResponse Email Creator.

Our templates are built with your customers in mind — every template is fully responsive and works across any device. 

We keep up with design trends by continually adding new templates to the library so your campaigns will always look modern. 

And if you prefer to create your own templates, our email builder has you covered. 

You can let your imagination run wild and create your own original templates in two ways: (1) by using a drag-and-drop builder or, (2) if you know how to code, using the HTML editor.

But whether you choose to start from scratch or customize a template we’ve designed already, you can use our email creator to: 

• structure emails using sections.
• add content blocks for images, video, text, and buttons.
• save sections to use on future campaigns and product launches.
• customize emails by adding your brand’s logos, fonts, and color palette.
• add custom-code elements using HTML.
• preview your email to see what it looks like on a mobile device or in major email clients.
• spam-check your message before sending it to your audience.

The creator also allows you to hide individual sections of an email depending on what device it’ll be viewed on. For example, if you want a certain banner to show up on a desktop computer but stay hidden on a mobile, you can. 

Having this level of control means you can optimize your emails so every campaign looks perfect — no matter what device your customers are viewing them on.

MailerLite

MailerLite also has a pretty extensive library of pre-built templates you can use to launch marketing campaigns.

These are all mobile-friendly and follow the latest design trends so you can be sure they’ll make your brand look good.

On top of that, they have a drag-and-drop editor, so you can easily customize the templates and build a professional-looking email campaign.

Like GetResponse, you can add HTML or CSS code to the templates as well as add images from the inbuilt gallery.

While the email editor offers many features, there are a few important ones you may find missing. These include, for example, the spam check option that helps you evaluate whether your email message is likely to end up in the recipient’s spam folder. Another one missing is the inbox preview feature that lets you test what your messages will look like on different devices and email clients.

Verdict:

Both tools offer great-looking email templates that are easy to customize and will work well on any device.

While the email editors have a relatively similar UI, GetResponse email builder offers more features that’ll help you ensure your messages will not only look great but also deliver well. And this can have a big impact on your email ROI.

2. Do these tools both provide landing page builders?

GetResponse

GetResponse offers all the tools you need to create a landing page that pops. 

Using the Landing Page Creator, you can choose between the 100+ ready-made templates or build landing pages from scratch if you want more control.

Like GetResponse’s email creator, the landing page creator allows your imagination to run wild. 

The tool allows you to: 

• structure your landing pages using sections.
• add content blocks for images, video, text, and buttons.
• add static and pop-up forms.
• add webinar registration forms.
• add a sense of urgency with countdown timers.
• collect payments thanks to PayPal integration.
• add social sharing icons.
• preview your landing page to see what it looks like on a desktop or a mobile device.
• run a/b tests to pick the winning landing page design

If you need more control, you can use the editor to add custom-code elements using HTML, CSS, or Javascript. This feature helps you add in external content or forms, like a Twitter or review feed to win potential customers over with social proof. 

GetResponse’s landing pages also integrate with a bunch of optimization tools like Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, Facebook Pixel (1-click integration), and Google Tag Manager so you can continuously improve their performance.

MailerLite

MailerLite also has a landing page builder where you launch landing pages on your site or by using MailerLite’s domain. 

The builder allows you to tweak colors, fonts, and other styles so the landing pages will match your branding and campaigns. 

But while MailerLite’s landing pages offer some cool features, like surveys and ecommerce integrations, it doesn’t provide other marketing features like webinar registration forms like GetResponse does.

Verdict:

If landing pages are important to you, then you’ll be happy to hear that both tools offer reliable solutions. While there are some minor differences between them in terms of UI, one critical difference is in how well these two integrate with other solutions.

GetResponse Landing Page Creator integrates seamlessly with our webinars, Facebook pixel, and of course Facebook and Google ads. If you’re planning to run more complex campaigns that’ll include these activities, you’ll want to note that down.

3. What about their marketing automation capabilities?

GetResponse

GetResponse’s powerhouse lies in its marketing automation capabilities.

Inside one single tool you’ll find everything you’ll need to automate your marketing campaigns – webinars, dynamic segments, automated tagging, Facebook and Instagram ads, Google Search Ads, email drip campaigns, and marketing automation workflows.

We also sync with tons of other marketing software via our prebuilt integrations, Zapier, and API.

