In yet another pandemic-related blow to the 3D printing industry, which has already seen 3D Systems cut its workforce by 20% and GE record millions of dollars worth of goodwill impairment charges related to additive manufacturing due to a market slowdown, Voodoo Manufacturing has permanently closed its doors.
The Brooklyn-based 3D printing service provider made the announcement in a note to its community, which states:
"It’s with a heavy heart that we announce that Voodoo Manufacturing has permanently closed its doors.
COVID-19 was challenging for everyone, but we tried to continue going. We repurposed our factory to make PPE in order to help fight the pandemic and through donations and individual purchases, we were able to distribute more than 15,000 protective face shields across the U.S. Unfortunately, without a clear end to the current health crisis, Voodoo Manufacturing couldn't make it to the other side."
Voodoo Manufacturing was founded in 2015 by two former MakerBot employees who set out to build a software-enabled, high-volume 3D printing factory that could compete with injection moulding for low volume runs. I had the opportunity to visit the facility back in 2018 in what was one of my most enjoyable AM site visits to date, as the company demonstrated how it was introducing robotics to increase utilisation across its farm of over 200, primarily MakerBot, 3D printers. Things seemed to be going well; In the last year, the company even branched into the DLP space, launching a B2B additive manufacturing service for clear aligners powered by over 20 Formlabs 3D printers housed in a new 2,000-square-foot facility just down the street from its headquarters.
As Voodoo explains in the statement, the company had been leveraging its resources to produce protective equipment to help fight the COVID-19 crisis. It's a similar story at many 3D print providers and OEMs who have redeployed their printing capacities to produce parts for the frontline and placate the effect of the pandemic on their businesses, with some OEMs even temporarily switching to service provider models. However, as this latest loss to the industry demonstrates, these moves are only small term solutions and while 3D printing may have found a niche for itself in plugging supply chain gaps during these uncertain times and a fair amount of positive media attention, the question remains whether or not that will stick as this health crisis continues to exist.
