Shree Rapid Technologies is the company that brings the state-of-the-art Rapid Prototyping, 3D Printing & Rapid Manufacturing technologies from industry pioneer 3D Systems Inc, USA to India. The company is mainly focused on Rapid Prototyping & Rapid Manufacturing systems. In an interview with our team, Nitin Chaudhari and Shashidhar Kumar from Shree Rapid Tech, discussed about the company’s journey in 3D printing, success mantra and efforts for spreading additive manufacturing, new launches and experience with I3DPn.
I3DPn: How has the journey been in 3D Printing for Shree Rapid Tech in India?
Nitin: After 10 years of experience in 3D Printing, when we incorporated Shree Rapid Technologies in 2007, our clear focus was application, customer success and most importantly 3D production. The journey has been immensely fulfilling and enriching but I believe the more exciting times lie in the immediate future as our core focus of 3D Production/Additive Manufacturing has started to find takers, cases, etc. More companies are looking at 3D printing for production, new business ideas, new design, new materials and re-engineering than ever before. I am looking forward to the next 3-5 years with immense optimism and excitement.
I3DPn: What has been the success mantra for Shree Rapid Tech in India?
Shashidhar: Our objective has always been customer’s success be it application, material or part manufacturing, we have put in our best effort to ensure maximum utilization of our offerings and always gone beyond our scope to ensure end-to-end solutions for our customers. It’s for this reason, we have over 300+ installations (plastics, metals and composite) across India in 10 years, with over 60% + customers owning more than one 3D printing equipment from Shree Rapid. It is also due to our alliance with pioneers and primarily 3D systems that our approach has always been end-to-end solutions, quality as well as extended support to our customers.
I3DPn: How does Shree Rapid Tech plan to spread awareness about Additive Manufacturing and grow the industry?
Nitin: We have always believed in one thing: DEMONSTRATE. Being first movers there is a lot of questions, apprehensions and risk that customers have to take, we started by investing in machines and delivering great parts to customers, demonstrating the end-to-end workflow for them to be able to visualize, test and develop confidence to lay the foundation for their Additive Manufacturing/3D printing journey. It also led us to work closely as well as support India’s oldest as well as largest service bureaus/part manufacturing companies as these set-ups are critical to promote, add value and ensure the end customers can rely on 3D printing for their needs. One important aspect here is ‘Digital Workflow’. The sooner an industry/company is able to digitize their workflow the faster their adoption to 3D printing specifically for production. It is for this reason that Jewelry and Dental industries are using 3D production as a part of their manufacturing. There is a very high probability that any jewellery or dental device, a customer opts for has been 3D produced and it is only gaining more importance. Similarly Metal AM has gained significance over the last 1.5 – 2 years and also attracting a lot of interests from part manufacturers, OEM’s from aerospace to medical devices to automotive to power and a host of industries which we are confident will change the course of 3D Printing to 3D production.
I3DPn: Are there any special initiatives which Shree Rapid Tech is launching in India? – Answer here can be CIC
Shashidhar: As stated in my previous reply, the rate as which individuals, companies, institutions and conglomerates are showing interest, we felt that the level of ‘DEMONSTRATION’ needs to be upped. Hence, on 17th December 2018, we are launching a ‘Customer Innovation Centre’ which is state of the art equipments as well as finishing post-processing centre for interested parties to visualize an ideal shop floor, understand ROI for their ideas/products, identify areas where they can incorporate 3D printing in their workflow and experience all of this working to be able to build their confidence, their objective and on a real case basis positively venture in 3D printing. With over 14+ equipments across plastics, composites and metal soon it is a one of a kind centre in the world that focuses on application development, developing use cases and going through an additive/3d printing journey before actually taking the big decision. INVESTING. We believe this will go a long way as seeing is believing and with over 11+ years of experience as a company we are now looking at opening up our offices to encourage, demonstrate and deliver. One last critical aspect is it will help set expectations. We usually observe that when people hear about 3D printing or the advantages there is this picture of infinite possibilities. While 3D printing offers immense benefits and value, it has its own set of limitations due to a wide range of technologies and materials selectively available and hence the CIC will ensure that whatever be their ideas, hypothesis or understanding they are able to validate and take an informed decision before investing.
I3DPn: Experience of Shree Rapid Tech with Inside 3D Printing Mumbai?
Nitin: Every year, we have taken our relationship to a higher level and this year being no different we opted for Gold partnership. This only indicates that the team of Inside 3D printing has been able to deliver on the commitment of spreading awareness about 3D printing, ensuring the right set of visitors who are intrigued and excited about 3D printing and increasing foot. I believe with the efforts and vision of the founding team Inside 3D printing is on the path to grow exponentially and become a world recognized annual affair in the coming years as the demand and awareness of 3D printing eco-system in India grows and I wish them the best.
Visit Shree Rapid Technologies at Booth No A2 at Inside 3D Printing Mumbai 2018