If you want to map out your customer journeys and automate the communication, you can do this via our Marketing Automation Workflow builder. Here’s what it looks like:

Inside the workflow builder, you can set up your automation either a) by building them from scratch or b) by customizing one of the ready-made automation templates. This makes the tool perfect for advanced users as well as those who are just getting started.

In the workflow, you can set up actions, conditions, and triggers. The triggers are events that either launch the entire workflow or one of the actions inside of it.

Here are some examples of these “triggers”:

• new subscriptions
• email opens
• clicks on links
• abandoned carts
• product purchases
• product upgrades
• URLs visited (i.e. pricing pages)

With these, you can create workflows to launch onboarding sequences, post-purchase communications, abandoned cart campaigns, and many many more.

MailerLite

MailerLite’s marketing automation tools allow you to set up basic automations like welcome email series and autoresponders. 

You can trigger automations for actions to happen when: 

• A subscriber joins a group
• A subscriber clicks a link
• A subscriber’s field is updated
• A subscriber has a birthday or an anniversary
• A subscriber completes a form

While the UI is rather easy to use there are no templates for those who are completely new to automation. This may not be a dealbreaker, but for some, this will pose a learning curve.

Verdict:

Both GetResponse and MailerLite offer intuitive workflow creators. For basic campaigns, either will be fine.

However, if you’d like to run more advanced communication sequences based on such events as product purchases, abandoned carts, or webinar attendance – your best bet is GetResponse.

4. What about conversion funnels?

GetResponse

With our Conversion Funnels, businesses can quickly and easily build a rock-solid marketing machine.

You can use all our tools like landing pages, sales pages, Facebook Ads, Stores, and abandoned cart emails to create a custom conversion funnel. 

The funnel then tracks how successful each part of the customer journey is so you can optimize it. 

Here’s an example of a conversion funnel for promoting a paid webinar:

As you can see, each stage of the sale is tracked. 

It’s clear how many people signed up through the landing page, how many people visited your signup page, how many have converted, and how many of the contacts turned into paid customers.

The reason we love our conversion funnel feature is that, in the past, marketers would’ve had to use a bunch of third-party tools to track and optimize steps in their sales funnel. 

But with GetResponse, you can track everything in one tool.

MailerLite

MailerLite doesn’t offer a conversion funnel feature right now.

Verdict:

If you want to automate your online campaigns or sell your products (physical or digital) without having to pay for additional software, GetResponse is the right choice.

5. Super helpful customer support, anyone?

GetResponse

Not only does GetResponse offer customers 24/7 support, but you can choose how you want to interact with us. 

You can talk to our experts over live chat or email or phone, depending on the plan you choose. We also offer support in 8 different languages, so you can reach out in your preferred language. 

Besides this, customers on our MAX plan get a dedicated Account Manager. They’ll help you onboard, set up and optimize your marketing campaigns, and advise you on even more technical aspects like email deliverability.

MailerLite

MailerLite also has a comprehensive customer support service. 

It has a bunch of content in its Help Center, so you can search and see if you can solve a problem before you reach out to customer service.

And if you want to talk to someone, the options you have depend on your plan. If you are signed up for MailerLite’s free plan, you’ll have access to email support. If you’re paying for a plan, you can contact a customer support agent over their 24/7 live chat.

Here’s the most significant difference between MailerLite and GetResponse: If you want a dedicated account manager with MailerLite, you’ll have to pay an extra $100/month. The extra cash will also push you to the front of the queue for live chat support.

Verdict:

Both GetResponse and MailerLite offer reliable support that’s available 24/7. The key difference is that for GetResponse, the support can be reached via chat no matter what plan you’re on, and with MailerLite that only becomes available once you have the paid package.

6. Webinars, anyone?

GetResponse

Our webinar solution makes us the first major email service provider on the market to offer small businesses, freelancers, and consultants a way to merge webinars with marketing automation. 

Launching a webinar campaign is super easy.

The first step is picking the name and time for your webinar. Then you need to customize your lobby message, the webinar reminders, and the page your webinar attendees will land on after the webinar ends.

Then, you can set up your webinar event. You can upload your presentation slides, customize the webinar room, test video & audio, and try all the interactive tools that come out of the box.

