5 questions with Gary Sheriff

1. You came up as a degreed electrical engineer before moving into laser sales and marketing. How does that technical foundation change the way you sell?

It has been the absolute pillar of my career. I’ve been curious about how things work since I was a kid — that’s what pushed me into electronics engineering in the first place. When I moved into sales, that curiosity and technical foundation came with me, and it changed everything about how I sell.

Laser sales can get very technical. Knowing the hardware, the software, and the advantages and the limits of each technology means I’m not just quoting a machine — I’m developing a solution for a customer’s pain point. The right laser, the right accessories, the most efficient process — so the customer gets the best result in the shortest time. Time is money in production, and my job is to protect both.

That approach helped me stand out among my peers and, more importantly, earned me credibility. When you can take the technical side of a laser and explain it in a way anyone can understand, people naturally develop trust in you.

Think of it with the roles reversed — say you’re choosing between three repair shops for your car. You end up going with the mechanic you’re most comfortable with, and that’s usually the one who clearly knows his stuff: he answers every question off the top of his head, no hesitation, no doubt in his answers. He puts your mind at ease that you’ve found the right shop. That’s exactly what I want my customers to feel.

At the end of the day, people buy from someone they trust. But the most rewarding part goes beyond the sale — many of those customers didn’t stay customers. They became friends.

2. Radian serves everyone from startups to enterprise manufacturers — but the promotional products and awards space has its own rhythm. What do graphics and awards shops miss when they think of laser as just another tool?

The biggest thing they miss is that the laser isn’t a tool — it’s a capability. A tool does one job. A laser, matched to the right wavelength and set up properly, opens entire product lines: drinkware, glass, leather, coated metals, acrylics, and wood — each one a market with its own customers and margins.

The other miss is speed as a business model. There are really three levels in this industry: hobby-grade machines, premium-brand flatbeds, and then a level that’s still flying under the radar: galvo-based systems. Instead of dragging a gantry across the material, a galvo steers the beam with mirrors at speeds no flatbed can touch. They’re not as widely known in this space yet, but it’s a genuine game changer.

Shops ask, “Can I engrave this?” when the better question is “How many per hour?” Pair a galvo’s speed with an API connection and your laser talks directly to your order system — a customer personalizes a product online, and the part is running in seconds. That’s direct-to-consumer production, whether you’re an e-commerce operation running thousands of one-offs or a retail shop personalizing while the customer waits. No setup, no dies, and no screens — one piece or one thousand.

Shops that treat the laser as just another tool use 10% of what it can do. The ones who see it as a business capability build their whole shop around it.

3. Radian’s 3D galvo technology can mark curved or irregular surfaces without rotating the workpiece. For a decorator used to flatbed lasers or rotary setups, how do you explain what that actually unlocks in production?

First, it helps to know there are two different things people call “3D engraving.” One is slicing into flat material for a three-dimensional relief effect — a flatbed as well as a galvo can do that with XY slicing. The other is engraving around a curved surface, where the laser dynamically maintains focus as the surface falls away. That second one is what a 3D galvo does — and it’s where the unlock is for decorators.

With a 3D galvo, there’s no rotary and no rotating the part. The user enters the object’s diameter — say, a tumbler — and the system holds focus around the curve automatically, engraving a large image that wraps the surface without distortion.

Now, to be fair: a flatbed with a rotary can also produce a full, distortion-free wrap. The image isn’t the difference — the process is. A flatbed laser rotary setup is manual and slow: load one piece, engrave while the part physically rotates, unload, repeat. It’s laborious, and it caps how much you can produce in a day.

The 3D galvo flips that into true production. The part sits still, the beam does the work at galvo speed, and fixtures can be designed for fast load and unload of multiple pieces at a time. Add API connectivity on the software side — orders flowing straight from an online store to the laser — and personalized drinkware stops being a one-at-a-time job and becomes a volume business.

Both shops can make the same beautiful tumbler. The difference is one makes a handful an hour, and the other runs production. In this business, that’s the difference between offering engraving and building a company around it.

4. You’re an educator and a sales professional. What’s the biggest misconception graphics pros have about laser engraving that you find yourself correcting most often?

The biggest one, hands down: “If it fits in the laser, it’s fine to run.” I correct that one constantly, because it shows up in two ways — one that hurts your health, and one that hurts your work.

The health side is material safety. Most pros know raw PVC is dangerous in a laser. What they don’t realize is how much PVC hides under other names — Kydex, Sintra, adhesive vinyl, and a lot of faux leather. Lasered, these release hydrogen chloride gas that damages your lungs and corrodes the machine. Chrome-tanned leather is another one nobody sees coming, and even everyday MDF releases formaldehyde. That smoke coming off your engraving isn’t just smoke — which is why I tell every shop that proper fume extraction isn’t an accessory, it’s part of the system. Know what’s on your bed before you fire the beam.

The quality side is the same mistake in milder form: running rotary stock in a laser. Take the two-ply sheet material used for badges and signage — there are two completely different versions. Rotary stock is ABS, made for mechanical engravers: thicker, a different plastic entirely. It will sort of work in a laser, but it runs slow, melts at the edges, and needs real precaution. Laser stock is acrylic-based, made for the C02 beam: the laser cleanly engraves through the cap layer to expose the core, crisp and fast. Shops inherit a stack of sheet stock, assume it’s all the same, and can’t figure out why their badges look melted. It’s not the machine — it’s the material.

The fix for both is the same habit: identify the material before you press start. It’s the single cheapest upgrade any shop can make.

5. Laser technology is evolving fast — fiber, CO2, UV, automation, and robotics integrations. For a shop owner trying to future-proof their equipment investment today, what should they be paying attention to over the next two to three years?

In 30 years, I’ve watched constant improvement, market shifts, and pricing pressure — all good for the consumer. Lasers keep getting more affordable and easier to build a business on, and the industry is already changing shape as manufacturers position themselves to stay relevant.

But the fundamentals move slower than the marketing — the biggest evolution is happening around the beam, in the software, connectivity, and automation. That’s where a buyer should focus first.

First, software. The core of this market grew up on a handful of proven packages — shops learned them and invested in fleets of machines sharing one workflow. A new package that isn’t backward-compatible means running multiple workflows side by side, and sometimes the best workflow is the simplest one. Before you buy, ask how a new system fits what you already run.

Second, connectivity and automation. Look for API capability — systems that take an order from the web and push it straight to the laser, no operator setup. And watch the rise of cobots, collaborative robots that automate load and unload. That’s where production is heading, and it’s worth considering even if you don’t need it on day one.

Third, the technology itself. CO2 and fiber remain the workhorses of this industry and will stay that way. But keep an eye on improved UV lasers — and on picosecond lasers (a glimpse of the future). Pico offers a real step up in metal marking, with advantages a fiber laser can’t match. Watch for it over the next two to three years.

Finally, hardware: Total cost of ownership — maintenance, consumables, and repairs — is grossly overlooked in the buying cycle. The purchase price is one number. The cost of owning the machine for 10 years is the number that matters.