Get to know our CEO, Alexandre D’Orsetti!

Posted By Stephany Vaussanvin on Sep 19, 2022 | 0 comments

Alexandre d’Orsetti is Managing Director of Sculpteo, where he ran the design studio for six years. He is an industrial designer who graduated from ENSCI-Les Ateliers. He is passionate about the formal and technical potential of additive manufacturing and the new applications that result from it.

What motivated you to change your position from Director of Studio to CEO of Sculpteo? What is it that attracts you to this opportunity the most?

I’m passionate about projects and finding solutions to make things happen. AM is a growing field with new technologies, materials, post-processes, and applications, so many potential projects can change or develop the business. When I was in the studio, we could help customers to make their projects successful and get excellent series in production. Now, as CEO, I have a more comprehensive view of Sculpteo’s ecosystem with the technology and material suppliers and all the customers. Together with the management team, we can set up bigger strategic projects. Furthermore, being very interested in industry and manufacturing, this new position is a great opportunity to have a global perspective on the challenges of an industrial company.

What do you see as our company’s biggest strengths right now, and what value will you bring?

I see our team as the biggest strength right now. We have a tight team with many passionate and experienced people who care about quality and service and have a great team spirit. In the very competitive field of AM, I think this extra care and service is really important for our customers. Sculpteo is a close working team with shared values, but being an industrial designer, I will bring a very solution-oriented mindset.

How would you define Sculpteo’s mission? 

Sculpteo’s mission is to become the 3DP industry partner of choice through customer-centric innovation, market-leading quality, and superb personal service.

How would you describe your main objective in the position of Chief Executive Officer?

My main objective is to grow profitably while keeping Sculpteo’s strong team spirit. It’s also to deliver the best quality products and services and be precursors to meaningful applications and AM sustainability.

How do you see Sculpteo’s evolution in the next 24 months?

I see the evolution of Sculpteo as a leaner and more optimized production, a wider range of solutions for our customers, and even more and bigger recurrent customers seeking a strong accompaniment and trusted quality. I see new certifications and technical solutions like post-processing allow us to tackle new markets.

What will your appointment mean to Sculpteo partners and clients?

My past years at the studio made me very customer and project-oriented. For Sculpteo partners and clients, I think my appointment means that Sculpteo will always be very interested in finding solutions and creating value together with them.

What do you think are the next challenges for the 3D printing industry? Including sustainability initiatives? 

I think one of the first challenges will actually be sustainability; the on-demand aspect of AM gives some sustainable advantages fundamentally, like small, adapted, easily local production, an ability to repair, produce spare parts, etc.  In the meantime, the materials, recycling channels, and process optimization still have a long way to go, and it’s a major challenge to develop these aspects to make this industry more sustainable.

Technically speaking, all the benefits of the additive (layer by layer) principle, like on-demand manufacturing and design freedom, also have in return the well-known limitations of the technology: less dimensional accuracy, geometry stability, material integrity, and surface aspect. The next challenges are continuing to go further in precision, surface quality, post processes, and dimensional accuracy; it will unlock new markets.

The last challenge that comes to my mind is industrialization, which is a continuous optimization to produce larger and more consistent series at a better price by innovating on the technologies and materials, processes, and post-processes.

How do you think 3D printing will evolve and which industries would benefit the most from its adoption? 

3D printing is a diverse field with many technologies and will continue evolving in many directions. I think it will evolve toward more productivity, quality, and efficiency in the industrial field as all manufacturers work in this direction. I think that every industry can benefit from flexibility, reduced lead time, and design freedom. Of course, some areas like medical, transportation, and luxury already benefit from its adoption. I believe that AM is an area of manufacturing that finds its place among all the other processes and is an asset for all industries.

What is the role of design/studio in 3D printing? How do you think this will evolve? 

The role of the design studio is to be experts in AM processes and possibilities. They help our customers to identify potential projects and to design them in the most effective way to have a successful, repeatable, and more economical production.
It’s also a creative lab, curious and open about what happens in the area to invent or accompany our customers’ inventions or innovations. We now have application engineers, designers, and engineers working in the studio.
The studio’s evolution is to have some members specialized in different areas, e.g., medical or lightweight, to accompany even closer and upfront ambitious applications. Furthermore, the studio will be more and more a driving force to experiment internally with innovative applications and develop ready-for-market solutions.