The VoxelMatters Podcast

VoxelMatters

Additive manufacturing is changing the world. We're here to get you ready.

Welcome to the VoxelMatters Podcast, where we shine a light on the people, the technologies, and the big ideas driving the world of additive manufacturing forward.

Hosted by Davide Sher, co-founder and CEO of VoxelMatters, journalist and market analyst.

VoxelMatters is a media, marketing and market research company specializing in the global additive manufacturing industry.

Play

Open in

21 episodes
Avg 28 min
English

Episodes 21

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

S5 · E3
September 14 · 16 min
Gianni Zitelli on building Axtra 3D
Gianni Zitelli did not wait for the dust to settle at Axtra 3D’s newly opened European headquarters in Vicenza before sitting down for a conversation. The 1,600-square-meter facility—a standalone building housing material validation, application development, manufacturing, and customer support—had just opened its doors when VoxelMatters caught up with the company’s co-founder and CEO, samples in hand and the energy of a launch event still in the room. The company turned five in April. What began as a friends-and-family seed round in May 2021 has grown into a multinational operation with two facilities, more than 60 installations worldwide, and a repeat customer rate that Zitelli cited as the clearest measure of the company’s health. Listen to VoxelMatters exclusive interview with Gianni Zitelli, Co-founder & CEO of Axtra 3D.
S5 · E2
August 10 · 17 min
Alex Monino and 10 years of HP Additive Manufacturing
At its recent media day, HP marked 10 years since it first showed the world Multi Jet Fusion, the powder bed fusion technology that became the foundation of its 3D printing business. VoxelMatters sat down separately with Alex Monino, SVP and GM of Additive Manufacturing Solutions at HP, who joined the 3D printing effort in 2013 and has run the commercial side of it since. The conversation traces the arc from a blank sheet of paper in the early 2010s to a business Monino said is now growing at 25 percent and to the launch of the HP 1200, the company's newest and most accessible MJF system.
S5 · E1
July 15 · 45 min
Ursa Major is taking AM hypersonic, one layer at a time
Additive manufacturing has spent the past decade trying to prove itself worthy of a rocket engine. When a small startup out of Colorado decided to build its very first rocket engine almost entirely out of 3D printed parts, a lot of people in the industry assumed it wouldn't hold up. Eleven years later, that company is Ursa Major, and the engine — Hadley — has flown more than ten hypersonic missions. It comes back. It gets inspected. It flies again. That track record is now the foundation for a rapidly expanding portfolio: Draper, a storable version of that same engine that just powered a supersonic flight demonstration for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in January; a solid rocket motor program built around a manufacturing approach the company calls Lynx, designed to print motors of wildly different sizes on the same equipment instead of building a new production line every time the requirement changes; and a fast-growing customer list that now includes Stratolaunch and Sirius Technologies. Along the way, Ursa Major closed a $100 million Series E funding round, broke ground on a new solid rocket motor test site in Colorado, expanded its 3D printing fleet with EOS, and helped found an alliance aimed at rebuilding America's additive manufacturing supply chain for defense. Behind all of that is a surprisingly small team. Our guest today, Tom Pomorski, is Ursa Major's Director of Additive Manufacturing, and he joined the company five years ago to build its in-house additive program essentially from nothing — a handful of machines and a couple of engineers in Youngstown, Ohio. Today that program runs nine metal printers and fourteen people, and Pomorski has watched it grow alongside some of the most demanding flight qualification work happening anywhere in the industry right now. In this conversation, Tom takes us inside how that program actually works — why Ursa Major's entire design process was built around additive manufacturing from day one rather than bolted on afterward, and why he thinks the industry's trust problem with 3D printing has always been more about education than about the parts themselves. We get into the details of Ursa Major's partnership with EOS, including how the company helped unlock custom scan-path software that's now available industry-wide, and what Tom calls physics-based qualification — an approach designed to validate a process once and apply it broadly, rather than requalifying every single part from scratch. We also talk about where artificial intelligence is already showing up on Ursa Major's shop floor, the materials driving their solid rocket motor and liquid engine programs, and Tom's candid take on what it would actually take—in terms of cost, openness, and machine architecture—for metal additive manufacturing to scale the way plastic printing did. It's a rare, detailed look inside how one of the most closely watched propulsion companies in the country actually builds its engines. Here's my conversation with Tom Pomorski, Director of Additive Manufacturing at Ursa Major.