Here are some of the features included in our webinar software:

• Interactive whiteboards
• Screen sharing/interactive chat room
• Recording (so you can remarket the webinar once it’s over)
• Q&A session
• Moderated chat
• Multiple hosts
• Time-limited offers with a CTA

Oh, and did we mention the webinars are perfectly synced with our other tools, including Marketing Automation and Facebook Ads?

MailerLite

Like most email marketing service providers on the market, MailerLite doesn’t offer any webinar tools.

Verdict:

If you don’t want to pay extra to run webinars and stay in touch with your customers, you’ll want to go with GetResponse. If you don’t mind the extra cost, both tools integrate with other popular software.

7. Which one has a favorable pricing structure?

GetResponse

We have a pricing plan to fit everyone’s budget. 

The pricing depends on your list size, but our Plus plan remains the most popular out of our four plans. Of course, you should check which plan fits within your budget and offers the features you’re looking for:

We also offer discounts for those who sign up for one or two-year plans. 

If you sign up for any of our plans for a year, you’ll receive an 18% discount, and if you sign up for two years, you’ll get 30% OFF. There’s also an extra discount for non-profit organizations.

And if you’re not sure if GetResponse is the right tool for you, take it for a test drive with our 30-day free trial (no credit card required). 

MailerLite

MailerLite’s pricing plan also depends on how big your list size is. 

It offers a free plan with limited features and support, which is available to customers with under 1000 subscribers. If you need access to more features, here’s the price tag you’re looking at: 

MailerLite also offers a 30% discount for annual subscriptions, but their free trial is shorter than GetResponses — only 14 days.

Verdict:

If you’re just looking to send basic email campaigns and build landing pages, MailerLite is slightly more affordable for the same list size.

But if you would like to run more complex campaigns using Marketing Automation or tools such as Sales Funnels, Facebook & Instagram ads, Google ads, Web Push Notifications, or Webinars – GetResponse includes all of them at a price point you can’t beat.

8. Which one offers A/B testing capabilities?

GetResponse

One of the most critical parts of any marketing campaign is figuring out how successful it is, which is why you need A/B testing.

GetResponse’s A/B testing suite allows you to test everything from email subject lines to webinar and landing page copy to see what’s working and what you need to change.

You can use the testing suite to test every variable on your pages and emails, like:

• Colors
• Call-to-action (CTA) Buttons
• Forms
• Navigation elements
• Images
• Headlines/content
• Layout

And if the results show that certain color schemes or navigational elements are working better than others, you can change those parts of your marketing strategy and boost your conversions.

MailerLite

MailerLite’s A/B split testing also allows you to test subject lines and email content to see what your customers are responding to. 

All you have to do is set up identical emails and change one variable, like a subject line or call-to-action, and send them out to your customers. 

MailerLite will then analyze their performance and pick the winning combination. 

Verdict:

With MailerLite, you can only test two variables at once – whether it is the email subject line or the from name.

With GetResponse you have much more flexibility. You can test multiple variants and elements of your marketing communications at the same time.

So the decision’s mostly about how advanced your communication program is and how much you want to optimize it.

9. What about autoresponders?

GetResponse

You can create autoresponders in GetResponse and even visualize when they’re going to hit your customer’s inboxes. 

Autoresponder is another name for an email drip campaign. They’re useful for marketing campaigns, email newsletters, and product launches. 

With GetResponse, you can create autoresponders using ready-made templates and, using the calendar view, visualize when your subscribers see them:

The feature that sets GetResponse’s autoresponders apart from the competition is how intuitive they are.

With the calendar view you can manage your mailing schedule by simply dragging and dropping your messages on the appropriate days.

And for each message, you can specify whether you want it to arrive:

• Immediately (at the same hour your subscriber opted into your list)
• With a delay
• No earlier than a particular hour (taking into consideration their time-zone)
• Only on a particular day(s)

MailerLite

You can launch basic autoresponder sequences using MailerLite too. 

To do this, you’ll have to use their Automation builder, which we’ve already described above.

While it will get the job done, setting up your drip campaigns this way isn’t as intuitive as with the calendar view.

Verdict:

Both tools let you create drip campaigns to run onboarding sequences, lead nurturing programs, or set up email courses.

The key difference is that with GetResponse this process is much more simplified.

10. This one’s basic, which one has segmentation features?

GetResponse

Our segmentation tools allow you to segment your subscribers into preset lists or custom lists, depending on the kind of content you plan on sending out. 

