Desktop Metal’s New CEO Shares His Roadmap Focused on Innovation and Reliability

One thing is certain: Desktop Metal has gone through several phases in recent months. If you follow industry news, you are already aware of all the upheavals the manufacturer has experienced and the difficulties it has faced. In fact, this summer, it announced its bankruptcy, even though just a few months ago, it was the talk of the town with its multiple acquisitions. Who hasn’t been following the famous saga with Stratasys and Nano Dimension? But what happened? How can such a reversal of fortune be explained? Can this decline be attributed to the downturn in the market, an overly rapid consolidation strategy, or a change of direction? These are all questions that leave us perplexed. However, there seems to be a small light at the end of the tunnel: an investment company, Arc Impact Acquisition Corporation, has acquired some of Desktop Metal’s assets.

A new lease of life for the company? In any case, it has announced a kind of revival as an advanced manufacturing platform, combining both metal and ceramic binder jetting, as well as real work on AI to accelerate the discovery of innovative materials and enable better control of manufacturing processes. Desktop Metal says it is also working on the development of industrial polymer foams. It is in this context that a new CEO has been appointed: Thomas Nogueira, formerly COO and an integral part of the company for almost nine years. We were able to ask him some exclusive questions to find out more about Desktop Metal’s new strategy, his vision for the business and the market, and the consequences of the acquisition by Arc. Discover the manufacturer’s roadmap now!

Thomas Nogueira, CEO of Desktop Metal

3DN: Can you introduce yourself and your career in the AM industry?

Previous to DM, my career was centered around the Plastics and Battery industries always with a focus between Operations and Engineering working at GE, A123 Systems and 24M Technologies. I’ve worked at DM for over 8.5 years starting in early 2017. The beginning of my time was focused on building up the initial Operations of the company across Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Facilities. My role evolved as the company grew, ultimately into the company’s COO in mid 2022 after all of the post IPO acquisitions were completed. The past few years have been focused on running the business while absorbing the numerous acquisitions amidst the various new M&A activity with both the Stratasys and Nano-Dimension transactions. I am personally energized about our ability to focus now on our core business going forward.