Since in-person meetings are still not possible, we recently interviewed Blake Teipel, CEO and co-founder of Essentium, an innovative additive manufacturing organization that sets itself apart from the competition in several ways.
At its core, Essentium is comprised of builders, designers, and engineers who have experienced the divide between 3D printing and manufacturing and asked the question, “How can we bridge the gap in manufacturing?
Essentially, Essentium was born out of a desire to open new possibilities for builders and designers. It began in 2013 when four friends gathered around a kitchen table and thought about the possibility of what could be. The initial group wanted to create a new paradigm for using additive manufacturing in the industrial world. Simply put, they wanted to change how things are made.
Essentium exists to help propel its partners forward by addressing additive manufacturing, at scale, by delivering a supply chain solution that entails machines, materials, and processes. With its High Speed Extrusion (HSE) Platform, FlashFuse plasma technology, and its industrial-grade materials, customers are ensured they will receive a no-compromise solution for their needs.
MCADCafe Interviews Blake Teipel, CEO and Co-Founder, Essentium
When asked about some company and technology background, Teipel said, “Essentium is an additive manufacturing solutions company. What that means is that we make very fast 3D printers and we make materials for printing parts, particularly of an industrial variety. We are serving clients in the manufacturing space. You can find Essentium solutions anywhere from planes to trains, to cars, to computers, to shoes, so we’re sort of the stuff behind the stuff in terms of where we fit”.
For as long as I can remember, Las Vegas in November has signified one thing — Autodesk University. This year, however, was different. It is November, and Autodesk University 2020 did take place, but the show went on virtually online due to the ongoing pandemic, and not in Las Vegas.
AU was free of charge to attend this year online (which I felt was a nice gesture), and Autodesk claims 100,000+ registrants/attendees. Given the circumstances, overall, the presentations and classes were well done with good content. Although there were obviously online production costs, and no attendee fees, I’m sure Autodesk saved a ton of money as compared to a “live event.” This year’s theme was “Reimagine Possible.”
As in years past, with industry-specific sessions, AU covers architecture, media & entertainment, and design & manufacturing. So what was announced for design & manufacturing in particular? Let’s take a quick look.
Since in-person trade shows and interviews are not possible right now and into the foreseeable future, via Zoom we recently interviewed Ed Walsh, VP of Global Sales at Sigmetrix. During the interview, he spoke about how the company is focused on helping customers design and build better products through mechanical variation management. “We’re unique because Sigmetrix is a software company, a service company, and a training company that together provide a solutions approach for our customers,” Walsh said.
When asked for a little background on himself and Sigmetrix, Walsh said, “I’ve been with Sigmetrix for 14 years, and have been in this industry for over 20. Over that time, I’ve witnessed a need that customers are starting to convey – they want to get the most out of their technology investments with the most efficient use of their resources. This includes things like having solutions that scale to multiple skill levels in an organization. We address this need by having our cornerstone tolerance analysis tool (CETOL 6 Sigma) that is used for advanced applications because it’s very powerful, but also a 1D tool (EZtol), that’s relatively simple to use. We are seeing an increased demand for tools that teach people geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) as they use them by incorporating training solutions in all of our tools. We feel that that education helps establish a use case, or ability to be used, by that whole spectrum of users”.
“Because too much confidence is often placed in 3D models alone, we also see that customers want a tool that can be used in the multiple stages of the product development process. For example, traditionally, tolerance stack-up was done at the end of the design process just before it went into production. It was more of a validation tool, whether they were using spreadsheets or other tools”.
“If I look at the best of our customers versus the rest of our customers, just like most other simulation tools, they’ve shifted it earlier into the product development process, into the concept, and even R&D stages, to get an order of magnitude, a ‘what if’ type of analysis, on what’s better and what’s not. Our CETOL tool would be an example where people have shifted that usage. Customers also want to have decision-making from these analysis tools that can be addressed by multiple tiers of accountability in an organization”.
MCADCafe Interviews Ed Walsh, VP Global Sales, Sigmetrix
Making the Case for GD&T and Tolerance Analysis
While Sigmetrix considers itself a niche company for GD&T and tolerance analysis and mechanical variation management, it is a very important niche that goes well beyond product validation and can be applied in all phases of development, design, and inspection that can help customers make better decisions to ensure meeting their product requirements.
