T
he global manufacturing industry is undergoing
a transformation every bit as sweeping and
profound as the one that took place over 200
years ago, when cottage industry gave way to
coal-powered factories and the Industrial Revolution
swept around the world. Thanks to meteoric
advances in information technology and business
practice, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is set to
remake the way things are manufactured on a scale
unseen for centuries. For the last 20 years, one
company has been squarely at the forefront of this
tidal wave of change. “We’re the leader in digital
manufacturing, in part because we were invented
that way,” says Victoria Holt, President and CEO
of Protolabs. Based in Minnesota, Protolabs is one of
the world’s fastest turnaround digital manufacturers
of small, mixed batch prototyping solutions.
Founded in 1999 by entrepreneur Larry Lukis,
Protolabs (then called Protomolds) was born from
his frustration with the slow process of acquiring
custom injection molded parts. Gathering a group
of software engineers and machinists, Lukis would
go on to reinvent not only the process by which
injection molding is executed, but also the customer
experience associated with it. “He automated all
of the front-end engineering associated with making
a custom part using software,” says Holt. “When
you look at how much time it takes to actually make
a part, a big portion of the work is that upfront
engineering where you have to put thought into how34
LEADERSHIPAUGUST 2019