Protolabs (PRLB:NYSE) provides rapid manufacturing of low-volume 3D printed, CNC-machined, sheet metal, and injection-molded custom parts for prototyping and short-run production
Robert, you have had a strong career—starting at McKinsey, then Honeywell, and eventually joining Protolabs as Director of Business Development before rising to CEO. What attracted you to Protolabs in the mid-2010s, and why do you remain optimistic about the company and this industry today?
It has been a 12-year journey for me at Protolabs, and I’m as excited today as I was on day one. What drew me to Protolabs was its dynamic nature—a business with a clear mission, an entrepreneurial team, and a vision to modernize manufacturing. Protolabs has made custom parts manufacturing highly accessible through e-commerce. Last year alone, we served over 50,000 customers, including 85% of Fortune 500 companies in our target industries, alongside a tremendous number of entrepreneurs and small-to-medium-sized businesses bringing their ideas to life.
What captivated me was the revolutionary way Protolabs digitized manufacturing. Traditionally, manufacturing required weeks or even months for processes like mold creation, making the upfront work slow and costly. Protolabs turned this on its head, leveraging technology to cut the timeline from design to part production to as little as one day.
Protolabs is widely recognized for its role in prototyping. Are you still primarily focused on helping businesses test their designs quickly, or has the company evolved to meet other needs as well?
Prototyping was where Protolabs started, and it is still a critical part of our business. It’s a natural fit for our strength in speed and innovation. That said, we have expanded significantly over the years. Today, about one-third of our revenue comes from production and end-use parts. We have provided components for NASA’s Artemis mission, helped create medical devices, and supported industries like automotive with production-ready solutions.
This evolution was driven by customer demand. After seeing our reliability and quality in the prototyping phase, many customers wanted to continue working with us as they moved into production. To meet these needs, we’ve expanded our internal capabilities and partnered with a global network of third-party manufacturers.
With advancements in manufacturing and technologies like additive manufacturing, how does Protolabs keep up with the rapid changes in the industry?
It starts with our customers. We have the privilege of working with some of the most innovative companies in the world, and their pace of innovation pushes us to stay ahead. They are using us for prototyping and expect speed and reliability. To meet those expectations, we need to innovate just as fast, if not faster, than they do. To stay ahead, we invest heavily in technologies that set us apart, including software automation, AI, machine learning, and advanced manufacturing processes. These investments allow us to remain flexible, adaptive, and innovative while delivering on our core promise of speed and quality.
Speed and reliability seem central to your offerings, especially given how uncertain the supply chain has been in recent years. Can you share an example of how Protolabs has demonstrated this flexibility during challenging times?
Speed and reliability are indeed at the heart of what we do. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains were severely disrupted, but we were able to step in and prioritize critical products like ventilators, respirators, face shields, and test kits. One example stands out: we received a CAD file for a respirator component on a Friday evening. By Sunday, we had manufactured 5,000 parts, which we delivered in person to the airport for immediate deployment. No one else in the world can turn injection-molded parts around in a day and a half like that.
Some of your partnerships, like the one with Harley-Davidson, have created a buzz. Could you share another example of a collaboration that showcases Protolabs’ capabilities and would resonate with our readers?
The Harley-Davidson example is a lot of fun and highlights our speed. They have only about a week between races to test, validate, and install new components on their bikes, and we help them make that possible. Another collaboration I’m proud of is our work with NASA’s Artemis mission. We have contributed parts for their efforts to return to the moon, showcasing our ability to meet the stringent demands of aerospace engineering.
For something more consumer-facing, we partnered with wearable technology company Whoop on its IoT fitness tracking watch in accelerating its speed to market. We produced several components for these cutting-edge devices using a mix of CNC machining and injection molding technologies. Our digital manufacturing offering saved more than two weeks during the prototyping phase, which was vital as Whoop focused on accelerating design cycles. It’s a great example of how our manufacturing capabilities enable innovation in high-tech, consumer-focused products.
There was significant hype around additive manufacturing a decade ago, but many companies have struggled to deliver on that promise. What challenges are you currently facing, and how is Protolabs overcoming them?
Unlike companies solely focused on additive manufacturing, we take a broader, technology-agnostic approach. Additive manufacturing is an important part of our offering, but we also excel in other areas like injection molding, CNC machining, and sheet metal fabrication. This diversity allows us to meet a wider range of customer needs and adapt to industry changes. Digitalization is central to everything we do. It connects design to production seamlessly and enables us to innovate across multiple technologies. While some additive manufacturing technologies have struggled to gain traction, we have supported nine different methods, continually evaluating and investing in the ones that best serve our customers.
Digitalization has been a recurring theme in our conversation. Could you elaborate on how it is transforming how manufacturers go from idea to market?
Digitalization transforms the product lifecycle by drastically shortening the time from concept to market. For example, we worked with Johnson & Johnson on a medical device project and helped them cut their time-to-market by half. This wasn’t just about speed—it also reduced design risks and ensured a high-quality product, which is especially critical in regulated industries. The ability to rapidly prototype and test designs allows customers to iterate in days rather than months. This agility is invaluable, particularly in industries like consumer products, where life cycles are short, and there is no time to waste.
If we fast forward to 2028, what additional services or capabilities would you like Protolabs to offer, and where do you see the future of manufacturing heading?
By 2028, I see us expanding our capabilities to support customers across the entire product lifecycle, from initial concepts to end-of-life needs. Our goal is to serve every custom component in a product’s bill of materials, ensuring we are a one-stop solution regardless of production volume or complexity. The way we interact with customers will also evolve. While much of supply chain management still happens offline, I anticipate a significant shift to digital interfaces, including e-commerce and other online platforms.