Accepting the reality that in-person trade shows and interviews are out of the question right now and into the foreseeable future, via Zoom we recently interviewed Greg Elfering, President of Ultimaker Americas. During the course of the interview, he spoke how the company is adapting to changing market conditions for 3D printing/additive manufacturing (AM) as it continues to innovate with its hardware and software products and services.
When asked for a little background, Elfering said, “Ultimaker is a company that was founded on 3D printing [also known as additive manufacturing] hardware and software technologies. We’re based in Utrecht, Netherlands, and headquartered here in the United States just outside of Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts. We’ve been in the American market for approximately five years.”
“Prior to joining Ultimaker, I was with 3D Systems for 15 years. I joined a year and a half ago and I had a chance to learn the business for a year, understand our products and resellers. I was given a chance in January to take over the responsibility as President for the Americas. So, I’m six months into this position with Ultimaker.”
MCADCafe Interviews Greg Elfering, President of Ultimaker Americas
Since 2011, Ultimaker has built an open and easy-to-use solution of 3D printers, software, and materials for professional designers and engineers. (more…)
Circle 5 Tool & Mold can now quickly create comprehensive custom reports of differences between any two versions of CAD models with Kubotek K-Compare Revision
Has a complex product ever been designed without any changes made during the development process? The answer is a resounding “NO!”
From the beginning, engineering change orders (ECOs) and resulting design revisions have been prone to errors (and fraught with problems) because of the methods used to address and resolve them. That is, until now with Kubotek K-Compare Revision.
Circle 5 Tool & Mold, one of the early adopters of K-Compare Revision, is a world class supplier of injection molds, primarily serving the automotive and medical industries, building high-volume steel and aluminum molds that range from 50-2500 Tons. From its inception in 1987, the company has been committed to being on the cutting edge of technology and a leader in injection molding solutions for the 21st century.
Lise Kennette, Engineering Manager, Circle 5 Tool & Mold, was instrumental in evaluating K-Compare Revision at the company. Kennette said managing ECOs properly the first time is critical. Miscommunicated design changes often result in losses such as missed deadlines, re-work, and scrap, which can be devastating to any company. This need for minimizing or eliminating ECO problems was the primary motivator for Circle 5 implementing K-Compare Revision.
Although traditional in-person software vendor conferences, such as Autodesk University, and industry events, such as RAPID and IMTS have been cancelled this year, some vendors are forging full speed ahead with product development and introductions. Autodesk is proving to be one of these companies.
We had intended on conducting in-person video interviews at RAPID 2020, but COVID-19 got in the way. However, we have been able to conduct them virtually via Zoom.
The following is based on a virtual interview we conducted with Sualp Ozel, Autodesk Senior Product Manager.
We started the conversation by asking how he and Autodesk were faring in the midst of the pandemic. He said, “We are busier than ever. Now that most of us are working from home, it feels like we’re working 24/7”.
I recently attended 3DEXPERIENCE World (3DXW for short) 2020 (formerly Solidworks World) in Nashville, TN. I think it was either my 19th or 20th trip to this CAD rodeo. It was an especially noteworthy event this year due to its rebranding and I was really curious to see how it would be presented by Dassault Systemes, on the one hand, and received by attendees/customers on the other.
The overall format of the conference and general sessions has evolved over the past few years, but that’s to be expected as everything in the design software world has evolved.
More than anything, I came to Nashville looking for what the 3DEXPERIENCE with regard to Solidworks was all about at a rebranded event that had been an exclusively Solidworks event for a long time, and one that never disappointed.
When asked about this year’s attendance at 3DXW, Solidworks declined to provide a number, but based on previous years, there were noticeably fewer attendees this year. Overall the attendees were at not quite as rabid (in a good way) as in years past, and relatively subdued, but nonetheless, cautiously optimistic about the future.
It seems as though by an increasing number of companies (including Dassault) have forsaken technologies, products and apps in favor of platforms that tend to further muddle the picture of exactly how they’re structured, what they do, what they cost, and unique benefits that couldn’t be provided by previous bits and pieces.
Recently, Aras announced a strategic OEM partnership with ANSYS for enabling the digital thread and digital twin that includes licensing the Aras Innovator platform technology intended to provide a new generation and method of digital engineering practices. The partnership will enable better processes and data management of simulations for digital thread traceability across the product lifecycle.
