Women in 3D Printing (Wi3DP) is now 8 years old! This marks one year since Kristin Mulherin has stepped up as the new President and Founder Nora Touré stepped into the Board Chairwoman role.

Wi3DP has grown incredibly since its founding in 2014 with the foundational mission to close the gender gap in additive manufacturing.

“With the explosive growth we’ve seen over the last few years, we’ve come to realize our focus should be on a much bigger mission: to support and promote an industry that is more reflective of the world in which it operates,” shares Kristin Mulherin, President of Women in 3D Printing. “DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) isn’t solely a women’s issue. Diversity drives the speed of innovation and advances the industry as a whole. Anyone who has worked in diverse teams will confirm this – diverse experiences introduce new perspectives. And when this is not only accepted but also encouraged, we see accelerated creativity and innovation. This applies to cultivating a healthy and productive work culture, improving business strategy, or finding new and creative applications for AM technology.”

As a result, Wi3DP embarked on a journey in 2022 to restructure its organization and build a strong foundation for growth for the years to come. As the industry celebrates its 8th anniversary this week, here are some Wi3DP reflections on this year’s progress for women and minority groups in additive manufacturing.

Highlights of the year:

Changes in the Board
This year, Women in 3D Printing saw a reshaping in its Board of Directors. Lisa Block, Chief Revenue Officer for Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies, deepened her Wi3DP involvement. Already an invaluable part of the Wi3DP DEI team, Lisa has committed her expertise and guidance as a new Board Director. Welcome to the Board, Lisa!

Dana McCallum, VP of Sales at Mantle Inc., has transitioned from her Board Director role. One of the first Directors to join when the Board was first formed, Dana has grown with the organization and is now leading the newly formed Wi3DP Advisory Board.

Christina Perla, CEO of Makelab, is focusing fully on growing her company and has stepped down from her Board role. Christina’s incredible achievements with Wi3DP over the years include launching the first in-person regional conferences for Wi3DP via “A Conversation With…” and growing the Wi3DP New York City chapter as an ambassador. Wi3DP thanks Dana and Christina for their many contributions!

Restructured Women in 3D Printing international chapters
Over 5,000 delegates attended 121+ local and international events in 2022, including major happy hours at events such as RAPID + TCT, ICAM, and Formnext.

This was possible thanks to the restructuring of the Wi3DP organization. Now, there are 107 local chapters in 38 countries where Wi3DP networking events are hosted, while local panels are organized with local conferences and tradeshows.

These efforts are supported by 5 Board Members, 5 Regional Directors, 25 Area Managers, and 138 Ambassadors worldwide.

Introduced the Wi3DP Advisory Board
Over the last few years, Wi3DP has grown to a community of over 30,000 members on a global scale. The Advisory Board includes world-class additive manufacturing leaders from Mantle, ASTM, Velo3D, 3D Systems, Desktop Metal, MakerBot, Boeing, 3D-Squared, Fabric8Labs, and 3DPrint.com

“The Advisory Board will help guide and support the astounding Board of Directors of Women in 3D Printing as they continue to set and execute the strategy, vision, and growth of the organization,” said Dana McCallum, Advisory Board Lead, Wi3DP.

Strategic partnership with SME to Scale Marquee Programs
Women in 3D Printing started the year with the announcement of their strategic partnership with SME, which includes four main initiatives, co-production of:

– TIPE 3D Printing Virtual Conference – Jan 24-25, 2023
– Wi3DP showcase at RAPID+TCT 2023
– NextGen Mentorship pilot
– Special 2023 DfAM report provided by Wi3DP and SME

Robert Willig, CEO, SME said, “Combining SME’s 90 years of manufacturing experience, vast resources, and scope with Wi3DP’s passionate network and robust programs will accelerate their shared mission to develop technology, connection, inclusivity, and opportunities to introduce the next generation to the benefits of a career in AM. This is an important step in closing the skills gap.”

Diversity for Additive Manufacturing 2022 Edition is out
The Diversity for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) report from Wi3DP is now available for 2022! This downloadable resource takes a look at the definition, scope, and impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion in additive manufacturing. Drawing data from other AM industry reports and expounding upon areas that impact the 3D printing workforce, the Wi3DP DfAM report offers a dive into the people behind the technology. From layoffs to SPACs, from definitions to ROI, the 2022 edition offers an overview of current conditions in additive manufacturing.

Successful TIPE 3D Printing 2022 virtual conference
186 women-identified speakers took the virtual stage in 2022 to share their perspectives across various subjects in Technology, Industry, People, and Economics with 2,232 delegates joining live from across the globe. This 30-hour conference would not have been possible without the 51 sponsors, including the 5 platinum sponsors: SME, TRUMPF, MatterHackers, GE Additive, and Stratasys. Replays are available here.

Jobs in AM
Women in 3D Printing hosts a free Job Posting board (yes, you can scroll down and click submit a job posting for free!), which gets published across the mailing list every month. The nonprofit saw an increase in the number of companies posting their jobs, and more hiring managers and leaders directly reaching out to enquire about attracting a more diverse talent pool. More organizations have also reached out to ask how they can show support to their organization.

Sponsors growth
In 2022, with the strategic SME collaboration, Wi3DP has developed marquee programs even further, to help accelerate their Corporate Members’ goals to close the gender gap. Members include additive manufacturing leaders, such as 3D Systems, AMT (The Association of Manufacturing Technology), AON3D, ASTM International and Wohlers Associates, Beehive, Carbon, EOS, Fortify, Hekel, HP, Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies, LEGO, Metrix, Nexa3D, PepsiCo, Seurat, Wurth Additive Group, Xact Metal, Xometry, and Yaskawa.

“Even though our community continues to grow, with now more than 30,000 people joining our events all over the world, we still have quite some work to do to fulfill our mission of 50% women representation in every layer of AM (pun intended) as stats seems to show some stagnation around 11% to 13% of women in AM, with a vast majority of them in sales and marketing vs. engineering roles.” shares Nora Toure, Board Chair and Founder of Women in 3D Printing, “I’d like to give a huge thanks to everyone who supported and engaged with Wi3DP in 2022, it has been an empowering journey for our team!”

Women in 3D Printing
womenin3dprinting.com