S4 · E3
Nov 12, 2025 · 32 min
How Signify is illuminating the future with millions of 3D printed luminaires
Welcome back to the VoxelMatters Podcast—where we shine a light on the people, the technologies, and the big ideas driving the world of additive manufacturing forward. I’m your host, Davide Sher, and today, we’re diving into a story that truly glows with innovation. Imagine a world where your lighting fixture isn’t mass-produced in a distant factory, shipped halfway around the world, and sitting in a warehouse for months before reaching you—but instead, is 3D printed on demand, near you, for you, and made largely from recycled materials. That world isn’t coming—it’s already here. In this exclusive episode, we sit down with Bart Maeyens, Leader of 3D Printing at Signify—the company you might remember as Philips Lighting—to explore how Signify has turned the dream of distributed manufacturing into a global reality. With over 3.5 million 3D printed luminaires produced across five continents, Signify isn’t just rethinking how we light our homes, workplaces, and cities—it’s reimagining how products are designed, made, and delivered. From the company’s myCreation platform, which lets customers design custom fixtures online, to its automated global printing network that sends digital files to the nearest production hub, this is a masterclass in sustainability and smart manufacturing. Bart takes us behind the scenes of this transformation—from the early question that started it all, “Can we actually leverage 3D printing to volume?”, to the moment Signify realized that additive could do more than prototype—it could produce. We’ll explore how the company is using waste materials to create beautiful, functional lighting, how its circular manufacturing model is reducing CO₂ by up to 30%, and why Bart believes we’re entering a decade where “the global economy won’t be as global”—a decade where local, digital production just makes sense. And of course, we’ll talk about what’s next: the upcoming “Titan” platform that’s set to redefine the boundaries of design and performance in 3D printed lighting. So grab your headphones, adjust your brightness settings, and get ready to see how Signify is illuminating the future—one layer at a time.
Nov 12, 2025 · 41 min
LEAP 71 has the code to the future of advanced manufacturing
Get ready for an electrifying start to the new season of the VoxelMatters Podcast! In 2024, we're diving headfirst into the boundless world of additive manufacturing, exploring an array of applications spanning industries, materials, and parts. To kick off this journey, we've got an extraordinary story to share with you. Brace yourselves for a game-changing narrative about a company that's not just redesigning parts for AM but reimagining them – through code! Meet LEAP 71, the pioneers of a revolutionary computational engineering approach to part design. They aren't just transforming the way we create some of the world's most cutting-edge products; they're also shaping the future of 3D printing, making it an indispensable cornerstone of tomorrow's manufacturing. LEAP 71 has wowed us with their mind-boggling creations, working with industry giants like AMCM and the Fraunhofer Institute. While we've heard about parametric and generational design for at least a decade, LEAP 71 has taken a quantum "leap" beyond existing 3D design software. In this episode, we sit down with the masterminds behind LEAP 71, who also happen to constitute the company’s entire workforce: Josephine Lissner and Lin Kayser. Together, we unravel how they're harnessing software algorithms to craft the next era of exceptionally complex physical products.
S4 · E2
Sep 25, 2025 · 24 min
Tripo AI’s fast track to an AI-native 3D future
Some might not have realized it yet, but creating 3D models—whether for virtual worlds like gaming or for physical use in 3D printing—has recently become a heck of a lot more accessible. This shift is driven by a new wave of AI applications, like Tripo 3D, that can transform text prompts or 2D images into fully developed 3D models. VAST, the company behind Tripo, emerged from an open-source collaboration among AI and 3D engineers blending virtual and physical 3D worlds. In this episode of the VoxelMatters Podcast, Founder Simon Song tells us how he is making 3D printing truly ubiquitous.
S4 · E1
Jun 2, 2025 · 33 min
Recycling old fighter jets into 3D printing feedstock
