Let’s talk business!

As i scrounge around our 2nd floor office, i can’t help but notice people staring into their laptops being busy, or at-least trying to look busy. The interns seems to be running about trying to assemble the machine. A machine that has surely made a minuscule, yet significant dent in the Indian manufacturing ecosystem. It is not a very common occurrence that you hear about a bunch of 20 — something year olds trying to break the mold of manufacturing, an otherwise very orthodox industry.

In the last three years of being in business we have encountered several changes in the outlook of clients when it comes to non-traditional methods of manufacturing.
2013 was the year of the question “Where do i insert paper in this machine?”, 2014 was the year of the question “What is 3D printing?”,
2015 was the year of the question “Are there Indian manufacturers in 3D printing?” and hopefully we will be able to clarify everything by the end of 2016.

We have had the fortune of working with several remarkably creative and imaginative folks. Some who have used 3D printing as a tool to setup up an unorthodox, yet profitable businesses. One such person is Sai Sandesh Makkam.

Sandesh, a young college graduate wanted to start something of his own. And he used 3D printing as a catalyst for this. So in the month of January, on the auspicious day of Pongal, he purchased his first 3D printer and started operating from a shop in Jayanagar, Bangalore. Within a few months, he was not only able to recover his initial costs, but also order another machine to satisfy the exponential growth of his startup. His vision, determination and sharp business acumen resulted in him soon becoming one of the prominent customized gifting go-to guy in Bangalore.

We have often heard of technology helping people in various ways. But it wasn’t until he shared an anecdote with us that we truly understood that.
The dog tags available in the market are very ordinary, usually a bone, a ball or a heart shaped metal pendant. And if you intend to get the pet’s name engraved on it, be ready to shell out an exorbitant amount of money. Sandesh realized this and started selling these incredibly cute 3D printed dog tags, with the pet’s name and the owner’s details.
Well it so happened that one of these dogs ran away from home. It wasn’t until a few hours later that the owner received a call from someone informing her that the dog was found and found almost 4 kms away!

Now pet owners, including me, will understand how terrifying those few hours might have been. Sandesh shared this story and within days he received hundreds of orders for pet tags.

Its incidents like these that make us realize that we are painting a much bigger picture and touching lives as we go along.

In the coming weeks we will be sharing many such stories about the industry, the work and the amazing people we have had the fortune of working with, So stay tuned!