So you can send an email campaign offering a special product feature to subscribers based on the messages they’ve opened in the past. You can also send an email campaign to repeat customers based on the number of times they’ve purchased products from your website.

GetResponse also automatically scores your subscribers based on their engagement on a scale from 1 to 5.

This lets you segment your audience by their engagement level and can serve as a great starting point for reactivation or VIP-client appreciation campaigns!

You can also segment your contacts based on:

• Their subscription date
• Their subscription source
• Where they’re located
• How they interacted with your emails
• Whether they registered and attended one of your webinars
• Bought any of your products
• Bought more than X number of products or spent more than X in your store
• Any additional custom data you import from your CRM

MailerLite

You can segment subscribers and create groups in MailerLite. 

The tool allows you to segment subscribers based on: 

• Email campaign 
• Number of emails they’ve opened
• Number of emails they’ve clicked
• Number of purchases they’ve made
• Location
• And more

These segmentation tools are powerful and give you more than enough options to create personalized content for subscribers. 

But if you need lists to be segmented automatically using an engagement score like GetResponse, MailerLite doesn’t offer a similar solution.

Verdict:

Both tools offer advanced segmentation that lets you divide your audience based on the contact information and their behavior.

What MailerLite’s lacking and GetResponse offers is the option to segment your audience automatically based on their engagement and purchase behavior.

11. Which one helps you to run Facebook and Google ads easily?

GetResponse

GetResponse has three super-intuitive tools to help SMBs, freelancers, and consultants launch ads easily: the Social Ads Creator, the Facebook Ads creator, and the Google Search Ads. 

Creating ads for platforms often requires specific dimensions and images. The ad creators give you access to pre-made templates to create professional-looking ads and launch them straight to Facebook and Instagram.

On top of that, they help you reach specific audiences for maximum results.

For Facebook and Instagram, you can target: custom audiences, existing contacts from your email lists, people who like your business page, or people who visited your landing page.

With Google Ads, you can provide both positive and negative keywords to narrow down your audience and get the most bang for your buck.

Once you set your budget and launch the ad, GetResponse automatically tracks everything from conversion rates to engagement. 

And if you need to change an element like an image or your budget, you can do so from within your GetResponse dashboard. 

MailerLite

MailerLite doesn’t offer tools to build Facebook or Google Ads.

Verdict:

If you’d like to run Facebook or Google Ads seamlessly without having to log into multiple tools, GetResponse is the right choice.

GetResponse vs MailerLite: Full feature comparison

Feature	GetResponse	MailerLite
Email Marketing	Yes	Yes
Email Editor	Yes	Yes
Inbox Preview	Yes	No
Spam Check	Yes	No
Segmentation	Yes	Yes
Landing Pages	Yes	Yes
A/B Testing of Landing Pages	Yes	No
Marketing Automation	Yes	Yes
Web Event Tracking	Yes	No
Workflow Templates	Yes	No
Webinars	Yes	No
Paid Ads	Yes	No
Conversion Funnels	Yes	No
Web Push Notifications	Yes	No
Signup Forms	Yes	Yes
24/7 Support	Yes	Yes
Surveys	Yes	No
Dashboard available in other languages	Yes, 26 languages in total	Yes, 5 languages in total

Wrapping Up

With so many email marketing tools on the market, it can be tough to pick the right one for your needs. And that’s exactly why we put this list together. 

Now, it’s up to you to compare each tool and invest in the one that can help with your specific needs. 

Taking the time to pick the right tool for your company’s marketing goals — and your budget — will pay off in the long run. 

We’ve seen several 3D printing disaster relief initiatives before, cataloged 3D printing for preppers, heard people opine how 3D printing will become an integral part of disaster relief, and seen the additive construction of buildings after disasters. Now, Kentucky’s Somerset Community College (SCC) is pioneering an approach where they try to simulate a halt to traditional manufacturing and then 3D print important disaster relief goods via the Rapid Response Additive Manufacturing Initiative (RRAMI). The team has trained people at five colleges to operate inexpensive 3D printers and will have a “Mock Disaster Drill (MDD1) to occur at 9am EST on February, 1st 2021.”

I can not tell you just how much joy it brings me that people want to create mock disasters. I’m also very excited about using 3D printing in austere environments and to battle crises. It’s nice to see a group do something so important and so practical. The drill includes the following Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) sites, aside from SCC: Jefferson Community and Technical College (JCTC), Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC), Madisonville Community College (MCC), and Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKYCTC).