Robert Higham, Director of AMS, explains how he’s working with Rolls-Royce to transform old Tornado parts into components for the new Tempest fighter, opening a world of opportunities for the Royal Air Force and beyond.
S3 · E4
May 6, 2025 · 28 min
From aerospace to supercars and back with APWORKS
Our guest for this new episode of the VoxelMatters podcast is Jonathan Myer, CEO of APWORKS. As an engineering company, Munich-based APWORKS has been at the forefront of advanced additive manufacturing for state-of-the-art materials – such as the increasingly popular Scalmalloy, which it brought to market - and applications used in motorsports and aerosapce, since it spun out of Airbus in 2016. First as Chief Product Officer and now as CEO, Myer has responsibility for product strategy and implementation. Before joining APWORKS he spent over a decade as Technology Roadmap Owner for Additive Manufacturing at AIRBUS, with responsibility for defining the AM technology strategy at the group level. Today APWORKS makes proven aerospace technologies accessible in many different industries. Focusing on metal PBF, the company covers the entire value chain, from optimized component and part design to the choice of suitable materials, from prototyping to qualified serial production. We now have the opportunity speak with Jonathan about very latest progress at APWORKS, including the new Genome toolset, which helps customers rapidly implement AM where it makes the most sense, and more generally to discuss about how AM is impacting the aerospace segment today and how it will continue to do so in the years to come.
S3 · E5
Sep 6, 2024 · 20 min
Xometry's vision for AI-driven (additive) manufacturing
In today's tech landscape, AI and manufacturing present great opportunities. Randy Altschuler, the founder of Xometry, a digital AI-driven manufacturing company, discusses its motivations, challenges, and prospects. Altschuler was inspired by the importance and potential of manufacturing and saw the opportunity to bridge the gap in the market using digital tools and AI. One challenge is the lack of awareness about additive manufacturing (AM), which limits industry growth. Increasing awareness and education about AM is crucial for unlocking its full potential. Despite slower growth, the industry is progressing steadily, driven by education and awareness. Integrating AM education from an early age can equip future engineers to utilize these technologies effectively. Additive manufacturing has great allure. AM's automation capabilities make it attractive for reshoring production by countering labor cost advantages in overseas manufacturing. Xometry creates localized manufacturing marketplaces in multiple languages to enhance resiliency. Their use of machine learning optimizes capacity and offers tailored solutions for customers. Randy envisions expanding the scope of AM, as Xometry becomes a global brand and redefines the manufacturing landscape to make advanced solutions accessible worldwide.
S3 · E1
Jun 16, 2024 · 29 min
From additive mass production to "lot-size-one" mass customization
Mass production is the Eldorado of additive manufacturing. It is not easy to achieve and very few companies have been able to cost-effectively produce thousands and even millions of parts using AM technology. One of these companies is OECHSLER, a major manufacturer of polymer (and ceramic) parts for various key industries, including automotive and sportswear. The German company achieved several world’s first in terms of serial production after building multiple additive production facilities. Now, under the leadership of Andreas Knoechel, Head of Program Management Additive Manufacturing, the company is going to the next level, targeting “lot size one” and highly customized products. These include INSOLO, a 3D printed insole for the orthopedic market (and beyond), as well as multiple bike saddles. In addition, the company recently launched an advanced Online Ordering Platform, which empowers clients to place orders for 3D printed parts quickly and redefines the landscape of manufacturing by combining technology and convenience. *The content has been edited for smoother flow and to remove pauses and filler words.
S3 · E2
Feb 15, 2024 · 20 min
The best offense is a good Defense at Velo3D
Today we welcome Brad Kreger, the new CEO at Velo3D, the largest US-based manufacturer of metal powder bed fusion 3D printers. Mr. Kreger joined Velo3D in December 2022 as the Executive Vice President of Operations, and was tasked with transforming the company’s processes, consolidating them after a period of rapid – perhaps even too rapid – expansion. When Benny Buller, the company’s founder, stepped down as CEO late last year (he remains on the Board of Directors), Mr. Kreger stepped up. Today he is here to speak with VoxelMatters about his strategy to turn the company around, reassure investors, and “attack” the next phase of massive AM growth, starting with key Defense applications. He intends to do this by leveraging the “industrialization” experience he matured working at large companies such as Thermofisher, where his responsibilities included taking startups and young organizations that had been acquired and bringing them through the industrialization curve. *The audio content has been edited to add transitional content, remove pauses and filler words.
