Clara Remacha is a Strategic Accounts Project Manager for HP’s 3D Printing & Digital Manufacturing business, where she is responsible for working with customers to drive production applications in large scale additive manufacturing using HP Multi Jet Fusion technology.
Most recently, Clara led HP’s COVID-19 application development out of Barcelona, Spain, where HP quickly mobilized its 3D printing technology to help hospitals with access to critical parts. Clara worked in real-time with medical professionals to determine technical feasibility of 3D printing applications and put initial parts in doctors hands in 48 hours.
A core member of HP’s 3D Printing & Digital Manufacturing business since its inception, Clara was a part of the team who launched HP’s first 3D printer and has spent the last four years helping customers and partners turn ideas and designs into real 3D production applications across multiple industries including industrial, automotive, medical, and consumer goods.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from UPC, Barcelona, an International Master’s in Management from EADA Business School, as well as an MBA from the University of San Diego, California. She’s also an athlete, who competed professionally in track & field for F.C. Barcelona for several years.
Nora Toure: Clara, could you let us know briefly about your background and your journey into Additive Manufacturing?
Clara Remacha: My background is in Industrial Engineering but early on in my career I decided to complement it with an MBA, and that brought me from Barcelona to San Diego, California. As I was finishing my studies there, I was unclear on what career I wanted to pursue when I came back to Barcelona, so I decided to go on a one week discovering trip to Silicon Valley. I sent hundreds of emails to random people working in the valley with the objective to have a conversation with them and understand what they did and what they loved about their jobs.
From those conversations, three things became very clear to me: 1) I wanted to work for a technology company; 2) in a mixed role between technical and business in which we were creating something new; and 3) using a technology or a product that inspired me. What HP was trying to do in 3D Printing checked all my boxes so that’s really how I got into Additive Manufacturing.
Nora Toure: You led HP’s responses to COVID-19. Could you share more details about HP’s response, the parts you’ve helped manufacture and the impact they had?
Clara Remacha: In my life pre-COVID I was part of a market development team, led by Scott Schiller, that was focused on understanding the use of 3D printing in the medical space. Thanks to the connections that we already had with hospitals we were able to quickly identify the need and start working hand in hand with doctors and nurses to develop applications that would help them fight COVID-19.
In a matter of a day, we assembled a team of HP volunteers, set up a website where internal and external people could suggest application ideas and request parts, and started developing several applications. The first applications we launched were a mask strap adjuster, and a hands-free door opener designed by Materialise.
In parallel we were working on more complex applications like face shields, CPAP connectors, FFP2 masks, swabs, respirators, and other respiratory devices components that we were able to also certify and bring to the front lines. The team has been working 24/7 for nine weeks now, and as we start to overcome the pandemic it’s impressive to step back and realize how much we have accomplished.
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