Nontraditional Solutions

Making your way as a business owner and a student is an impressive achievement for anyone. When there are problems, it takes grit, humility, and heart to push your way through these obstacles.

Zachary Davis's zeal for problem solving not only creates opportunities for himself but gives him the resourcefulness needed to build something from scratch.

Zac is completing his last year at Minnesota State University Moorhead. While he is balancing the responsibilities of being a business owner and full-time student, the education he’s received in the operations management program and his years of experience in different professions have equipped him with the knowledge to buoy his business endeavors.

Zac learned about MSUM while he was earning his AAS in mechanical design and drafting at Minnesota State. He found out that he could finish his associate degree, then attend MSUM and earn an operations management degree in two years. While operations management involved learning a different set of skills, he found this highly applicable to managing his company, Z3D Solutions.

Founded in 2022, Z3D Solutions is a design consultation firm that specializes in 3D asset creation and management. Zac and his team make designs and aspirations come to real life. Whether you are an entrepreneur working on a solo project, or a company developing a new product, Z3D solutions helps anyone, wherever they are in the process.

“The job I wanted didn’t exist yet. But I knew it was needed,” he says.

Zac uses 3D design to help someone sketch their idea into a physical, engineered creation.

“When you have an idea to build something, but can’t design it, who do you call? Engineers are too expensive; you need that design aspect first,” he says. That’s when he knew to create that space in the job market.

Zac found this calling through his previous experience working in engineering companies. He developed his strengths in 3D creation and was able to be the top designer for a 3D creation section of Heyer Engineering. He also helped create an organizing system for parts that his company offered.

BA in Operations Management

When Zac returned to college, his operations management classes complemented the early days of his entrepreneurism.

The skills learned in his methods improvement class continue to be essential to his everyday projects. He uses Kaizen practices to strengthen and simplify his processes while also providing meaningful work for clients. Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy of continually improving work systems.

“I have been using Kaizen practices to streamline my processes, but now I have the vocabulary because of my education,” he says.

He has also learned the practice of Ikigai. Ikigai blends passion and the world’s needs into one’s work. Zac understands that Z3D not only utilizes his talents, but also provides the design process needed for startup and smaller company projects.

As a nontraditional student, Zac has found asynchronous learning to be beneficial. “I value the flexibility of being able to go to school online,” he says.

Balancing school and work is no easy challenge, but with the foundation of his education and his natural knack for helping others, Zac is set up to make Z3D Solutions an achievement of a lifetime.