Who Is Dirk Strubbe, Rapid Shape’s Global Channel Sales Director Dental?
Meet Dirk Strubbe, Global channel Sales Director Dental, whose career spans a family dental lab in Belgium, a Commodore 64 he got for his 12th birthday, and three decades building distribution networks across some of the biggest names in digital dentistry, now brought to Rapid Shape.
From a Family Dental Lab to Global Channel Sales Director
Dirk, you have an impressive career in the dental industry and are now Global Channel Sales Director at Rapid Shape. What originally led you into this field?
Dirk
I’ve always been fascinated by the dental business, it’s something I grew up with. Both my father and mother owned a dental lab in Belgium, so I was surrounded by this world from an early age. Back in the 1980s, everything in a dental lab was done manually, there was hardly any digitalization.
When I was 12, I received a Commodore 64 home computer for my birthday in 1985. While most people used it for gaming, I became more interested in programming than playing. That early curiosity for computers planted the seed for my passion for digitalization.
Later, when I studied to become a dental technician, we had to write a thesis to graduate. I chose the topic “The Future of CAD/CAM in Dental Laboratories.” At that time, the first CEREC systems (still a Siemens product back then) appeared on the market, along with Procera from Nobel Biocare. I came into contact with pioneers like Prof. Dr. Van der Zel in the Netherlands, who developed the CICERO system, and Prof. Dr. Duret, who had already invented one of the first intraoral scanners in the early 1980s. It was a pleasure meeting Dr. Duret again last October in Lyon, where we shared some old pictures.
Through that experience, I knew that I wanted to orient my career towards digital dentistry. Of course, in my early twenties I first needed to build my foundation in the international dental business and sales. My first employer was the German company Kulzer, where I worked as Sales Manager for Benelux. There I learned how to sell dental products in an international reseller environment.
A few years later, I joined Cavex in the Netherlands, where my role expanded to supporting export managers across Benelux, Southern Europe, the Nordics, and the US. This period taught me a lot about international business and how to lead and develop teams.
In 2006, I decided to start my own business as a consultant for a Belgian company that developed a system for milling implant suprastructures. We commercialized this under the name ISUS, which became a worldwide success. To scale the business, I connected with an investor building a network of dental distributors. Together, we combined the ISUS project with the merger and acquisition of several dental resellers in the Benelux, founding ARSEUS, where I served as General Manager for 10 years.
Between 2006 and 2016, I built a business heavily focused on digitalization in dental labs. We successfully distributed brands such as Amann Girrbach, Exocad, 3Shape, and Imetric, and developed our own line of digital products under the NOVUX brand. Around 2013, I first met Andreas Schultheis when we were looking for a solution to print dental models locally. Our first production partner was DREVE, who centralized production on Prodways 3D printers.
As desktop 3D printing began to emerge, we started exploring possibilities with Vertex, which later led me to Rik Jacobs, founder of NextDent, who introduced me to Andreas Schultheis. Together, we began selling Rapid Shape printers under the NOVUX brand in combination with NextDent resins, back in 2014, this was still the very early stage of desktop 3D printing in dentistry.
After ARSEUS was sold to Henry Schein, I joined Liberty Dental (Excent) to help scale up their digital production and collaborated closely with Jens Bühnemann from Flemming on lab digitalization projects. However, I missed the international business side, so I moved to 3Shape as Sales Manager for the Nordics, and later joined Formlabs after COVID to build their European dental business.
At Formlabs, I truly enjoyed developing a pan-European reseller network and sales team, which helped us achieve a market-leading position. Still, I realized that I preferred working in a more personal, family-owned European environment rather than a large American corporation. That’s what brought me back to Andreas Schultheis and Rapid Shape, where I’m now building a strong reseller network with my own team, with the goal of establishing Rapid Shape as a leading 3D printing company in the dental industry.
Navigating a Diverse Market Globally
The EMEA region is extremely diverse, you also manage Americas and other markets. How do you make sure you understand and address the different needs of these markets?
Dirk
That’s exactly what I love about my job. Talking to customers and colleagues in France is completely different from doing business in America, Germany, Eastern Europe, or the Middle East, and that makes it so fascinating.
Over the years, I’ve learned to navigate many cultures and attitudes, and today I couldn’t imagine working without this diversity. Understanding cultural nuances and local behavior has become one of my strongest personal drivers.
In the end, everyone wants to be successful in business, but as a sales director, it’s crucial to feel how to reach those common goals in different ways. Every country is unique: even the seasons and traditions can influence business. For example, in the Nordics, everything slows down during Midsummer in June, while in Italy, August is practically off-limits for business because everyone is on holiday, you can only sell gelato in August in Italy. These nuances make our work dynamic and keep it human.
The Power of Personal Relationships
Over the years, you’ve built a large network in the dental industry. How important is personal interaction with customers and partners, and what do you value most about these relationships?
Dirk
Even though I’m deeply involved in automation and digitalization, you can call me “old-school” when it comes to personal relationships. Without human interaction, I couldn’t do business.
It starts within the company, every team member has unique strengths and interests. I believe it’s important to show genuine interest in the people you work with. I always aim to build real teams rather than a group of individuals who just happen to work in the same company.
