Solidoodle.

From 2011 through 2014 we assembled our first four product generations at our own factory in Brooklyn. Soon demand began to grow so large that we felt it would be difficult to scale effectively in Brooklyn, so we sought to partner with an outside assembly factory. We had been largely successful purchasing components in China, so manufacturing our entire product there seemed like the next logical step.

However, this proved to be much more difficult than expected. Despite spending months in China building the partnership, training workers, and inspecting finished units, the factory shipped units which did not live up to our standards. This setback was exacerbated by the 2014 West Coast Port labor dispute and slowdown, which kept hundreds of printers ordered for the Holiday Season from arriving until March. Had they arrived on schedule, we would have had much more time for testing and inspection, and would have realized crucial cash flow much sooner.
We were able to raise some turnaround funding in July 2015, but, despite the support of our investors and the heroic efforts of our team, we were unable to revive sales and return to profitability. As a result, at the end of 2015 Solidoodle ran out of cash, stopped taking new orders, and laid off it’s employees.

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3D printer biz is a tough biz.