After an extensive site selection process for its second major U.S. hub, 3D printing firm Formlabs on Wednesday celebrated the official opening of its Milwaukee office.
Formlabs could earn up to $675,000 in state tax credits through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. if it hires 150 Milwaukee employees within three years, Milwaukee 7 vice president of corporate attraction and expansion Rebecca Gries said.
Local officials have described the office as a regional headquarters for the Boston-area company, but Formlabs co-founder and CEO Max Lobovsky said it's more than that.
"They describe it as a regional headquarters, but that's sort of underselling it," Lobovsky said. "We're not planning many locations like this in the U.S. ... so expect it to be more of a national hub."
Detroit was the other finalist for what will become the second major U.S. office for Formlabs, according to Formlabs global head of services Drew Phelps. Formlabs also considered cities including San Antonio, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, he said.
Scroll through the slideshow above to see photos of the Wednesday event at the new Formlabs office in Milwaukee's Third Ward. The 20,000-square-foot space is a two-floor facility with two showrooms, a print farm and a large rooftop deck.
Formlabs ultimately chose Milwaukee due to its talent pipeline coming out of the area's education institutions and the city's strong manufacturing technology industry, multiple sources said Wednesday. The area also has a high concentration of current and potential Formlabs customers, Lobovsky said.
Local Formlabs customers include the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, Rockwell Automation, Sub-Zero Group Inc. and Briggs & Stratton, Formlabs global communications lead Michael Baker said.
Formlabs is shifting many of its sales and customer service roles to Milwaukee, Lobovsky said. Many of the open jobs are early- and mid-career roles. To meet its hiring targets, Formlabs is forging relationships with local institutions including the Milwaukee School of Engineering and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
The company also is open to hiring people with "less-traditional" backgrounds, Lobovsky said. For instance, one of the first Formlabs Milwaukee employees previously spent 10 years selling cemetery plots, he said.
Formlabs has 19 Milwaukee employees so far, including five who relocated from the Boston area, Baker said. Two other new local hires moved to Milwaukee from Texas and Minnesota for the job, he said.
Also among the recent Formlabs local hires is its head of Americas sales Brian Nies, who already lived in Hartland and will be one of the firm's top Milwaukee-based executives.
Formlabs was valued at $2 billion when it raised $150 million last year. Its most recent publicly reported annual revenue figure is $100 million, Baker said. The company is not profitable, Lobovsky said.
"But we're not burning a ton of money," Lobovsky said. "Most of the money we spend comes from customers, not from investors."
About 40% of Formlabs customers are in product design and manufacturing, and use 3D printers for prototyping, low-volume manufacturing or making tools and components, Lobovsky said. Another 30% are in health care and particularly, the dental industry, which 3D-prints patient-specific products like dentures and aligners, he said. The remaining customers are in industries ranging from education to entertainment.
Formlabs has sold more than 100,000 printers, according to the company. Around half of its revenue comes from hardware sales and the other half is from recurring sales of consumable products, like printing materials, and service packages, Lobovsky said.
