Feb 01, 2022 
Luis Baldez is one of the pioneers of 3D printing in HP, having led early customer research and technology development starting in 2009. After the successful launch of the first HP Multi Jet Fusion product in 2016, he helped create the market and business development organization to accelerate customer adoption of HP’s 3D printing technologies. His current responsibilities include strategic account management, solution development, and partner engagements for Footwear, Healthcare, and Industrial customers. Luis is also the Executive Director of the 3MF Consortium, an industry consortium focused on data standards to improve cross-platform interoperability. Luis has a background in electrical and software engineering and held several engineering and management positions in HP, Synopsys, and a couple of startups across the globe. He holds a MSc degree of Electronics Engineering from University of Brasilia, Brazil and an Innovation Leadership education from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is currently based at the HP office in Vancouver, Washington.
Luis will be sharing his experiences at our virtual event 3D Printing for Performance Sports.
Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing?
Luis: My first encounter with 3D printing was back in 2008 when I printed my first parts with an FDM 3D printer. The experience felt a little “awkward” coming from the 2D printing industry. I thought the technology was amazing, but still had a long way to go in order to mature and become mainstream.
Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey in 3D printing ?
Luis: I was immediately amazed about all the possible 3D printing applications across so many different industries. That inspired me and a small team of like-minded individuals to investigate how HP could enter and disrupt the 3D printing market.
Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing?
Luis: All the doctors using 3D printing to improve patient outcomes are very inspiring to me. Top of the mind is Jonathan Morris at Mayo Clinic and Jiri Rosicky at Invent Medical.
Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?
Luis: Make a dent in the universe by creating innovative products that advance the state of industries.
Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Luis: Time and complexity to adopt 3D printing at production scale. We have significant progress in some very specific applications, but there are still a lot of work ahead.
Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?
Luis:
#1 Part quality variability / inconsistency
#2 Limited range of materials
#3 Broken digital workflow
The solution is a deep focus on these 3 areas for every single application where 3D printing is clearly the best way to solve a customer problem. A deep partnership between customers, material suppliers, 3D printer manufacturers and software providers is critical to success.
Jenny: If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be?
Luis: The serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advices you heard should they ignore?
Luis: 3D printing is not “just hit print”. You need to understand the underlying technology well and design for it to achieve the best possible results. Take time to understand how other manufacturing technologies matured over time. There is no free lunch.
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