Hexagon announces intentions to expand the most flexible and open’ ecosystem in the 3D printing business.
Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division unveiled its plans to bring each of those elements together
in what it believes will be “the industry’s most flexible and open additive manufacturing ecosystem” at Formnext last week, amid a flurry of product launches across hardware, software, and materials.
The software and automation company said it will continue to create its open ecosystem
“with a shared aim of high quality” to assist users in creating efficient product development and production workflows. Material suppliers like Solvay and Covestro,
3D printer and machine tool vendors like Stratasys and Renishaw, software providers
like Authentic and Elise, and service providers like Authentic and Elise are all included.
“Far from creating a ‘connected’ end-to-end supply chain,
today many 3D printers and protocols are creating ‘walled kingdoms’ of hardware
that is incompatible with certain CAE tools,
and vendors are introducing machines with proprietary connectivity, standards, and protocols designed not to work with machinery from rivals,”
said Paolo Guglielmini, president of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division.
“Vendors must now break through barriers to new production technologies
that offer greater flexibility and efficiency, much as large manufacturers drove the introduction of open factory automation.”
Open data standards,
on the other hand, should be viewed as a growth enabler.”
Hexagon says it hopes to assist customers to gain confidence in
“performance, quality, and repeatability” by helping them to
“integrate new AM technologies with their existing solutions, tools, and workflows” through an open partnership.
“Through continuing openness, our ecosystem benefits both sides of the trade,”
said Mathieu Pérennou, head of strategy and global business development for additive manufacturing at Hexagon.
Our partners can benefit from Hexagon’s technologies and expertise while collaborating and solving problems for our global manufacturing customer base,
while our customers
benefit from the deeper collaboration
and the ability to build workflows based
on truly best-of-breed solutions
that are fully tailored
to their individual goals.
“We want to keep expanding that ecosystem to industrialize AM and realize its benefits for high-performance components, meeting the same quality expectations that our customers have for traditional methods,
and we need to be able to do it at higher volumes than AM with consistent results at every global plant,”
says the company.
New partnerships
Last week, Hexagon welcomed several new vendors to the ecosystem, including Sciaky, Meltio, CADS Additive, AMcubator, and Additive Center, to help it achieve its goals.
“Our collaboration with Hexagon is a win for the entire industry,”
said Daniel Stadlmayr, technical director at CADS Additive.
“It helps our customers achieve the best possible results with accurate build simulation, optimal material use, and a shared passion for innovation to help our customers solve their most challenging design challenges for metal AM.”
Collaborations with printer makers DM3D and Gefertec
have also advanced the application of Directed Energy Deposition (DED) technology to industrial applications, according to the business.
It also announced a partnership with 3D Systems to integrate its HxGN Emendate generative design technology into its 3DXpert design program.
