AdditiveManufacturingInsight.com September 2014 — 5
guides his shop, it consists of (A) a belief in the
potential of the individual to grow, improve and
achieve, combined with (B) an appreciation for the
power of mutually helpful relationships built on trust.
That formula may sound hopeful or hazy, but at
Baklund R&D;, it plays out in tangible ways.
To be sure, the shop is still small and working
to grow. It is too soon to say how far it will go or
how important these values will be to its ultimate
success. In general, though, it is fair to say that
modern manufacturing work is increasingly
characterized by small teams of people managing
broad ranges of operations, and also character-
ized by a need to adapt quickly to changing
methodologies and abrupt, short-lead-time
changes in customer demand. Key manufactur-
ing employees are becoming scarcer and more
valuable, and manufacturing customer expecta-
tions are becoming more demanding. Thus, in
the values that Mr. Baklund is following and in
the early successes his shop is seeing, he might
be charting a course that will model some of the
ways that manufacturing enterprises of the future
will increasingly operate.
What follows is a sketch of the Baklund R&D;
approach as it relates to both employees and
customers. In both areas, one striking detail is the
extent to which 3D printing fgures in.
The Team
Among the team members working on the shop
foor at Baklund R&D;, half of them had previ-
ous CNC machining experience and half came
to the company without any such background.
The expectation is that everyone, at every experi-
ence level, will fnd his own way to help others on
the team succeed. A daily morning meeting on
the shop foor aims to facilitate this. During this
meeting, each employee is expected to describe
his plans for the workday, with particular focus on
problems he is facing in the parts he is working
on or causes he sees for concern. A rule of the
meeting is that no one is criticized or penalized
for problems, or even for failure. The expected re-
sponse from other staff members is to look for ways
they can contribute to the solution or fnd capacity
The sample part Baklund R&D; most frequently gives away to pro-
mote its additive manufacturing capabilities is a 3D-printed scale
model of one of the more exotic parts the shop has machined, a
foot for NASA's Morpheus Lander (facing page). VP of Business
Development Andy Bleck (at left in the above photo, seen with Jon
Baklund) says prospects remember the shop for its 3D printing
capability even when they don't remember anything else.
Employees are encouraged to use the 3D printer for their own
personal projects. Baklund R&D; employee and hovercraft
enthusiast Chris Serbus shows a component he made related to
his hobby.