2017 Highlights: A lot happened at PADT this year

As we jump into December everyone is starting to realize that 2017 is almost over. And what would the end of a year be without a look back at what happened? 2017 was a big year for PADT, with new offerings, fantastic events, and humbling recognition taking place throughout the year.  If anything, this was a year where PADT further established itself as the leader in simulation, product development, and 3D printing in the southwest.

Take a look, maybe you were part of some of the critical happenings during the year:

January

PADT Named ANSYS North American Channel Partner of the Year and Becomes an ANSYS Certified Elite Channel Partner The year started with a bang when, because of our fantastic customers and the hard work of our sales and support team, ANSYS, Inc. recognized PADT as Channel Partner of the Year for North America.  At the same time, the team hit their goals and the company became an ANSYS Certified Elite Channel Partner

Concept Laser, Honeywell, and PADT Build Largest Additive Manufacturing Center in Southwest at Arizona State University ASU launched their Manufacturing Research and Innovation Hub, the largest additive manufacturing research and teaching center in the Southwestern US.  PADT is proud to have partnered with ASU, as well as Concept Laser and Honeywell, to get this important piece of the local manufacturing ecosystem started and to keep it growing.

March

PADT’s 2017 SciTech Festival Open House Every year PADT opens its doors to let the community come in and see how “We Make Innovation Work.” We enjoyed kids running excitedly down the hall and customers using the visit as a way to explain what they do to their friends and family.  With over 250 attendees, this was one of our biggest open houses ever.

April

Introducing our new Newsletter: the PADT Pulse Everyone loved getting five emails a week from PADT…not. So, we decided in April to consolidate some of the information into a monthly newsletter.  It covers upcoming events, anything special that happened, key news that PADT needs to share, and the occasional tidbit of useful but only slightly related information.

Cox shows off a smart home with 55 connected devices and fast gigabyte internet PADT was asked to take part in a demonstration put on by one of our local communication companies, Cox Communications, showing off what a “smart home” looks like.  It was a great chance to show how 3D Printing and other technologies integrate into the smart home and how do-it-yourself is turning in to print-it-yourself.

PADT Welcomes John Williams to Business Development Role When PADT wanted to take our engineering services business to the next level and expand our offerings, we knew we needed someone with sales and business development experience at the national and international level. That is why we asked John Williams to join our team. Williams is an experienced professional with the ideal skillset to handle our diverse client portfolio and position us as a major player in this area

May

Kidneys and Child Hearts – Our Recent Real-World Experiences with 3D Printing in Medicine PADT was recently able to use 3D printing to help doctors and their patients receive better treatment.  The first involved converting a CT scan of a kidney into a printed model so the doctors could plan a difficult stone removal procedure.  The second was a 10-year-old boy who needed complex heart surgery. PADT provided a 3D model fast to try and help doctors find a way to carry out the surgery.

June

A Three Event, Three State Hat Trick On June 22nd, PADT had three events scheduled for the same day: An Aerospace Summit in Phoenix, we launched an industry-academia partnership in Denver, and held a 3D Printing user group meeting in Albuquerque.  The logistics of doing all three on the same day in three different states is tough, but we made it happen.

PADT Welcomes Steve Gaxiola As part of the company’s effort to grow our 3D Printing and manufacturing services offering, Steve Gaxiola joined PADT’s advanced manufacturing team. He will initially focus on growing our capabilities in scanning and reverse engineering. He will later be charged with introducing a certified quality system for our services in this important and growing part of the company.

Affordable Metal 3D Printing from Desktop Metal Added to PADT Portfolio PADT has partnered with Desktop Metal to resell its office-friendly and affordable metal 3D Printing solution. The partnership will allow PADT to integrate this exciting new technology into our 3D Printer maintenance and part printing services and it gives our customers yet another option for their additive manufacturing needs.

July

Installing a Metal 3D Printer Series of Articles Finished After installing our own metal 3D printer, PADT’s Dhruv Bhate published a five-part series on our experience.  The articles are very popular and have been reprinted in several different areas. Anyone considering a metal additive manufacturing system should take a look.

August

Launch of All Things ANSYS podcast After publishing content on our blog for over 10 years, PADT decided it was time to share our ANSYS Knowledge and expertise on a newer platform, and the All Things ANSYS Podcast was born. Every two weeks two or more, PADT simulation engineers get together to talk about what they have learned and explore the world of ANSYS products.

September

Eric Miller Presents at WESTEC 2017 In Los Angeles – Medical Device Development: The Bitter Pill The WESTEC show in LA is one of the year’s biggest gatherings for manufacturing and mechanical engineers. This year, PADT was asked to come out and share our experience helping startups develop medical devices. The talk was well attended, and we were also able to stop by and talk with customers and partners who were also attending the show.

PADT and Stratasys Announce Lockheed Martin Additive Manufacturing Laboratory at Metropolitan State University in Denver PADT helped build another industry-academia partnership to educate students and provide research to the industry around 3D Printing. This effort brings Lockheed Martin, Stratasys, and PADT together with the Metropolitan State University in Denver with a focus on tooling made with additive manufacturing.

October

2017 ANSYS Arizona Innovation Conference ANSYS, Inc. and PADT partnered once again to hold a fantastic user conference for all local users of the ANSYS product suite. This annual event focuses on user presentations, how they use simulation, and a technical overview from ANSYS, Inc. and PADT on new and exciting features in the toolset.

PADT Partners with 3D Printing Disruptor Carbon to Offer Production Part 3D Printing of productions parts is here, and PADT is one of the first to offer on-demand manufacturing that leverages Carbon’s revolutionary 3D Printing technology.

PADT Triples 3D Printing with New Large Stereolithography System    The addition of a new UnionTech RSPro 450 further establishes PADT as the leader in Additive Manufacturing technology in the Southwestern US. With a build volume of 17.7 x 17.7 x 15.75 inches, this state of the art Stereolithography(SLA) machine will triple our capacity to 3D Print with SLA technology.

Nerdtoberfest 2017 Our annual customer appreciation event, Nerdtoberfest, was another fun and informative evening at PADT’s Tempe offices.  Over 200 customers and partners came to see what we had that was new and to socialize with PADT’s employees as well as other attendees.  Fun was had by all and a LOT of pizza was consumed.

November

Finishing the Year with Awards and a Booth at Arizona Technology Council Governor’s Celebration of Innovation A year packed full of events, milestones, and new capabilities were capped off with our annual attendance at the premier tech event in the state: The Governor’s Celebration of Innovation. As is tradition, we 3D Printed the awards.  Our booth was full of fun examples of products that our customers produce. And it never sucks when the Governor and the state’s most successful tech entrepreneur hold a trophy you designed and 3D Printed.

Looking Forward to 2018

After looking back on 2017, all indicators point to 2018 being even better. We look forward to meeting new customers, growing our old clients, and bridging new partnerships. We will see you in 2018!