Cindy Deekitwong: “It’s The Perfect Time To Be A Female Working In The 3D Printing Industry”

Cindy Deekitwong is the Global Head of Marketing, Materials-3D Printing in the Adhesive Technologies business unit at Henkel. 

She has covered the globe working in many locations for Henkel over the last 18 years. Cindy recently relocated back to Henkel’s U.S. headquarters in Rocky Hill, CT to take on the leadership role in marketing and strategy supporting new business development. Her primary objective is to grow new revenue and gain market share for the company‘s 3D printing division.

Cindy is an inclusive leader with a successful track record of developing business strategies and processes, with an emphasis on operational excellence. With a strong engineering background which includes a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma, she is especially effective in linking corporate technology and business strategies to supplier/partner capabilities and driving programs to successful completion. 

Cindy has strong experience in Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing as well as the electronics market, supply chain, operations, key account management and program management of strategic initiatives.

Nora Toure: Cindy, could you let us know about your background and what brought you to 3D printing in the first place?

Cindy Deekitwong: My early education was heavily focused on STEM. I earned an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Burapha University in Thailand. Later, I supplemented it with more business-oriented coursework, earning an Executive degree in Supply Chain Management from MIT.

I came to Henkel 18 years ago as part of an acquisition. Initially I worked as a Technical Sales Engineer in Thailand. In 2003 I relocated to the USA and was responsible for developing and managing key strategic and critical suppliers. In 2008 I became the Global Supplier Development Manager for our Electronics division. 

In 2015 I took an international assignment in Japan and became our Head of Purchasing there. In 2018, I was promoted again, moving back to our US headquarters in Rocky Hill, CT where I assumed a leadership role in marketing and strategy, supporting business development in our new 3D Printing team.

While we’re a small, intrapreneurial team within Henkel, we’re growing quickly. It’s a great time to be in additive manufacturing and I’m excited to help our team become a driving force in the industry.

Nora Toure: Can you describe your very first experience with 3D Printing?

Cindy Deekitwong: Formnext 2018 was my first real opportunity to get a comprehensive view of the size and scale of the 3D printing business. Walking out of that show, I felt confident that we would play an important role in the technology’s adoption and growth. 

It’s now a little over a year later, and we’re further down that path, offering revolutionary materials that enable our customers to utilize additive manufacturing at a true production scale.

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