In a significant staff reduction announced Friday, 3-D printing company Aleph Objects laid off 91 of its 113 employees due to cash flow problems.
As of Monday, the company will have only 22 employees, said founder Jeff Moe.
The cuts were necessary in order to keep the company in business, Moe said. Cash flow was negatively impacted by several delays in project launches, he said, and the company was expecting payments that it did not receive.
The company still has $5 million in finished goods and raw materials, Moe said. There are people left in each department, but it will be more challenging to keep up with manufacturing, he said.
Aleph Objects is currently discussing a change of ownership with multiple parties, Moe said.
In a Friday press release, Aleph Objects said that it would continue to manufacture and sell its LulzBot Mini 2, Workhorse and Pro printers. All warranties will continue to be honored and the standard one year warranty will be included with all new printer purchases.
Moe founded the company eight years ago in his home west of Fort Collins and then moved it to Loveland. Last September, Grant Flaharty was brought on as the new president and CEO.
The company had several consecutive launches in the spring, and earlier this year was making plans to grow.
The company unveiled its new TAZ Pro in Germany on April 1, and on May 1 announced the TAZ Workhorse. On June 12, Aleph and Massachusetts-based FluidForm revealed a collaboration that enables the 3D printing of liquids, including the building blocks of human tissue.
The LulzBot Bio was created in the collaboration. It was planned to launch on Wednesday, Oct. 9, but it has now been delayed. Beta units have been released, but there is no set date for the launch of the final product.
“The Bio is an amazing printer and we’re doing everything we can to make it a reality, but it’s obviously been affected by the cash flow,” Moe said.
