Over the last few years, 3D printing technology began percolating to a wider range of applications. The termination of patents helped new players to enter the market, thereby costs plunged and adoption increased. However, 3D printing conquered the biggest engineering challenge that is shape complexity. The guiding principle of traditional manufacturing was manufacturability. DFM (Design for Manufacturing) ensured that the manufacturing process restricts product design which resulted in no implementing of innovative designs by designers as they could not step out of DFM. But, AM (Additive Manufacturing) overcame this flaw of DFM. DFAM (Design for Additive Manufacturing) enabled designers to be creative as complexity was no longer a challenge for them.

Headquartered in India, Stratnel Technologies LLP is providing engineering solutions to its customers using additive manufacturing strategies. The company offers design advisory and 3D printing bureau services and enables designers to use additive manufacturing to move quickly and get more done. The Co-founders, K.Padmanabhan and Kris Raghavan do not consider Stratnel just a 3D printing company. They call themselves an engineering solutions provider with a primary focus on solving customer’s engineering problems. The Co-founders are not just satisfied with customer happiness or satisfaction instead they are aiming for customer success.

The Co-founding Duo with Diverse Backgrounds

With over 50 years of combined experience, the Stratnel Co-founding duo leverages their skills and expertise to ensure customer success. The seasoned duo is from diverse backgrounds and has extensive experience in their respective domains. CEO Padmanabhan has over 30 years of mechanical engineering and tool design expertise and experience. Until 2015, he headed an American MNC in India. The CMO Raghavan has about 25 years of experience in Semiconductor process control and Product Marketing in the Far East.

Through Stratnel, both competent leaders have formed strong partnerships with several Universities. Every year, they take on a few students projects Pro Bono as well as at subsidized rates other students’ projects are also taken to implement. Stratnel duo also assists students in improving their designs by providing consultancy at no charge.

Offering Wide Range of Services 

Since its inception, Stratnel is aiming to become a globally innovative and competitive business providing 100% genuine services to its customers. Keeping its customers’ requirements in mind, the company offers solutions that suit specific customer requirements as well as supplies additive manufacturing tools such as 3D printers, training, maintenance, and support. Currently, it is deploying FFF and SLA methodologies in AM. Moreover, the dynamic 3D printing company is also working closely with several technology partners to provide solutions in SLS, MJF, DMLS, vacuum casting, etc. 

Catering Diverse Industries 

Being a customer-centric company, Stratnel is catering diverse industries including the automotive, electronics manufacturing, aerospace, and foundry industries. It is offering them services like prototyping, metal casting, high-mix/low-volume production, jigs and fixtures, etc. Along with this, it has customers from machine building, aerospace, foundry, and general engineering. Stratnel knows that mass customization in the consumer industry has huge potential. Therefore, it has been working with a number of start-ups in this area.

Stratnel’s Three-Step Design Validation Process

According to the versatile leaders, the 3D printing industry still has a relatively low adoption in India despite the huge industrial base. “There is tremendous scope for adoption in almost every manufacturing industry. Medical devices adoption is very low in the country,” adds the Stratnel Co-founders. They believe that there is a large consumer durable industry from where mass customization can generate huge streams of revenue. But in these parts, very little has been achieved. Moreover, most of the 200+ 3D printing shops in India concentrate on printing customer model without any queries. But, Stratnel is different and unique from these shops. It has adopted a different approach for printing customers’ models. It also makes sure that customer success is possible before taking any project. So when a customer brings his design to Stratnel, it follows a 3-step design validation process:

Step 1: Is 3D printing the best way to make this product or is there a lower-cost alternative?

According to the client’s requirement, Stratnel handpicks the best option for designing the model. Sometimes, it selects traditional manufacturing over AM as traditional manufacturing offers a good alternative.

Step 2: Is the design optimized for 3d printing? Meaning, is it still bound by DFM constraints?

In this step, the leading company chooses AM to overcome the DFM constraints to make a better product.

Step 3: Is it possible to meet the technical specifications such as tolerance, dimensions, and part integrity?

If the client’s answers to all 3 above questions are yes, then Stratnel seeks out new methods to adopt, recommends materials, etc. depending on the application. There is also a significant role for commercial implications such as lead time and cost in the entire process. As a matter of fact, its 3-step design validation process method is totally different from the one-step “print your design” offering that many 3D printing job shops promote. Because of this approach, the prominent company is able differentiate itself from other competitors as well as carve its own niche in an already niche market. Among its competitors, it is emerging as the leading player in the country for 3d printed investment casting patterns.

Better Planning for Future

For the future, Stratnel is all set to scale and expand. Currently, the company is under consideration to enter into the healthcare market in a big way. Before the end of this calendar year, the company is going to make a product announcement. In the next 5 years, it is expecting to become one of the leading engineering solutions providers in the country. Stratnel is also planning to have strong footprint in engineering, medical and consumer mass customization markets.

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