California-based metal additive manufacturing company VELO3D appointed Jon Porter to head its commercial operations in Europe. Based in the U.K., Porter will oversee VELO3D’s ongoing expansion efforts into this strategic region.
VELO3D has been on something of a tear of late as it expands in the Americas and Europe. The company launched its Sapphire XC 3D printer in October, 2020. It since entered a United-States distribution partnership with GoEngineer in December. In January, 2021, the company announced its penetration in the European market via a distribution agreement with CRP Meccanica.
Porter comes to VELO3D from Renishaw, where he worked on the AM division’s business development team. While there, he was also directly involved with the international organizations (SAE, ASTM and BSI) that are developing new standards for the industrial 3D printing sector. Porter holds a degree in Engineering Product Design from South Bank University in London.
Porter’s earliest introduction to AM came in the 1990s while he worked for renowned engineer-entrepreneur James Dyson. As Dyson’s company grew from a successful startup to leading floorcare and appliance business, Porter became involved in Dyson’s early investment in AM technology: “I saw the potential for AM as a ‘bridge to manufacturing’ that allows for significant time compression and de-risking of both product development and the toolmaking cycle,” he said. “Throughout my experience with several other companies as AM has evolved since then, the value of 3D printing as a powerful end-product manufacturing process has become increasingly clear.”
VELO3D founder and CEO Benny Buller views Porter’s appointment as an opportunity to better support existing customers throughout Europe while educating others about the growth-making potential of VELO3D’s AM technology. “With Jon at the helm of our European base of operations, manufacturers in the region now have similar-time-zone access to someone who knows AM inside and out—and who has also experienced, first-hand, how adopting this technology can make all the difference in a company’s ability to innovate and compete,” he says.
