IWF provides a great opportunity for people to browse new technology, to test out the latest hardware, see multiple brands of new CNC equipment in action, and to meet new people, said Clay Swayze of Microvellum. Replicating that in the digital world may be difficult for some, but for Microvellum, he said they are quite prepared to connect with customers in the digital world.

“We are increasing our digital presence, hosting more software presentations online, and investing in more user-focused LIVE sessions, which we’ve been doing for over two years now,” Swayze said. “Our current schedule and previous recordings can be found at www.microvellum.com/live.

“We also launched our virtual classroom program where clients can receive training online, take tests, and get certified. Our digital learning platform is well suited for small or large groups of people, where breakout rooms based on skill sets or topics can be taught by multiple people. So while people are continuing to social distance themselves or they simply prefer that platform to cut travel costs, we can accommodate their needs.”

Microvellum will be providing informational/educational LIVE sessions where qualified software and integration specialists come on to present full product demonstrations, short and interactive training sessions, and engage in open user-to-user discussions.

One of the features Microvellum planned to highlight at this year’s IWF trade show was their project costing capabilities.

“We’re seeing a lot of customers have tremendous success with our capabilities for project costing, and being able to track and project the cost for every part of their project including design and engineering time, labor, production, machine time, assembly – not to mention the typical costing for project materials such as hardware, sheet goods, and other cabinetry components,” Swayze said. “This is an area of our platform that we were planning to promote at IWF and will continue to promote digitally. For more information about this feature, check this out: https://www.microvellum.com/what-will-your-next-project-cost/

Swayze suggested that shops should take a look at their own operation.

“There’s never been a better time to evaluate your shop, to take a close look at the processes you have driving your shop’s design to production workflow,” he said. “Is it efficient? How can you evaluate it? What do you compare it to? How can you improve it? What tools are there to help? Just because you may have been successful in the pre-pandemic world doesn’t mean you will be in a post-pandemic or a recovering market. You may return with fewer employees and realize that you’ve been perpetuating an inefficient system. This is where we step in.”

Swayze suggested one way to do that is through online forums, and another big change that Microvellum recently made has to do with their online community site. Until recently, their community forums and user-to-user discussion site was private.

“We decided to open up access – allowing end-users, students, teachers, industry professionals, or those that are curious about what we do or have questions to engage with our worldwide community,” Swayze said. 

“We specialize in educational experiences that help companies learn the possibilities, the capabilities of what we can do so they can effectively evaluate if what we do can help them be better, can help them confidently grow their businesses.”