Makerbot CEO Jonathan Jaglom has announced that they are laying off about 20% off the company’s 400 staff or about 80 people. The move follows a previous round of layoffs that dropped 20% of the original workforce and closed the company’s three retail stores.
The company is also closing one of its office spaces in Industry City and is relocating the software and sales teams to its headquarters in downtown Brooklyn.
“We have achieved a lot as a team, but we have also been impacted by the broader challenges in our industry,” wrote Jaglom. “For the last few quarters, we did not meet our ambitious goals and we have to make significant changes to ensure MakerBot’s future growth and success. In order to lead our dynamic industry, we need to get back to our entrepreneurial spirit and address our fractured organizational structure.”
Jaglom said the company will contract out manufacturing of its 4th generation products “to save on costs and focus our teams at our factory in Brooklyn on our current generation of MakerBot 3D printers.”
Makerbot has weathered a tough few years after the exit of former CEO Bre Pettis and the move by interim CEO Jenny Lawton into the company’s new parent, Stratasys. Competition is fierce in the space now and up-and-coming companies are quickly overtaking Makerbot as a home 3D printing juggernaut. In the end this move could streamline the company to make it more responsive to customer needs, an important consideration in an era of $500 3D printers.
