3D Printing Channel And Industry Progress With 3D Alliances

It’s been the better part of a year since 3D Alliances launched to bring channels together in 3D printing; we catch up with Founder and CEO Gil Lavi on progress since.

The overall vision for the Israel-based endeavor is to bring together industry participants and users around the world, building on Lavi’s extensive experience in channel-building in the additive manufacturing industry.

He launched the company at formnext 2018, following his work directly within the industry with BigRep, Roboze, MakerBot, and Stratasys (including the acquired Objet). Experience there, with focus on business strategy and building global channels since 2015, led him to want ‘something of his own,’ as he told me at formnext.

Bringing Channel Expertise To Channels

One of the biggest barriers in the globalizing 3D printing industry is the same as in any other internationally-active business segment: reach.

Different markets require different strategies, all of which must be based on local conditions and business culture. Understanding these aspects is just as important for sustaining business relationships as is providing necessary solutions. Any salesperson will tell you that relationships lie at the heart of any successful deal.

Building those relationships is an art, though, and with so many startups in the 3D printing space, gaining access to that expertise may not be quite so straightforward.

And that’s where 3D Alliances comes in. Lavi and his team “help Hardware and Software 3D printing companies solve the challenging task of deploying and managing strong and professional sales partners, and support 3D resellers partner with the right companies,” as the company website notes.

Progress To Date

[Gil Lavi with teams he works with: L-R/top-bottom with Trideus and the Essentium Sales Director; Kreos France; Makershop France; and Xponential Works / Images: 3D Alliances]

The market has taken notice.

Lavi tells us that since the launch in November, they have accomplished the following:

• We are 3 team members now, planning to add more soon.

• New website

• We have over 7,000 followers on our LinkedIn page

• We manage to bring together into one network over 1,100 3D-Printing/AM resellers from 72 countries 

• We signed up 3 collaboration agreement with the following companies to help them ramp up channel partners – XJET, Essentium, ParaMatters (SW). We plan to add more soon.

• We signed up 1 collaboration agreement with ADG on talent acquisition

• We just launched a new and unique service – reports on interesting 3d-printing startups –  When you register as a member to our website you can download the attached report + company presentation. This will help resellers and end users to review companies in a professional way. We plan to add more reviews on additional companies on an ongoing basis.

Looking Ahead In Channels

Building upon the relationships already established, 3D Alliances is looking next to continue to build.

An important part of that building is being aware of market conditions — not just at local levels, working with localized resellers, but of industry trends at a larger level.

Lavi notes that a significant trend affecting business today in 3D printing is “more about new manufacturing solutions rather than prototyping.” So how does that impact strategic approaches?

“We look at this as well from the end users side, but also from the resellers perspective. The practical meaning is that if we look into the future, resellers will have sell solutions that cover the following – 3D Software (design, data management, topology optimization,  data security ect), 3D Printing technologies (FDM/SLS/Plastic/Metal/SLA ect..), and Post Processing Solutions (smoother parts, dyeing, etc),” Lavi tells us.

“Why is that? because industrial end users will prefer tailored solutions from design to final end-use parts., and of course will trust the resellers to provide it. Take for example HP MJF — great printers but not complete solution from the Software side and post processing side. Or Essentium — very fast printing but  what about post processing large amount of parts..?”

Building on that awareness, 3D Alliances is taking a full solution approach for the companies they work with.

“Our future plan is to form business alliances (like we did with XJET, Essentium and ParaMatters) with companies that offer unique Software, Printing and Post Processing solutions and help them recruit the right partners. This way the resellers we are working with could offer the full range of solutions,” Lavi says.

Additional Resources

As Lavi’s initial updates noted, though, it isn’t only about resellers.

3D Alliances has launched its 3D Reports as well to provide an additional resource. In the second half of 2019, they are hoping to expand this resource as well to encompass more companies.

“The goal here is to turn 3D Alliances into an industry resource for getting to know and learning more about innovative 3D startup companies. What we share (upon registration) is [an] overview report and a company presentation with background info about the company, case studies, applications etc.,” Lavi tells us. “So many companies in the industry.. who is doing what, who has the potential to be the next big thing..? We could help resellers to focus on the right companies.”

The 3D reports take a focused view on a specific company, providing a look into: 

• Company background

• Leading management

• Total funding

• Registered and pending patents

• Technology description

• Customers references

• Resellers references

Lavi shared a report with me, and it does offer a good overview of a company’s activities — definitely a helpful resource for a reseller looking to dig into the specifics of a potential new business relationship.

At present, 3D Alliances has prepared reports covering four companies, with more to come.

That’s the general throughline from my recent catch-up with Lavi: there’s more to come. From the industry, and from 3D Alliances.

Via 3D Alliances