Business Chief USA August 2019

CLICK TO WATCH: ‘PROTO LABS CEO VICKI HOLT ON THE RISE
OF DIGITAL MANUFACTURING ACROSS EUROPE’
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advantage, and how it is meeting
the challenges of an industry being
reshaped by consumer demand
and technological advancement.
Holt has worked in manufacturing
for over 40 years. Working first for
the solution spinoff arm of Monsanto
before stints at industrial giants like
PPG Industries and Spartech, she later
arrived at Protolabs in 2014. “When this
opportunity first came across my desk,
I wasn’t sure. It was a smaller company
compared to the other ones I’d run, but
when I took a deeper look at Protolabs,
the more I realized that this is the
most intriguing business I have ever
been involved in,” she enthuses.
Protolabs specializes in creating
hyper-customizable prototype parts
for companies in need of hyperspecialized
manufacturing builds.
In 2014, the company was one of
the first digital manufacturers to launch
an industrial 3D printing service.
The versatility of the medium suits the
company down to a tee and, true to
form, Protolabs is approaching the
process in its own way. “We’re very
differentiated in the way we approach
3D printing,” she explains. “We focus
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