“The RRAMI Mock Disaster Drill will be a first of its kind test event to determine how quickly and effectively a well-coordinated system of remote 3D printing production sites, with minimum operators, separated by hundreds of miles, can simultaneously fabricate products that would be necessary in an emergency event,” the program notes.

In a completely hypothetical scenario, the drill will simulate a new strain of coronavirus interrupting U.S. activities, including the halting of manufacturing, closing of shipping routes, and a disruption of the supply chain. The scenario has the teams making personal protection equipment (PPE), specifically headbands for plexiglass face shields. I do want to say, once again, that I don’t think that we should 3D print PPE. It would be much more advantageous to 3D print tooling for making PPE. Far greater numbers could be made more effectively through molding, thermoforming or textile processes.

But, as a test, the important detail is that they’re coordinating and trying out  what the problems are in making disaster relief products. The files, and indeed Gcode, would be used on specific printers via a shared drive. Here, again, I’m not sure why the team is using Gcode for this instead of CAD files. Gcode would be optimal if the printers are all the same with the same settings, but otherwise CAD would be better.

The team will then, start “tracking unit quantity output, quality control, equipment specs, batching, speeds, success rates…as well set a baseline for how fast the RRAMI network can fabricate products on-demand in an emergency situation.” I think that the final baseline would be a very tricky thing to establish and rely on, since there are so many differences between sizes and geometries of parts. It may give us a much-too-optimistic idea of what 3D printing can do if it parts that are uses too flat or too compact as examples. But, I love the other KPIs that they are analyzing.

Eric Wooldridge, who started this project the SCC’s Heather Beebe of SCC, said:

 “The RRAMI system is something that we have been passionate about and working toward ever since the COVID-19 shutdown began, the ability to instantaneously utilize a multitude of 3D printers, from one side of Kentucky to the other with only a single site operator, and all make the exact same product, is truly a breakthrough of manufacturing technology. And as we prove the system out and continue to add more sites and 3D printers, just imagine the potential not only for emergency production support but also just commercial fabrication as well, a statewide, unified body manufacturing system that can produce in scalable volumes, and pivot from one product to the next almost instantly. It will represent a limitless opportunity for Kentucky.”

On the whole, I’m very excited by this. Something like what SCC is doing will certainly be of great benefit to humanity some day. Our technology is versatile, modular, and resilient. We can make all manner of improvised designs and parts to solve all manner of sudden problems. After all, if there’s one thing 3D printing can do it is make a new item quickly. With iteration and improvisation, we can quickly manage to fabricate objects that others could not. But, I think that the problem-solving ability of our technology is the key ability we have.

My example has been this: 3D printing can do test swabs and, if pressed, PPE, but we could quickly help mass production technologies, such as injection molding, get started on manufacturing more than 3D printing can make. Simultaneously, what we could uniquely accomplish is to invent new things that can solve unique problems. So: door openers, inventions that can let you make taps work with your feet, automation solutions for alcohol gel dispensers, extenders for swab testing, so that people don’t have to reach into cars, etc. These are the ideal cases for us.

We are a problem-solving technology that needs to be fed problems and this is where I think we can play a big role in disaster relief. We also suck at large, flat things, so 3D printers should be used in tandem with laser cutting, lathes and other tools that complement us. Still, this is a super initiative and I hope that we see many more simulations such as this bring us closer to 3D printing disaster relief.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy took a steep nose dive in 2020. This included the 3D printing market during the first half of the year, but our segment was one that was quick to recover, according to SmarTech Analysis. The additive manufacturing (AM) market research firm has published its latest “AM Market Data Service”, noting that revenues for the worldwide AM industry reached $2.12B in Q3 2020, compared to $1.88 billion in Q2 2020. The report—which includes revenues from hardware, materials, and print services—is available as a Polymer version and as a Metal version, in addition to various and customizable subsets.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the world economy shrunk by about six percent in 2020, as global supply chains were interrupted and quarantine measures limited work. This was good news for the Earth’s atmosphere, as carbon emissions dropped by 10 percent in the U.S. and 7 percent globally (atmospheric CO2 levels are still at their highest at 415 ppm). However, it was devastating for the livelihoods of the planet’s human population, with unemployment hitting 15 percent in the U.S. in March and April.

