Sep 08, 2024 
Craig Johnson is a Boston native, where he grew up and went to school with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. After years of working in product design and manufacturing, he quickly fell in love with the magic of 3D printing, focusing on helping grow innovation of all types. Soon, he was introduced to the medical side of 3D printing, immediately saw the impact, and wanted to focus on helping the amazing people expanding that industry. Now, as one of Materialise’s Account Managers, he focuses on medical device development and the use of Mimics software solutions to use digital anatomy to improve results. Coming from additive manufacturing, he strives to teardown inefficiencies and is here to help bring time savings and automation to medical device workflows. Craig will be speaking at our upcoming virtual event focusing on 3D technologies for the spine.
When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing?
Craig: College for my senior capstone project. I had an amazing experience using 3DP to rapid prototype the device I was working on to get many iterations done in a short amount of time. I also dropped my device a day or two before the presentation was due and 3D printing was the only thing fast enough to get a replacement fabricated in time.
What inspired you to start your journey?
Craig: Witnessing the stories from places like Mayo Clinic and NYU about how 3D printing & patient specific workflows enabled life saving/altering surgeries that wouldn’t have been possible, or would have been extremely risky, otherwise.
Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing?
Craig: I’m not 100% sure I love name dropping here as it may make some feel excluded. That said, Amy Alexander, Beth Ripley, Gaurav Manchanda, Sarah Rimini, Nicole Wake, Peter Liacouras, Jonathan Morris, to name a few.
What motivates you the most for your work?
Craig: Seeing the results and testimonies from the patient.
What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Craig: Non-sales work I’m assuming. I’d say the learning curve+tribal knowledge in additive manufacturing. There are a lot of nuances and difficulties behind the scene with 3D printing. They get tackled by talking about them, sharing, attending events, and generally being a curious+open minded person.
If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be?
Craig: Be able to fly or teleport(depending on how fast I could fly). Cure the world of all disease. Be able to materialize any food I want at any given moment.
What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice have you heard they should ignore?
Craig: Good – See the world and try to understand how various cultures/personalities/roles function and mesh. It’s important to have a balance of people skills and book skills. Be the co-worker others want to work with.
Ignore – Negative thoughts or complaining. Lots of people will be negative through your career. Whether it’s coworkers complaining about a company/management, Politics, or just generally people being bitter, tune it out and don’t let other’s negativity influence your mood or goals.
What’s your favorite book you read this year and why? Alternatively, what’s your favorite book of all times you read and why?
Craig: The Stand, Steven King. I love a good apocalypse or adventure story and most of it was set in my neck of the woods, Boulder Colorado. Fantastic book that fully deserved all the hype it got.
Related Links:
Expert Corner: The Future of 3D Printing in Hybrid Devices
Expert Corner: Smart Spine Surgery- From Planning to 3D Printed Templates
Interview with Alyssa Huffman: CEO, Allumin8
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