Stephanie (00:00):
There’s so much more additive out there. There’s so many more printers, so many more applications. The opportunity of what I can report on and the ways that additive is being applied is just exponentially grown in the last decade. And so, I feel really fortunate to be in an area of reporting where things are changing so rapidly, there are just infinite story possibilities that I could be telling people about.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Stephanie, you’ve got a really neat background, both from a career and education standpoint. You’ve been in manufacturing since essentially graduating college and telling the stories of the industry of machining and additive manufacturing. You’ve got your own podcast, the AM Radio Podcast, and you co-host your own Cool Parts Show, which is pretty cool. You are recognized among Temboo’s 20 women in manufacturing that are influencing the industry. That’s no small feat. So congratulations on that, and we’re truly honored to have you here with us today.
Stephanie (01:01):
Well, thank you so much. It was a joy to come and visit DI Labs and get to know you both, and I’m happy to be catching up and talking with you again.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Stephanie, how did you get into manufacturing?
Stephanie (01:12):
I went to school, studied English Lit. Originally, thought I might be like a high school English teacher. Actually ended up coming down to the University of Cincinnati, where I still am, to study professional writing as my master’s degree. And as part of that program I had to do a number of internship hours, and that led me to Gardner Business Media, which is a family-owned business, almost a hundred years old. We’ll be celebrating our hundred years in, I think, another two years. And this business is all about media for the manufacturing space.
(01:47):
Our flagship publication, Modern Machine Shop, is all about machining and subtractive manufacturing, and that’s where I started, just as their summer intern learning and reading a lot of press releases and what the other writers were writing at the time, up until the point of 2015 when the company decided, “Hey, this additive manufacturing thing seems like it’s going to be something, and it’s going to take off and we really need to throw some resources behind this little publication that we had started for it.” And so, at that point, I had the chance to come over to that team, take on a much bigger writing and content creation role, and it’s been a wild ride ever since.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
At what point along that journey did your mindset transition from previously wanting to be a teacher to now being a writer in the manufacturing space?
Stephanie (02:40):
I find myself in this place where my job is to go learn things and then teach them to other people in less of a direct way, but through articles and through videos and through podcasts. And so, yeah, it is an educational role, but in a much different way than I could have imagined all those years ago.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I didn’t appreciate that perspective that you have, that you’re coming in and you’re learning so that you can teach others about what you’ve learned. And that’s exactly the approach that we experienced when you visited us, and the level of learning that you did and the way that you teach others, I don’t think that’s a common skill. So, it’s really neat to experience that firsthand.
Stephanie (03:19):
It is such a broad space to report on that I never get to go super deep. I tell people I know a little bit about a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That really brings us into the conversation today of exploring your experiences and what you’ve learned. What surprised you most about the evolution since you’ve been focused on this space?
Stephanie (03:41):
Oh, that is a great question. And I was talking about this with one of my colleagues not too long ago, just thinking back, what was the first big story that I wrote for Additive Manufacturing Media? And it was such a small story now looking back, it was a machine shop in Illinois that had bought a little desktop 3D printer. I think it was like a LulzBot or something like that. They shoved it under the stairs because that was the only available space for it, and they had one engineer on staff who knew how to run it, and they were just making these little tool covers.
(04:13):
And I rented a car, I think I spent the night, I went all the way out there just to learn about this one little 3D printer, which cost them, I don’t know, maybe $300, and that was the whole story. But at the time, this was a really interesting application for additive, and it was just hard to get into facilities, it was hard to get people to talk about what they were doing. I think one of the biggest transitions that I’ve seen in the last 10 years is just there’s so much more additive out there. There’s so many more printers, so many more applications, the opportunities of what I can report on and the ways that additive is being applied is just exponentially grown in the last decade for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We’ve been more forthcoming with some of the things that we’ve been doing, so to your point about the landscape opening up, that makes the world your playground in the AM space.
Stephanie (05:03):
There are so many interesting things out there, and people are generally, if they can talk to you about what they’re doing, they’re generally excited to talk to you about what they’re doing. And so, I feel really fortunate to be in an area of reporting where things are changing so rapidly, there is a lot of growth and there are just so many just infinite story possibilities, interesting things that I could be telling people about.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
You’ve got two methods of sharing stories. Well, you’ve got more than two, but I’m going to touch on two. You’ve got the Cool Parts Show and you’ve got your AM Radio Podcast. Can you talk about those a little bit, Stephanie?
Stephanie (05:40):
Yeah. So The Cool Parts Show, very much in the spirit of openness that we’ve been talking about. We started the show in 2019, it’s a video series, you can find it on YouTube as well as our website, and every episode is a conversation between myself and my co-host, Pete Zelinski, and we look at a specific 3D printed part. We talk about how it was made, how it was designed, who’s going to use it, and we just really dig into the story on that specific component and try to paint the bigger picture about additive manufacturing around it. And so, that has been a really fun series to work on because every single episode becomes a good example of how 3D printing is actually being used.
(06:23):
We get to talk about a lot of different things. We get to actually bring the parts into our studio, pick them up and turn them around and really dive into the particular story. So, yeah, that’s The Cool Parts Show. You can find it on YouTube and that’s what it’s all about.
