Just returned from the world’s largest 3D printing trade show in Dusseldorf, Germany, Vader Systems CEO Scott Vader is realizing just how well his innovative machines are being received.
Located in the Crosspoint Business Park in Getzville, the father-son duo of Scott and Zach Vader have revolutionized the growing 3D printing sector, securing two major contracts, with another soon on the horizon.
That puts three 3D printing machines in Vader’s arsenal, which use wire-fed spools of liquid metal, fed at higher speeds and at much lower cost than traditional powdered metal printing technologies. And Scott Vader says there are five more planned for 2018.
The Vaders have found a sprawling, 17,000-square-foot plant in which to operate and a talented labor force out of the University at Buffalo’s engineering department. But none of this would have been possible, Vader says, without the support of early investors like OneTen Capital and the Buffalo angel community.
“They looked at a couple crazy guys working out of their basement and they said, ‘that makes sense to us,’” Vader recalls. “And we’re grateful that they did … We still have folks coming back to us who remember us from OneTen.”
Vader recently announced the sale of their machines to two major customers: Becker Cad-Cam-Cast in Germany, operated out of Detroit, which manufactures aluminum automotive components; and the AMPrint Center at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The third machine is used in-house for contracted projects.
And Vader hints at a third, unannounced contract coming in early 2018. It’s all part of the Vaders’ goal to diversify their machines in a range of sectors, from automotive to sporting goods to agriculture.
“Four years into the business, and our basic strategy is still the right now,” Vader says. “And we’re still following it.”
Vader now employs 10 people full time and four part time, including three students from UB’s engineering school. He is quick to list the numerous supporters of his company’s machines early in the process, including the local angel community and Jenae Pitts, Jonathan Amoia, and Larry Stolzenberg at OneTen Capital.
“We, naively maybe, figured we could bootstrap the business,” Vader says. “We used some family savings to build a proof of concept, but it was local investors, the local angel community, and UB that helped when we were thinking beyond our technological and financial capabilities.
“They were the difference between an idea fizzling and moving forward, getting that business service and support,” Vader adds.
Vader called the contract with an automotive company their “dream sector.” The company had the advantage of being far ahead of the technological curve as companies moved away from powdered metals, which are less structurally sound, to Vader’s liquid metal ink jets.
This means there will be more hiring, higher wages, and further opportunity as the company maintains its foothold in Western New York.