3DX Industries Inc., a Ferndale, Washington company focused on 3D printing applications that specializes in the additive metal manufacturing and plastic printing segments, has opened its first East Coast office at the University of Bridgeport”™s Bauer Hall Innovation Center.
Bridgeport was a no-brainer for Nicholas Coriano, who joined the company as vice president of East Coast operations in April. Coriano headquartered his earlier endeavor, the business startup consulting company Cervitude, in Bridgeport, and the city is the home base for two of its newest executives: Peter Divone Sr., a board member who is a chemical process engineer and currently serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Bridgeport, and Harold Blackwell, the company”™s head of mergers and acquisitions.
Coriano stated that 3DX Industries is the first company to set up offices in Bauer Hall, and he is eager to have neighbors.
“My goal is to recruit other companies to come and be a part of this ecosystem for additive manufacturing,” he said. “We can create another manufacturing hub back in the United States. If you look at the history of Bridgeport, there was a lot of manufacturing and there are a lot of spaces here.”
Coriano added that he and Divone conversed with the leadership of Goodwin College, which assumed co-ownership of the university last year with Paier College of Art, about creating an additive manufacturing degree program at the school in order to meet a growing occupational space.
“There’s a shortage of tradesmen and engineers,” he said. “Not engineering engineers, per se, but those who can operate these manufacturing facilities — the CNC machinist, the CAD designer, and even the welder. They can bring manufacturing back, but there’s not many of them.”
3DX Industries has been growing its businesses through the recent purchase of Specialty Metal Works LLC in Blaine, Washington, and the hiring of agronomist and inventor Anthony J. Bredberg to head a new research and development division.
The company”™s stock is currently traded in the over-the-counter market and Coriano is aiming to take the company to NASDAQ, with the Bridgeport office helping to expand horizons thanks to its location near the Manhattan and Greenwich investor offices.
In many ways, Coriano believes he is in the right place at the right time. He defined 3D printing as offering a solution to bring offshored manufacturing opportunities back to the U.S. while alleviating the suffocation imposed on the supply chain created by global disruptions.
“I’m a big believer in onshoring,” he said. “Hopefully, this will be a model that we can run.”
He also believes Bridgeport ”“ and the Fairfield County region as a whole ”“ is poised for a new wave of entrepreneurism and could be rediscovered as the next hub for business creativity, rather than just being the middle passage between the Northeast”™s two major metropolises.
“New York is already known for things and Boston is already known for things, right?” he asked. “We want to add another level where we’re in-between. We want to wave a flag here and be like, ”˜This is the only place that’s doing that!”™ We’re trying to create an additive manufacturing hub and no one else is doing that ”“ no one else has taken the lead on that. We want to stand out.”
Coriano hoped to work with the university as a resource for future employees.
“Once we finish our five-year plan here in the next six months, we’ll have a timeline,” he said. “And we are sure that we will expand our offices here on the East Coast.”
