ROCK SOLID TECHNOLOGY

Our primary focus at Morris Manufacturing is designing and manufacturing equipment for the aggregate mining industry. We build both air and water mineral processing jigs which separate contaminants from aggregate material to provide a high grade product. The jig can remove shale, Volcanic ash, Iron Oxide and other contaminants.

Morris is also a Terex Powerscreen dealer in South Dakota providing mobile crushing and screening plants to process aggregate material for surface mining operations.

(continued from page 42) role as a lead designer for Hawley, Minn.-based Alderon Industries, which manufactures control products for a number of applications, including wastewater and water treatment systems.

“Seeing where the technology is going and the amount of people in the area who are interested but don’t have a way to get educated or a reliable place to get it … we kind of took it upon ourselves to be the first place in the area to do that,” he says.

Business has been good in the first few months of the company’s existence and Schneider says they expect to continue to gain new customers as the popularity of 3D printing technology grows. “The type of people that already have 3D printers are the ones who are kind of on the bleeding edge of this thing,” he says. “It’s not quite yet mainstream adoption but it’s starting to get to the point where the person’s specialty is in 3D printing or they’re not just professional tinkerers,” he says.

In addition to distributing MakerBot equipment and supplies, the company will also serve as a service provider for customers who desire more assistance with the machines.

The company's target area has quickly expanded to include the Dakotas and Minnesota, with future plans to add Iowa and Nebraska.

Supplies and equipment are already being distributed by Fargo

3D Printing on a global scale through Internet sales. In the first two months of operations the company recorded 43 international sales and shipped products to 18 countries.

Clark and Schneider say they will also offer new technologies and related support as they become available. They intend to offer 3D scanning services soon and are keeping an eye on other specialized 3D mediums such as sugar and lasers. They plan to open a MakerBot retail store in Fargo, hopefully by mid-fall, which would allow cus- tomers to browse the products and see them at work before making a purchase. When open, the store would be one of only a handful of MakerBot retail stores in the nation.

South Dakota State University’s 3,500-square-foot Imaging Center includes four MakerBot Replicator printers as well as a MakerBot 3D scanner. The center opened last August in response to suggestions from the school’s graphic design, landscape design, architectural design and interior design departments, but it is available for use by all SDSU students, faculty and staff. The center closes at night, but it is open seven days a week. Bob Carlson, manager of the SDSU print lab, says there is a fee to use 3D printers based on the time the machine is used, but it includes the cost of materials.

Clark says the company’s sales goal for the year is roughly $100,000. The pair has so far invested only about $13,000 in the company. They hope to be able to finance the retail store on their own. “We’re bootstrapping this thing,” he says.

For NDSU’s Bernard, whose background includes time spent as an economic developer, the launch of Fargo 3D Printing is just another indicator of the technology’s potential to transform current industries and create new industries. “I’m really excited to see how this technology empowers North Dakotans,” he says. “We’re on the leading edge.” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com