S2 · E6
Jul 16, 2023 · 25 min
Launching a new phase for aerospace additive manufacturing
In this episode, we will discuss two of the biggest additive manufacturing-related announcements coming from the Paris Air Show. With these two major and highly strategic announcements, Oerlikon is consolidating its leadership in advancing metal AM part production for aero and space applications. The company revealed it worked with Airbus to industrialize the AM process for serial production of antenna clusters, which resulted in a €3.8 million contract to additively manufacture these satellite components. In addition, Oerlikon AM and ArianeGroup signed a €900,000 order for the production of 3D printed sets of heat exchangers for the upcoming Ariane 6 rocket launcher. Oerlikon is investing millions of dollars in developing a strong metal AM service offer that can cater to the extreme requirements of companies such as Airbus and ArianeGroup, even for the most safety-critical parts. Executive Chairman Dr. Michael Seuss and CTO of Surface Solutions Sven Hicken are with us today to discuss the present and future implications of these deals for Oerlikon and the entire AM industry.
S2 · E7
Jul 7, 2023 · 24 min
Andy Jeffery on the new Marvel Labs project for truly sustainable AM
In this week’s episode of the VM podcast, we conversed with Andy Jeffery, a serial entrepreneur with a long-standing history in the 3D printing industry that stretches back to the early nineties. Jeffery’s journey through the 3D printing industry offers a unique narrative - encompassing the founding of companies, exploration of diverse materials, and an ever-evolving interest in sustainability. Jeffery’s first venture into 3D printing was with a company called Specific Surface, which was one of the first licensees of the Binder Jet 3D printing process from MIT. This marked the beginning of Jeffery’s 3D printing career and spurred him to found numerous companies thereafter, with each new endeavor drawing on his initial experiences. However, Jeffery’s restless entrepreneurial spirit wasn’t quelled, and his interest in wood led to the establishment of Forust, in 2019. Despite the global pandemic, Forust caught the attention of Desktop Metal and was acquired by them within a year. Jeffery’s work with Forust ignited his interest in sustainability and circular economies. His current venture, Marvel Labs, focuses on sustainable materials like sawdust, coffee grounds, and seaweed. These materials offer innovative solutions for 3D printing and encourage circularity in the manufacturing process. Join us as we delve into this absorbing conversation with Andy Jeffery, a pioneering figure who has reshaped the contours of 3D printing over the last few decades.
S2 · E5
Jun 19, 2023 · 31 min
How you (and CRP Technology) can make better final parts with Windform materials
Our guest in this episode is Franco Cevolini, CEO of CRP Technology. CRP is a very interesting company because it has been active in the AM industry for well over two decades and has built unique expertise in both AM production services and advanced AM powder materials. Services are offered mainly via polymer PBF technologies, such as SLS and HSS, catering to advanced automotive and aerospace users. Materials are offered under the Windform brand of CFR/GFR composite powders. In both cases the main target is not just prototyping but small production series, limited editions and preproduction. As Cevolini explains, CRP Technology supplies production series destined for the automotive, avionics and aerospace markets that, together with industrial applications make up the company's primary customer base. The green conversion that the automotive sector is experiencing, and towards which the aerospace sector is also heading, requires materials and new transformative technologies. In this sense, additive manufacturing and its composites can make a difference: the right 3D printing technology combined with the right composite allows greater freedom in design, affecting the efficiency of time to market, allowing companies to achieve better performances. In Aerospace, the future is represented by the increase of more and more affordable nanosatellites. Many manufacturers of microsatellites are already using composite materials and 3D printing to build their structures bearing, and the trend is increasing. All this has enabled CRP Technology to live its best year ever. Listen to the podcast to learn how and what Windform AM materials and CRP Technology AM services can do for your AM business and applications.
S2 · E4
