06-15-2015: Bre Pettis left Stratasys, ultimately leaving MakerBot behind
He was the founding member of MakerBot and the face of early desktop 3D printing market
On June 15, 2015, Stratasys announced that Bre Pettis, co-founder of MakerBot Industries and one of the main animators of desktop 3D printing, is leaving its ranks, taking with him the department that was created for him within the company's structures - Bold Machines. Thus, exactly two years after MakerBot became part of Stratasys, its founder said final goodbye to his brand, starting a new chapter in his life. As it turned out later - it was also a farewell to 3D printing in general...
In 2009, Bre Pettis - an American teacher, together with Adam Mayer and Zach Smith, founded MakerBot, a company that produces some of the first low-budget 3D printers on the market. Pettis soon took full control of the company, whose products quickly gained increasing popularity in the US and around the world.
The breakthrough model that set many trends in the emerging industry was the MakerBot Replicator, which premiered in January 2012. Just 8 months later, the company's most famous device premiered - the MakerBot Replicator 2, becoming probably the most recognizable 3D printer of its time. In June 2013, MakerBot was acquired by Stratasys - one of the two largest 3D printing companies in the world.
In January 2014, MakerBot presented three new 3D printers at the CES in Las Vegas - the Mini, Z18 and the 5th generation Replicator, as well as a completely new cloud-based ecosystem. Unfortunately, the market arrival of all 3D printers was delayed, and there were very serious technical problems with them, notably the new „smart extruders”.
When it seemed that the company had finally managed to deal with all this, Bre Pettis announced that he was leaving MakerBot „to go up” to the parent company. A dedicated unit was created for him in Stratasys in the form of Bold Machines, which was to deal with creating new, innovative things using 3D printers and expanding their existing capabilities. In practice, it looked like Pettis was sitting in a large warehouse surrounded by dozens of Stratasys machines (Replicators, Fortuses and Objects) and 3D printing various unusual, but ultimately not very functional things. In short - he got some cool toys to play with...
At the same time, Stratasys gradually took control of MakerBot, which culminated in the replacement of the CEO with a Stratasys man - Jonathan Jaglom, the firing of a hundred people from the company's headquarters in New York and the firing of the general manager at MakerBot Europe - Alexander Hafner.
MakerBot became corporate, and Bre Pettis - a very controversial figure in the arena of global 3D printing, left the industry and is increasingly fading into oblivion.
Source: www.centrumdruku3d.pl