If you know me, or have read my work, you know I come from the 2D printing industry and was selling machines for Xerox back in the 1990’s, when digital (2D) printing was just taking off. For a long time now, I’ve been comparing 2D and 3D printing. Now, others are joining the fray.
Last week Eddie Krassenstein wrote an article about the underperformance of Stratasys and 3D Systems. He interviewed Rick Twiggs, who owns a consulting company called Unchained Thought. Near the beginning of the article, Mr. Twiggs is quoted as saying this:
Rickey Twiggs
“The decline of sales by Stratasys and 3D Systems is directly tied to early entry assimilation in large companies,” Twiggs explained. “Many companies have purchased millions of dollars in machines to use in house and will not be purchasing any more machines for a while. There is also a trend in the stagnation of 3D Print Bureaus which I believe many businesses are realizing is very similar to, if not identical to the traditional printer industry back in its hayday.”
At first I was elated to read that others are starting to see the pattern. History is repeating itself. But after finishing the article, I feel Mr. Twiggs has really missed the lesson history is trying to teach.
First, big companies didn’t start by outsourcing print and then eventually purchase machines themselves. Selling “big iron” at Xerox was a two-pronged approach. While some of us were selling to commercial printers, there was a much bigger team selling to corporate, and most of the initial installs went there. Why? They were already selling equipment in the enterprise and had relationships with “in-plant” print shops. We were selling to printers who struggled to see why they should go digital. “We don’t need no Xerox” was something I heard frequently in the early days. It became cliche. read more here