The non-weakening COVID-19 pandemic, an economic lock-down, which results in a huge increase in unemployment and a wave of protests and violent violence spreading all over the country – if there is something today that is worse than being a US citizen, then it is being a resident Minneapolis – the city where George Floyd was murdered.
12 kilometers further south is Eden Prairie – once the “best place to live” according to a survey by Money magazine, today one of the many outbreaks of chaos tugging America. It is also the headquarters of Stratasys – one of the largest companies in the world 3D printing industry. And although this news is not directly related to the unrest, it unfortunately fits perfectly into the tragic picture of the situation – Stratasys announced today that it is dismissing 10% of employees …
Recently, Stratasys interweaves good news with bad… On one hand, the company presents fantastic product news or informs about impressive transactions, on the other quarter after quarter it records losses in revenues. In the company’s official announcement, we read that the dismissal is intended to reduce operating costs under the cost compensation program and increase profit. Stratasys expects that the vast majority of reductions will take place in the second quarter of this year and will end in the third quarter.
The redundancies occur at a time when the US is struggling with a 20% unemployment rate, which is one of the sources of violence spreading across the country. At the same time, given the current economic situation in North America and the world, it will not come as a surprise if it soon turns out that other 3D printing companies will make similar decisions in the near future.