That begins with leadership by example. You’ll often see me on the exhibition floor helping to pack and unpack, demonstrating our products, or supporting my team where needed. When employees see their manager working alongside them, it creates a culture of mutual support and trust.
I take the same approach with customers: showing real interest in their business, their goals, and their challenges. Helping them become successful, sharing knowledge, and celebrating achievements together, that’s what gives us the energy to go even further the next time. After many years of close collaboration I mostly know also the birthdays and the names of their children. I can say today that many of my real friends are also in the dental business.
Leading by Example
You’ve held various leadership positions during your career. Which values are most important to you as a leader?
Dirk
For me, leadership is about managing by example. I believe in being present, on the floor with your team and customers, not just appearing occasionally in a virtual meeting. You need to be approachable and genuinely interested in helping others grow, both employees and customers. By understanding how they feel, what drives them, and what challenges they face, you can build trust and motivate people to achieve common goals. At the end of the day, leadership is not about authority; it’s about authenticity, empathy, and shared success. I also give people much responsibility and freedom, as people support what they help create. I trust local sales managers that they have an even better understanding of the local business than I have with over 30 years of experience.
Staying Ahead in a Rapidly Evolving Industry
The dental industry is evolving rapidly. How do you stay up to date and integrate new insights into your work and into Rapid Shape’s strategic direction?
Dirk
You have to keep your eyes and ears open at all times. I often say: we have two eyes and two ears but only one mouth, and that’s for a reason. Many people focus on talking, but the real learning happens when you listen.
In my role, it’s not about impressing others with what I know; it’s about learning from what others tell me, customers, colleagues, and partners. That’s how you gain the deepest insights from every perspective.
Of course, staying informed today is easier than ever. I constantly read through social media, blogs, and newsletters, often in the evening, to discover what’s new with our customers and competitors. On a more strategic level, I also study the financial reports of publicly listed dental companies to understand their direction and strategy.
Another important aspect is keeping track of mergers and acquisitions of dental clinics and laboratories across Europe. Talking to a large chain like Liberty Dental, Colosseum, or Corus is very different from talking to the small lab next door, and both perspectives are equally important for shaping our approach at Rapid Shape.
A 360-Degree View of the Dental Market
You’ve experienced the dental industry from many perspectives, from the lab to high-tech companies. How do these experiences shape your view of the market and your collaboration with customers today?
Dirk
At the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat. Over the past decades, our industry has transformed into a truly digital industry.
When I started my career, I saw many dental professionals outsourcing their lab work to Asia, mainly for economic reasons, because labor was cheaper while workloads were high. Crowns, implant suprastructures, and dentures were being produced overseas to reduce costs.
But as production became more digital and automated, with milling units and 3D printers that cost roughly the same everywhere, the financial advantage of outsourcing disappeared. As a result, we saw a strong increase in local, digital production in Europe.
Today, our role as a company is to develop the right tools, both hardware and software, to help our customers meet rising demands. They have to produce more with fewer people, so efficiency, reliability, and automation are absolutely key.
The Future of Digital Dentistry and 3D Printing
Dentistry is changing rapidly, with a clear shift toward digital and personalized solutions. How do you see the industry developing over the next five years, and what opportunities do you see for 3D printing?
Dirk
It’s true, the industry is shifting, and over the past few years, we’ve seen 3D printing growing even faster than milling. The freedom of shape that 3D printing allows is simply greater, and with modern systems, precision can even surpass that of milling.
The future growth of 3D printing will go hand in hand with new material developments. Today, most customers use our printers for models, surgical guides, and splints. But with the latest generation of high-filled resins, some with over 50% ceramic content, we’re seeing a clear move toward printing crowns and bridges, even directly chairside.
That said, I don’t believe this will replace dental labs. On the contrary, labs will continue to play a key role in design, morphology, and esthetics. Even with AI, the human expertise of dental technicians remains essential for creating functional and beautiful restorations.
Another trend is the changing attitude of patients. A few decades ago, people went to the dentist mainly because of pain or functional problems. Today, more and more patients go to improve their appearance. A good example is the aligner market, one of the fastest-growing sectors in dentistry.
Esthetic dentistry will continue to grow, and this will drive further investment in 3D printing hardware and resins aimed purely at improving esthetics, for example, in orthodontic and cosmetic applications.
Dirk’s Passion Outside of Work: Cooking
On a personal note, you’re also the president of a cooking club, a passion that surely provides a nice balance to your professional life. What does cooking mean to you, and do you see parallels between cooking together and teamwork at work?
Dirk
Yes, absolutely, I love cooking, and it’s no coincidence that I prefer doing it in a group. One of the main reasons I founded a cooking club was to share passion, just like in business.
Cooking together teaches you a lot about collaboration: sharing knowledge, communicating openly, and having fun while creating something together. That combination makes everyone happy.
In our cooking club, we regularly invite chefs from different countries and cultures, which, again, is similar to my professional life, where I work with people from all over the globe.
At the end of the day, cooking is simply fun. Turning raw ingredients into a great dinner requires creativity, teamwork, and passion. And that reflects perfectly who I am, I live by the motto: “Work hard, play hard.”
Learn More About Rapid Shape’s Dental Innovation Team
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