May 15, 2023 · 32 min
Quintus Technologies' Chad Beamer on the benefits of HIP for AM parts
In this episode of the VM Podcast, we catch up with Chad Beamer, Applications Engineer managing the US-based application center for Quintus Technologies, the global leader in high-pressure technology. Quintus designs, manufactures, installs, and supports high-pressure systems in three main areas: densification of advanced materials, sheet metal forming and high-pressure processing for food and beverage innovation, safety, and shelf life. The company has delivered over 1,900 systems to customers within industries from energy, medical implants, space, aerospace, automotive and food processing. The company is headquartered in Västerås, Sweden, with a presence in 45 countries worldwide. Today we going to learn exactly what Quintus Technologies does, what Chad Beamer does and, perhaps more importantly, how this relates to additive manufacturing. Among other things we are going to discuss the latest innovations in Quintus' Hot Isostatic Pressure (HIP) technologies and systems, how these processes can bring significant benefits to parts produced via metal PBF but also all other metal AM processes, from metal binder jetting to DED and cold spray, and which are the most significant areas of application.
S2 · E3
Apr 27, 2023 · 22 min
Discover ValCUN's Molten Metal Deposition (MMD) technology
Using a process that in some way is similar to high-end industrial material extrusion, ValCUN produces parts directly using liquid metal. Developed with a fully automated production chain in mind, the Molten Metal Deposition (MMD) process is ideally suited for any factory floor, without complex intervention and interruption of current workflows. This approach reduces manufacturing lead times, easy and affordable operation, and is cost-effective, environment-friendly production. ValCUN's patented MMD technology reduces investment and operating costs by using safe-to-handle feedstock material instead of metal powders and working without high-energy lasers. To learn more about the potential of ValCUN's upcoming metal 3D printer, its market strategy and supported materials, we speak with Co-founder Jonas Galle, a mechanical engineer with experience in the aerospace industry and a passion for mechatronics, PCB design, data acquisition & processing, production methods and design.
S2 · E2
Mar 2, 2023 · 17 min
3DM presents the future of 3D printing lasers
It’s been an intense start of the year for 3D printing, with tons of news coming out, our Automotive AM Focus eBook, the MIDO eyewear show in Milan and the AMS conference in New York City already in the books. But it never stops in additive and today we are here with Ido Eylon CEO of 3DM Digital Manufacturing, to talk about a technology that is going to change the way polymer laser powder bed fusion – the process commonly known as SLS – works, for the better and forever. You may not yet be familiar with 3DM. We visited this Israeli startup last December to learn more about its unique laser technology. Founded in 2016 and trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange since 2021, the company recently emerged from stealth and it is now ready to scale by offering something truly unique in the polymer L-PBF global landscape: a quantum cascade laser (QCL) technology that can deliver industrial-grade printing quality, with any thermoplastic material, at a significantly lower printing cost compared to existing technologies.
S2 · E1
Oct 3, 2022 · 40 min
On Velo3D skyrocketing into additive mass production
No metal AM hardware company has been able to gain rapid adoption in the aerospace segment as Velo3D. The company started just a few years ago and it has already grown into a publicly listed entity on track to reach nearly 100 million in yearly revenues. Its machines are used to produce many of the most high-profile rocket engines and rocket engine parts, with growing applications in aviation and in the energy segment. They are used by innovative startups like Launcher, space pioneers like SpaceX, and aerospace giants like Honeywell, just to name a few. Now Velo3D wants to keep growing and bring its success stories into new markets, expanding into new application areas such as the energy industry and new international markets such as Europe. This innovation is truly non-stop and today we have the opportunity to speak about how the company has experienced literally skyrocketing success by addressing two key challenges in metal powder bed fusion: efficiency and repeatability. And we get to hear how they did it from the company’s founder and CEO, directly from the Velo3D’s HQ in Silicon Valley, Benny Buller.
S1 · E10
Jul 18, 2022 · 37 min
The special place of AM in the space industry, with Launcher Head of Manufacturing Tim Berry
