Customization with clicks, not code

Rapid growth sparks collaboration between team, suppliers and contract manufacturers

Desktop Metal recognized that current metal 3D printing was too expensive and industrial for prototyping, and it was not fast enough or cost-effective enough for mass production. In order to address these challenges, Desktop Metal offers two systems: the Studio System, designed as an end-to-end solution to print complex metal parts in-house, and the Production system, the first metal 3D printing system for mass production.

Because of the many innovative technologies in Desktop Metal’s products, there can be frequent engineering and supply chain changes. Coordinating team members, suppliers and contract manufacturers is essential for the company to hit its design goals, target costs and production timeframes. The rapid growth of the company also makes it essential for newly hired employees to quickly come up to speed on the latest product discussions.

"I've used PLM systems for more than 20 years, and Propel continues to be a leader with its flexible and easy solution. Propel is helping Desktop Metal manage very complex and advanced products that will change how engineers bring products to market."

^{Matt Verminski, VP of Engineering}

Propel PLM provides scalability and secure access needed for growing business

With their extensive development experience at previous companies, the Desktop Metal team knew they needed a PLM system to manage the complexity and rapid pace of innovation with their products. While the team considered a number of PLM solutions, they chose Propel because it could easily integrate with other systems and flexibly scale with the business as it grows.

The Salesforce cloud platform that Propel uses also ensures that Desktop Metal always has continuous and controlled access to their critical product data. “Since Propel is built on the Salesforce platform, there was no worry about reliability, availability and security,” added Matt Verminski, VP of Engineering at Desktop Metal.

• ‍Business Flexibility: With the fast pace of innovation at Desktop Metal, it’s critical that they have a PLM system that is easy to configure, maintain and upgrade. Desktop Metal can create a field, custom object or workflow in just a few clicks, with no programming required.‍
• Fast Time to Scale: Desktop Metal quickly configured their items, product hierarchies, categories and lifecycles in Propel. “It took us literally a few hours to get up and running,” according to Verminski. After the initial go-live of Propel, Desktop Metal continues to add users as the company grows. Setting up users and getting them trained is very easy and straightforward.‍
• Improved Collaboration: Desktop Metal is using Propel to provide a single centralized place for everyone to document their design and manufacturing information for their all their products. Engineering, operations and partners now have one place to quickly track and collaborate on all their product changes.