We saw in numerous reports that the 3D printing industry was also hit hard during the first half of the year, which included lay-offs and sharp reductions in revenues. However, what the SmarTech report indicates is that the segment was able to recover quite significantly. In part, this is reflective of national economies overall. The CNBC chart below shows how, likely due to quicker containment of the virus, the Chinese economy was able to turn around quickly before other nations began to catch up.

At the same time, the value of 3D printing amid the supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic became evident. By the end of the year, we saw numerous stories indicating that the AM industry was primed for growth, including investments and acquisitions. There is, once again, renewed interest in 3D printing stocks, as well. In turn, the segment grew from $1.88 billion in Q2 to $2.12B in Q3 2020.

The new report is from SmarTech’s “AM Market Data Service,” which is a 3D printing analyst service that allows companies to access industry data at a highly granular level. Clients can purchase customizable datasets from SmarTech that provide insights into just about any sub-segment of the AM industry imaginable. Think specific materials shipments to particular countries and end user industries, broken down by 3D printing process. This information is gathered by the market research firm through a combination of continuous interviews with industry insiders along with examinations of public company financials.

With an annual subscription, quarterly datasets are provided through the “AM Market Data Service”, with additional consulting available to provide custom data to clients when more granular information is needed than given with the standard offerings. Data reports can also be purchased individually, outside of the subscription program.

While some insight from SmarTech will be made available through lectures at the upcoming Additive Manufacturing Strategies (AMS) conference and exhibition, Feb 9-10, 2021, it’s also possible to purchase SmarTech reports here. More information about AM Market Data Service can be had by clicking the embedded link or you can contact [email protected].

With NASA gearing up for its upcoming mission to the Moon, 2021 will be a big year for space news. Ramping up its ambitious plans to return humans to the lunar surface, the U.S. space agency handed over its fully assembled Orion space capsule to another facility for launch processing. In 2018, we learned that the Orion crew and service module, developed for the uncrewed Artemis I mission expected to launch later this year, used 100 3D printed parts. Like many space startups and large aerospace companies, Orion Program’s lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, has been using additive manufacturing technologies exponentially to build the capsule.

NASA’s next-generation Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they have ever gone before, including to the Moon and Mars. Artemis I will be the first integrated test of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and its launch system, the new heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket ever built. The uncrewed flight test will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration as it travels 280,000 miles from Earth for a three-week mission. Once the uncrewed Artemis I mission is complete, Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the first crew to space during the subsequent Artemis II and III missions, set to start launching in 2024. It will also provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

In preparation for this flight, NASA revealed Orion as it was readied atop a transport pallet from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C Building) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where engineers have meticulously outfitted it with thousands of components and tested its systems and subsystems to ensure it can accomplish its mission. On January 16, 2021, the spacecraft was moved from the spaceport’s O&C Building to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF), also at Kennedy, to begin ground processing by NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team.

After a ride onboard the transporter, NASA said that Orion would be moved onto a service stand that provides 360-degree access, allowing engineers and technicians from EGS, its prime contractor Jacobs Technology, and other support organizations fuel and service the spacecraft. It will go through multiple Kennedy facilities where EGS will load propellants and other consumables such as ammonia, helium, and nitrogen onboard and integrate the launch abort system and protective ogive fairing. Once completed, Orion will be taken to the Vertical Assembly Facility to be lifted onto the SLS rocket and prepared for roll to the launch pad.

“Orion is a unique and impressive spacecraft, and the team did an outstanding job to get us to this day,” said Mike Hawes, Orion vice president and program manager for Lockheed Martin. “The launch and flight of Artemis I will be an impressive sight, but more importantly, it will confirm Orion is ready to carry humans to the Moon and back home safely. This tremendous advancement opens the door to a new era of deep space exploration that will ultimately benefit us back here on Earth.”

NASA has incorporated advanced manufacturing techniques, like 3D printing, onboard both the rocket and spacecraft. In 2006, the agency selected Lockheed to design, develop, and build Orion. Company engineers teamed up with Stratasys to create parts for Orion, which resulted in over 100 parts custom created for the capsule, such as a 3D printed hatch door built entirely of Antero (ESD) – a Stratasys PEKK-based high-performance polymer designed to withstand the extreme heat of space travel.