Additive manufacturing has a special place in the space beyond our own planet. It has emerged as a clear enabling technology for an entirely new generation of commercial companies targeting orbit, deep space, the Moon, and Mars. That’s why I could not be any happier to welcome today’s guest, Tim Berry, Head of Manufacturing at Launcher. Launcher is one of the clearest examples of the amazing results that a space startup can achieve by using AM to bring its innovative ideas to life. Tim is bringing his extensive experience as the former Head of AM at SpaceX, a company that in many ways showed the world that commercial space was possible and did so by heavily implementing AM for engine development and manufacturing early on. Tim’sexperience merges rapid, low-cost aerospace production with innovative, high-volume metal 3D printing, launch vehicle production, and crew-rated spacecraft integration during his 8+ year career at SpaceX. His CV speaks for itself From 2013 to 2019, as Falcon 9 Stage 2 Lead, he led a multidisciplinary team performing a wide array of production processes, from structures to final integration, to manufacture 90 upper stages that supported Falcon 9 missions, while significantly improving quality and exit rate. From 2019 to 2021, as Dragon 2 Crew and Cargo Integration Supervisor, he managed a large team of leads, engineers, and technicians responsible for building the integration system that produced eight Dragon Crew and Cargo spacecraft during his tenure. Finally, as the Manager of Additive Manufacturing, he oversaw all Production and Development Additive Manufacturing including Applications, Processes, and Operations Engineering as well as Technician and Scheduling teams. Here he managed a massive fleet of printers spanning 4 platforms producing hardware for all SpaceX programs and forming one of the highest volume AM labs in the world. Now Tim is starting a new era at Launcher, for himself, as the Head of Manufacturing, and for the company, which is among the most successful already in the next generation of AM-driven space startups. Today we get to ask him what comes next.
S1 · E10
Jul 12, 2022 · 36 min
The present and future of paperless AM production workflows, with AM Flow and Midwest Prototyping
Today’s episode brings together two companies that represent at the same time, the history and the future of additive manufacturing: AM Flow and Midwest Prototyping. Midwest Prototyping is a leading AM service provider that started in 2001 with the purchase of a desk and one stereolithography machine. Both of these shared an office with founder Steve Grundahl, who is our guest today. Steve got early exposure to rapid prototyping technology while studying at the University of Milwaukee’s School of Engineering in the early 1990s. Although his exposure to this technology was during its development stage, he never lost his fascination with it. As industries began adopting it as a valid option for rapid prototyping and product development, Steve took the opportunity to start his journey as a business owner. Fast forward to 2006 and the company had built a new 18,000-square-foot facility with anticipation of future growth. In 2008, Midwest Prototyping acquired longtime competitor Manitowoc Prototypes adding even more rapid prototyping capacity. More acquisitions followed, leading to the ability to offer 6 distinct 3D printing technologies on over 40 machines with more than 40 materials. More recently, Midwest Prototyping became part of the Prototek Group further growing the overall AM capabilities and continuing its acquisition strategy with ProtoCAM. Suffice to say that now the company has massive production capabilities and that’s exactly where AM Flow comes in Last year Midwest Prototyping took its next step toward a fully automated additive manufacturing production plant with end-to-end product tracking and tracing by installing the AM-VISION and AM-SORT, in the AM-Flow production line at their Blue Mounds production facility. The company is one of the first clients of AM-Flow using AM-Flow’s vision technology. This moment marks the first step to the brand new, next-generation VISION and SORT. With these production modules, Midwest Prototyping can automatically recognize, sort, and route their daily volume of SLS, MJF and SLA prints, in only seconds per part. With the placement of the AM-VISION and AM-SORT, fully MES integrated, the production workflow has become completely paperless. Also here to tell us what AM Flow can do for AM companies with large production requirements is Carlos Zwikker. He has 20 years experience as an International Research-Based Consultant and joined Philips as a strategy & insight executive in the Philips Lifestyle Incubator, a corporate venturing unit of Philips. Here, Carlos, entered the Additive Manufacturing market in 2006 as he co-managed several start-ups, including AM service provider Shapeways. In 2018 he joined the management of AM-Flow where he is responsible for global sales and marketing.

Showing 1–20 of 21 episodes