Join Formlabs if you want to bring ground-breaking professional 3D printers to the desktop of every designer, engineer, researcher, and artist in the world.
Niki Entin, Global Operations Leader, shares everything you need to know about working on the Formlabs Operations team!
In this Video
Niki discusses:
- Who is Formlabs?
- Details on the Operations team
- Team Responsibilities and Unique Challenges
- A typical day
- The interview process
- Why someone should be excited to join the team
Video Transcript
Here is the readable version of the transcript featuring Niki Entin from Formlabs.
About Formlabs
My name is Niki Entin. I manage our Global Sourcing and Operations Program Management teams here at Formlabs.
Formlabs develops software, hardware, and materials to create a seamless and affordable 3D printing workflow for the professional consumer. We are one of the world’s leading suppliers of professional SLA and SLS 3D printers. We support customers like New Balance, Ford, Hasbro, Gillette, and many others across the healthcare, aerospace, and consumer product industries. Our goal is to build the tools that make it possible for anyone to bring their ideas to life; we see that impact every day through more than 300 million parts produced by our printers.
The Operations Team
We have a global operations team with people across Europe, the US, and Asia covering functions like sourcing, manufacturing, planning, logistics, fulfillment, and compliance. We also have a significant team in Ohio dedicated to our materials manufacturing, where we own and operate our own plant.
- Global Sourcing: This team is responsible for hardware supply chain strategy. This includes finding suppliers, negotiating costs, monitoring production of components and raw materials, and managing overall supplier performance.
- Program Management: This team typically works on new products and is responsible for operational readiness. They work cross-functionally with quality, manufacturing, R&D, and planning to ensure every function is ready for a product launch. During New Product Introduction (NPI), they drive convergence across different activities to get the best result for the product.
Engineering and Supply Chain Challenges
Our engineers come up with awesome designs that make our printers reliable, accurate, and fast, but making those designs at scale and for a low cost can be tough. Finding the right supplier that is capable, excited to work with us, and can meet our cost and quality requirements is a fun challenge.
One example I’m proud of is the Form 4 LPU. With the release of the Form 4 and 4L, we totally changed the optical architecture. We had to figure out how to source many different parts, such as the lens. While it is an injection-molded part, finding a vendor that could meet the specific tolerances and optical performance was challenging. Another was the release texture—a textured film on top of the LCD screen. There aren’t many manufacturing methods that provide the necessary optical clarity, so it was a long search partnering with R&D and various suppliers to make that supply chain work.
Day-to-Day at Formlabs
The role changes a lot, which is exciting. I might switch from working with the legal team on a contract to meeting with engineering to resolve a supplier quality issue.
- New Product Development: Days are spent collaborating with R&D on sourcing and costing out new designs. As we move closer to launch, we have daily meetings with suppliers to ensure their output and quality metrics are on track.
- Mass Production: Ideally, the day-to-day is smooth, involving continuous improvement, cost reductions, and partnering with finance on spend estimates. However, there is always “firefighting” involved with unexpected events like global pandemics, weather, or tariffs.
What We Look For
We want technical individuals who are great at communication, enjoy working with others, and are eager to negotiate. My team and I mostly have engineering backgrounds. This is important because it is hard to build a great supply chain if you don’t understand the manufacturing behind the part you are negotiating.
Our interview process includes:
- Technical Assessment: Often a take-home challenge to calibrate hard skills.
- Case Studies: Virtual or on-site interviews where we walk through previous problems to see how you problem-solve.
- Adaptability: We look for people who are excited about task-switching and doing a wide variety of things.
Why Join Formlabs?
If you want to understand how complex systems are built and scaled, this is an awesome opportunity. You get the chance to travel the world to different suppliers, spend time on manufacturing lines, and gain an intimate understanding of almost every manufacturing method.
Formlabs is a fast-growing company, so new challenges come up every day. I’ve had the chance to try many roles—I even spent last year living in China managing our operations team there. It was an incredible opportunity to live abroad and be closer to a large portion of our supply chain. If you want to solve hard problems, have a lot of ownership, and have a lot of “width” in your work, Formlabs is an awesome place to be.