Despite recent lay-offs, Stratasys-owned MakerBot continues to expand its network and, today, the subsidiary has established MakerBot Asia Pacific & Japan, a division devoted to strengthen and expand MakerBot’s presence in the Asia Pacific region. Stratasys currently has ten offices in the region, with a headquarters in Hong Kong and operations in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Busan, Singapore and Bangalore. MakerBot APJ, then, represents the addition of MakerBot products to these existing offices.
New MakerBot CEO Jonathan Jaglom describes the division in this way, “Asia is an important market for desktop 3D printing with great opportunities in verticals that are a strategic priority for MakerBot such as education, engineering and design. Stratasys has the local expertise, infrastructure and customer relationships that we believe will help us expand our presence in the region. This is another step in our efforts to take advantage of synergies with Stratasys to grow our business internationally and accelerate the adoption of desktop 3D printing around the world.”
MakerBot APJ will be headed up by Shiry Saar, a manager with Stratasys who will take on the role of General Manager and operate out of Stratasys’ Asian headquarters in Hong Kong. Saar commented on the new division and position, “I am excited to lead MakerBot APJ to facilitate the adoption of MakerBot 3D Printers in the region. MakerBot and Stratasys both cater to the education and professional verticals and I believe that our collaboration will allow us to better serve these customers with a comprehensive product portfolio. I look forward to working closely with Stratasys’ local teams to extend MakerBot’s leading role in the desktop 3D printing industry to the Asia Pacific region.”
While Stratasys typically allows its subsidiaries to operate with great independence, issues with their consumer brand has led to a shift in management that has seen the parent company more directly control MakerBot, laying off a fifth of its work force and restructuring the company to offset losses. A gradual integration of the MakerBot brand into Stratasys may ultimately strengthen the company’s products, but we’ll have to see how so as the year unfolds.
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