Lockheed is already working on other Orion crew modules and service module adapters for the manned Artemis II mission. Both are well under assembly at Kennedy and will see the first power-on of its integrated computers this summer. For these upcoming spacecraft, Lockheed is developing close to 200 3D printed parts. During a 2019 interview with Lockheed Martin Space specialists Brian Kaplun, Manager of the Additive Manufacturing Lab, and Colin Sipe, Orion Crew Systems Senior Manager, 3DPrint.com, found out that the engineers manufacture a lot of parts that would be traditionally difficult to produce, such as mass optimized structural brackets and tubing to channel airflow throughout the crew cabin. They even 3D printed different spacers (parts that go between the edge of the seat and the astronaut’s hip) for the astronauts’ Orion.

Orion’s formal transition from manufacturing and assembly into flight processing might have helped increase confidence in the approaching November 2021 launch date. However, during the critical Green Run test of the SLS core stage, a separate engine problem could change Artemis I mission plans. Space undertakings are commonly delayed due to spacecraft assembly issues, test failures on the ground, and, in 2020, the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the launch date for the Artemis I mission has been delayed several times. Originally set to leave Earth in 2017, the date did not hold, and the maiden launch for the SLS was subsequently further delayed. We still don’t know for sure whether Artemis I will take off in 2021 or 2022. But, one thing is for sure, the Orion team persevered through design, production, and test challenges, to transform tens of thousands of individual parts into an integrated and functional spacecraft, ready to begin the future of space exploration.

Inspired in part by the acquisition of EnvisionTEC by Desktop Metal and of Origin by Stratasys, we’ve been brainstorming about the newly hot 3D printing stocks and renewed interest from investors in our markets. Is 2021 going to be a SPACtacular year for us?

In part one of this series, we speculated on some Merger and Acquisitions activity that we’d like to see in 2021. Here, we continue to think creatively about what kinds of options there are out there. See this as a fanciful look at just some of the possibilities.

1. Midea Group Buys Thermwood 

Midea Group (Shenzen) is a giant Chinese technology company that makes HVAC systems, home appliances like vacuum cleaners, motion control devices such as stepper motors, and owns Kuka. Kuka itself is one of the largest industrial robot companies worldwide.

Thermwood is a $51 million-revenue U.S. firm that makes large routers and CNC systems. They also offer their own large-scale 3D printing technology, LSAM. Midea motion control could power Thermwood and, amid the huge CNC systems companies the likes of DMG and Haas, Thermwood’s large-scale niche is tempting and wouldn’t immediately put them up against the CNC giants. It would, however, let them sell these large-format CNC machines to the aerospace and industrial markets. Simultaneously, it would let the firm leverage its heating and cooling expertise to improve Thermwood’s polymer processing and therefore its large-scale 3D printing capability.

Thermwood, with Midea’s funding, could expand to make formwork, large-scale polymer car and marine parts, as well as molds for aviation. These are all high-value applications and high-value markets. At the same time, if we then couple Thermwood’s large-scale motion stages with Midea motion control and Kuka robotics, we can make even larger polymer and concrete 3D printers. This would be a very interesting market for Midea to join because this means that they could print formwork for homes, print homes, print polymer parts for homes, and install their HVAC, add home electronics, add appliances and then they could make almost entire houses.

2. BASF Buys Fast Radius 

Fast Radius has taken over $61 million in funding, which is a lot, but around only half of what Xometry has taken in. At the same time, with GKN and others moving into the polymer space, it doesn’t look like a happy island with a few competitors anymore. Instead, one metal and polymer service could compete with a service that only offers polymer production and out-offer them on service, easily besting them in revenue. Maybe now would make for a good time for an exit? BASF so far has bought Sculpteo and invested in Materialise, showing an appetite for service businesses. Could they dream of a U.S. expansion, coupled with a partnership with Fast Radius-investor UPS, tempting them to buy the U.S.-based service?

3. Oerlikon Buys Sintavia 

Oerlikon makes aerospace parts, surfacing solutions, polymers, metals and has a 3D printing service arm that makes its own metal 3D printing powder. Large investments in 3D printing make the group poised to take a leading role in aerospace parts production worldwide.

Sintavia, meanwhile, has taken on Sumitomo investment to expand significantly its metal printing capacity in the U.S. An ISO certification fervor and competence in metals has endeared the company to the military and commercial space community. Outright ownership of overseas defense-related industries is sensitive, but surely if anyone, the Swiss?