(06:38):
The AM Radio Podcast is a newer show. We started that one, maybe 2022, or so, and that’s more a place for conversations between the additive manufacturing editors where we talk about trends that we’re seeing, we talk about… We do a lot of events coverage there, so after a show like Formnext go in the studio and just talk about everything that we saw and try to summarize it, especially for folks that weren’t able to make it.
(07:07):
But yeah, we try to cover the bigger ideas, the bigger topics in the industry. We’ve got an episode that might be out by the time this appears coming on post-processing and just is it this dirty secret about additive manufacturing? How are businesses dealing with it? What new tools and strategies might be in the works? And just trying to really have just the big messy conversations about some of these things with additive manufacturing over there. So, that’s available on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. We’re on pretty much all of the platforms at this point.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, the messy truth about post-processing is one that we’ll have to check out, because hopefully we can learn some things. Can you think of a favorite that you’ve had across all of them?
Stephanie (07:53):
The one that I’ll give you, I actually… This is Herbert, and he is a 3D printed skull with a 3D printed hydroxyapatite cranial implant. So, this was sent to us by Lithoz, and this episode is out, but really, really exciting development in 3D printing and design, but also materials. This is designed so that your bone will grow into this material. It recognizes the makeup of this ceramic, and will treat it almost like a bone scaffold. It’s something that, if not totally resorbs into your body, it’s something that is recognizable to your body and encourages that bone growth. So, this is an easy one to like, because Herbert’s always with me, and it’s a really exciting application in the medical space.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
That’s quite powerful, I didn’t realize that that existed that particular application, but-
Stephanie (08:47):
It’s very powerful. It’s very exciting that for so many patients this could be really life-changing if we can make it happen.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
And I’m sure that that is just the tip of the iceberg for additive manufacturing in healthcare.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I’m interested in what’s your drive? How do you stay curious, and what’s the thing that gets you out there?
Stephanie (09:08):
I enjoy the chance to always be talking to people in different industries and just trying to learn as much as I can about what it is that they’re doing, whether that’s the specific 3D printer platform that they’re using, or the market that they’re trying to serve, or even really nerdy stuff about material science or whatever it happens to be. And I find that people in manufacturing, but especially people in additive manufacturing, are really enthusiastic about what they’re doing, and they’re excited and they want to talk about it. And so for me, getting to meet people that are very interested and engaged in what they’re doing and then having the chance to almost match that energy and, “Okay, I don’t understand a word that you said, but tell me all about it.” That is really fun for me. Just getting to meet people, like you all, and I find them to be a very welcoming and energetic and interesting group of people, and it’s great to be able to interview them and learn more about what they’re doing.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Well, we’re lucky that we can band together and enjoy that excitement together, because if there’s not that I’m not sure some of the other things aren’t worth fighting for, so we need to have some positive things as we’re continuing to plunge forward.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I’m going to put you on the spot here a little bit. I want to paint a picture that you’re on a stage and you’re in front of thousands of people who are a mix of people in additive manufacturing and those that may be benefactors of it. What message do you have for all of us?
Stephanie (10:45):
For those of you who are not involved in additive manufacturing, now is the time to jump in. Whenever you have the moment where you can spend that couple hundred dollars on a desktop printer and just start figuring out what this technology is and how it could help you, just jump in. There’s never going to be a moment where somebody tells you exactly how to use it and exactly what you’re doing with it. It’s something that is so customized and use case dependent, the only way to figure it out, I think, is to be very hands-on and just start playing with it.
(11:15):
So, if you’ve held back because you are waiting for the right time, the right time is anytime, just jump right in. For those of you who are already in additive manufacturing, don’t stop learning. I have come across situations where people say, “I tried additive manufacturing 10 years ago, wasn’t that impressed, materials weren’t great, printers weren’t great.” There has been so much progress in the last 10 years, in the last five years even. Never stop learning, never stop exploring, there’s always going to be something to up the level, and so don’t get complacent and also don’t get discouraged. If there’s not a solution for you right now, who’s to say that there won’t be one in the next two or three years? So, keep up with it.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Well, those are great words. As we’re thinking about those same group of people, where can they go? Is there a central resource out there that they can go to just learn about the world of additive manufacturing?
Stephanie (12:14):
Well, we would love for them to come over to Additivemanufacturing.media, which is our website where you’ll find my reporting, my colleagues reporting, text articles, videos, podcasts, all that good stuff. So, yeah, thanks for the chance to plug.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
That is a fantastic resource, so thank you for mentioning it. And is there a particular place where we can follow your work and the pieces that you’re crafting?
Stephanie (12:40):
Certainly. So, Additivemanufacturing.media, if you’re there, there’s a subscribe button at the top where you can sign up for our newsletter, which comes twice a week. That’ll give you the fastest access to our new stuff. As well as our magazine, which is six times a year. But I would also encourage anybody who’s interested to reach out, follow me, or connect on LinkedIn, that’s where I’m most active on social media, so another option there too.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Well, the work that you’re doing to help share knowledge, create awareness and share stories is absolutely fantastic. It’s critical for the continued success and adoption of additive manufacturing, so I thank you for that. We’re honored to have been covered, and you did such a magical job capturing and retelling our story in a way that I’m not sure that we even saw in the way that you captured it. So, thank you for that, you’re a true artist.
Stephanie (13:36):
Thank you. I appreciate it. And I think I’ve said before, the only reason I can do the job that I do is because of folks like you who are willing to open the doors and let the media in and talk to us for a couple hours, so really appreciate the chance to visit and to chat with you.