ANSYS Minerva will leverage the Aras Innovator platform technologies such as configuration management, PDM/PLM interoperability, API integration and add simulation-specific capabilities for delivering scalable and configurable products that connect simulation and optimization to product engineering — creating new ways of exploring and improving product performance.
Aras for ANSYS AIM — An Example of How Aras and ANSYS Technologies Work Together
Engineering and manufacturing organizations are increasingly leveraging simulation throughout the product lifecycle to interoperate with their existing PLM, ALM and ERP applications. Additionally, customers are addressing complexity challenges with data and process management, traceability, and availability of simulation results across the product lifecycle.
It’s almost 2020, and while many aspects of design, engineering, and manufacturing have certainly evolved in the past couple decades, the area that arguably has had the most radical changes and influence on the overall industry is 3D printing/additive manufacturing.
Editor’s Note: Since the advent of the term “additive manufacturing,” or AM, I’ve preferred it over 3D printing because I think it more accurately describes the process, so will use it throughout this article.
Up front and technology aside, an increasing number of economic analysts are predicting a recession in 2020 or 2021, but not nearly the magnitude of the Great Recession, so many of these analysts believe this next recession is not worth worrying excessively about. Interestingly, and generally, the analysts believe that newer AM equipment companies are better positioned to weather the coming storm because they have less at risk because they are smaller and tend not to go through declined business cycles. Actually, the smaller companies can often create and serve new markets better than much larger and established AM companies.
Image Courtesy of Manufacturing Talk Radio Podcast (mfgtalkradio.com)
According to our favorite AM resource, The Wohlers Report 2019, Wohlers Associates tracked growth and sales of 177 producers of industrial AM systems, which are those priced at $5,000 or more. This is nearly one third more than the 135 system manufacturers reported a year ago. While industrial system manufacturers grew notably, desktop 3D printing systems (those that sell for under $5,000) saw significant decline in annual growth. The overall AM market continues to trend upward, with many new players, hundreds of millions of dollars invested, and innovative new products designed for AM that few envisioned years ago.
The Report also states that the overall materials segment of the industry saw record growth in 2018. Revenue from metals grew an estimated 41.9%, continuing a five-year streak of more than 40% growth each year. Such strong activity among materials suppliers and customers is a telling indicator of the increasing use of AM for production applications.
I recently attended the 3D Collaboration & Interoperability Congress (3D CIC), produced and hosted by Action Engineering. This unique event focuses on CAD-agnostic methods for advancing the Model-Based Enterprise (MBE). 3D CIC attracts a diverse group of attendees, those ranging from several industry sectors, such as automotive, aerospace, and medical involved with all phases of product development to representatives from standards bodies, such as NIST, ASME, and DMSC. Needless to say, this widely divergent group makes for interesting conversations and debates that you’re not likely to hear and participate in at other technical events.
For its part, and for several years now, Action Engineering has been one of the chief proponents of Model-Based Definition (MBD) that leads to the Model-Based Enterprise (MBE).
The theme of this year’s Congress was “Trust Digital,” but what does it mean?
Action Engineering MBD Interoperability Discussion at 3D CIC (Featured on “Trending Today,” Fox Business News)
According to Jennifer Herron, CEO of Action Engineering, “In many ways, digital trust is analogous to a financial banking institution. The more “trust coins” you deposit, the more you can withdraw. In a technology context, custody chain of trust is through 3D models. Organizationally (people side), if you have people who trust each other, you have a lot more coins to draw from as you go down the digital transformation path. If you have an organization where people don’t trust each other, it makes trying to change any processes nearly impossible. On the technology side) if people don’t trust that the technology is not doing what it’s supposed to be doing, or documented to do, that poses a real problem. So, it’s important for software vendors to be very specific about what their products can and cannot deliver, because it’s significantly confusing customers, and impacting trust.”
“If we trust something, we’re more likely to adopt and use it. On the other hand, if we don’t trust something, there is no way to use it and its data reliably.”
Herron added, “Trust starts with communication that requires a common lexicon – the vocabulary of a branch of knowledge – in this case product development and engineering that promotes the digital transformation of manufacturing.”
