Turning Ideas into Production-Ready Parts with 3D Printing: Matthew Guy of Niche 3D | Ep. 59

In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Matthew Guy, CEO of Niche 3D, to demystify additive manufacturing and show where 3D printing creates real business advantage beyond “hobby” perception. Matthew explains why the winners in 3D printing focus on applications and customer needs—not the novelty of the technology—then walks through how he designs and manufactures custom, low-volume production parts for pharmaceutical, medical, and assistive device companies when injection molding and traditional methods are too slow, too expensive, or too rigid. He breaks down how material selection, print orientation, tuning, and post-processing determine production-grade quality, why rapid iteration can compress product development cycles, and how 3D printing enables startups to launch without massive tooling costs or minimum order quantities. The conversation also touches on where AI is genuinely helping (error detection and early automation) versus where it is still immature, and what mindset shift helps innovators stop asking “Can we print this?” and start asking “What’s possible now?”