The investments that need to be made in this area to survive and thrive will be considerable for any independent player, but the opportunity will be there. Both aviation majors, the aero engine companies, and also the commercial space firms understand that they need a healthy ecosystem of Tier 1 suppliers in order to thrive and de-risk production themselves. 3D printing is going to rapidly expand and there will need to be several strong players available to service this growing market, making anything from satellite components to propulsion parts.

4. Bosch Buys Ultimaker 

As a firm, Bosch has a number of 3D printing patents. It also uses the technology widely and has extensively tested Ultimakers, using them in house. The firm also sells re-branded Flashforges under its Dremel brand, so its no stranger to directly selling these tools, and tools in general, to businesses.

At the same time the company could use the technology extensively in batteries and polymer parts, as well as in automobile mass customization. Through its Bosch Rexroth division, it is also a leader in precision motion control, it has an industry 4.0 unit, and a lot of air flow control solutions that would help it excel in 3D printing. Ultimaker seems like it wouldn’t like to be sold at the moment, but a comfortable ownership by a German engineering group would seem to be better than taking the VC path. If Bosch can validate 3D printers for manufacturing in-house and use it to expand its business lines, then making and selling these systems themselves would make a lot of sense. At the same time, with Industry 4.0, automobile, flow and motion control units, it could contribute to each and every system and leverage its considerable expertise.

Mike Vasquez, PhD, will be speaking at 3DPrint.com’s upcoming AMS online industry summit (Feb 9-10, 2021). Register here.

It’s exciting to see the acceleration of adoption and acceptance of 3D printing in the manufacturing sector, which has been bolstered by the desire of many companies to have more direct control over their supply chain given the realities of COVID.  Machine manufacturers are rapidly deploying new technology (SLM/VELO3D) and companies gained tremendous capital infusions (Desktop Metal/Relativity Space) based on the  promise of the technology being production-ready. These events will continue to build momentum that will propel the industry forward.

One of the challenges users are experiencing as machines get faster and more sophisticated is the need to have a streamlined, efficient way to capture and use the significant amount of data that is generated at each stage of the workflow, including part design, materials management, build/machine data, post processing and inspection. The ability to view this data seamlessly has the power to provide critical metrics for both suppliers and customers to continue the push for production parts. Right now, this data is often generated and stored on different islands, whether from internal tests, vendor certification, in Word or PDF, or even stored only in the machine itself.

3Degrees spent over a year talking with 80+ users of production 3D printing equipment to understand this problem and see if there was an opportunity to create a “best practice” solution. From those conversations, I now joke that Microsoft is far and away the software leader in 3D printing because 90% of all technical 3D printing data on build outcomes lies on some sort of spreadsheet. From an ease of use perspective, that’s an adequate way to solve the data island problem, but it underutilizes the power of that data when looking to integrate bigger data sets, compare various builds or materials or ensure parts intended for consumer-use could be documented from the start of production to the actual delivery.

To address this challenge the 3Degrees team developed a software tool called TRACE, which is a digital platform that houses 3D printing data in an easy to use, streamlined, and searchable way for users of AM metals and polymers. This tool allows users to benchmark material properties, create work instructions, and digitally store and analyze data from all aspects of the 3D printing workflow.

As an early case study, we put data from the Renishaw Additive Manufacturing Solution Center on to TRACE via Renishaw’s InfiniAM API, which enabled the team together live machine data from 23 different sensors covering all aspects of the machine operation. For each build, TRACE tracked these sensor inputs (build chamber parameters like temperature and gas content) and tied these parameters to design inputs, material feedstock data, work instructions for operation, post production and inspection data. TRACE provided a platform to see how each machine was performing over time and analytics provided by these insights are being leveraged to improve aspects of repeatability and machine maintenance.

In 2021, TRACE is continuing to expand capabilities and will be deployed with an aerospace supplier to enable them to report critical findings and serialized qualification data in a way that helps their customers expand capabilities using 3D printing and get away from the data island mentality.

As 3D printing use cases grow, we anticipate we’ll see demand from many companies who realize the need to improve efficiency and ensure they meet all quality control and documentation requirements.  We’ve built TRACE to be easy to customize, flexible and cost-efficient solution.  Given our deep expertise in the space, we’d say it’s a much better option than Microsoft.