Powerful computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software systems have been available for decades, yet the process of getting physical parts manufactured from a 3D CAD model is surprisingly manual and unchanged from the pre-Internet era. This talk will highlight Proto Labs’ unique perspective on digital manufacturing, explain why Proto Labs has a CAD/CAM software group and how the problems it tries to address differ from those of traditional CAD/CAM software companies. The talk will introduce the audience to some open problems such as searching for similar geometric models under representational and shape invariants. Stefan Atev is a Principal Software Developer for CAD/CAM at Proto Labs, Inc. Most of his two-year tenure at the company has been spent at the ProtoWorks R&D division, where he is working on problems related to CNC machining, mold design and production automation. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota (2011). Prior to Proto Labs, Stefan was a Senior Algorithm Scientist in the Medical Imaging group of Vital Images, Inc.