3MERA brings a new and unique tool to all types of manufacturing industries, and Founder and CEO Schuyler Van Sickle explained how his company’s platform can transform the way that businesses sell and market their products.
3MERA’s software enables anyone to create interactive 3D models of products from CAD designs, allowing realistic demonstrations of the look and operation of parts without having to build, transport, or handle the physical product. Manufacturers can easily create digital catalogs of their products, allowing their potential customers to experience merchandise in a whole new way, without having to download any apps or take any additional steps.
Most companies have already taken some steps to digitize their sales and marketing processes, and Van Sickle tells us,
What we’re saying is, ‘You’re sitting on this gold mine, and you know it’s a gold mine because you’ve invested in it. This is what drives your whole company, your products. What if you could take that product and digitize it in a way that it sells itself?’
3MERA provides customers with complete “CAD to Market” packages for E-commerce that allow the product listings and demonstrations to translate into direct sales without needing additional software to host the 3D content.
Van Sickle mentions IKEA as a company on the leading edge of digitized product portfolios, saying that they have invested in their rendering capabilities for many years, and have not had to take product photos or videos in the last ten years. All online or print pictures of their products are digitally rendered, and most businesses will likely follow that model in the coming years.
Photos Worth a Thousand Views
Customers are quite impressed when they see 3MERA’s work in action. Van Sickle says, “A picture is worth a thousand words, but being able to walk around your product in that form, well it really just blows people away. You know, it’s cool to see other people’s products in there, but once we go through with a demo, it’s just like ‘wow!’ We get amazing responses when they start seeing their own products in this format. The technology we’re working with is new in the way it’s being used.”
Growing a family business selling augmented reality merchandise, the founders of 3MERA saw that the application of their process could be adapted to meet the needs of any industry. “We started getting out there and seeing how people interacted with augmented reality,” Van Sickle says of being able to bring 3D characters to virtual life for children’s shirt designs. “What we found is a cross-generational adoption of this new technology. Customers over the age of 45 would buy a t-shirt as a gift for somebody under the age of 18 because of the interactivity and AR experience.”
Strong Company Core Competencies
Of the several 3MERA co-founders, one is from the world of 3D animation and illustration for the movie and gaming industries, and another is a platform engineer from the cybersecurity field, working with the Department of Defense and NIST on CMMC protocols. Their skills and experience, combined with the specialized interests of customers, give the company a depth of expertise that has allowed them to create and improve upon their unique platform. Because 3MERA’s platform is completely digital, they can offer to host customers rendered products in digital storefronts at a much lower cost than traditional photographic or video demonstration catalogs.
The company currently employs about ten people as their core team who have been there from the start, and the CEO says that passionate tinkerers who like to dive deep into
problem-solving are the ideal candidates to fill their future expansion needs. “We hire when we come across this type of individual, not just when we need people,” he says. “As long as they have the right skill set–and they’re vigorous learners–those are the people we want.”
Easy Wins for Growth
3MERA’s future growth seems assured as it continues to get the word out about the benefits that its technology offers manufacturers through various forms of publicity, as well as through MEP programs. They will also introduce a more self-serve program for customers in the coming year that will provide more options and customization for clients. Van Sickle points out that manufacturers can be way ahead of consumer companies in adopting this latest e-commerce technology because they already have the 3D assets of their product development that can be unlocked to take these next steps to enjoy the marketing benefits they offer.
“It’s just kind of this whole world of us trying to help manufacturers solve problems,” says Van Sickle, as they make their digital solutions available to a variety of businesses to streamline digital marketing and e-commerce in the rapidly changing world of today and tomorrow.
