Archive for the ‘Additive manufacturing’ Category
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021
PROSTEP has entered into a strategic partnership with the Dutch technology company AMbrace, which is developing a service platform that makes it possible to 3D print spare parts. AMbrace will use our OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange platform to make 3D print data available in combination with SAMPL technology for the tamper-proof exchange of 3D printing licenses.
AMbrace’s innovative business model involves providing manufacturing companies in the aviation and other industries with a secure streaming service for the additive manufacturing of spare parts. Companies can store 3D files in a variety of printer-specific formats in AMbrace’s digital warehouse and send them on demand to a service provider, who then prints the required spare part on site. To do this, AMbrace is developing networks for the manufacturing of spare parts in a global ecosystem of certified 3D print service providers.
Within the framework of their partnership, PROSTEP and AMbrace have agreed to adapt the Secure Additive Manufacturing Platform originally developed in the SAMPL project to AMbrace’s specific requirements and to extend it to include digital warehouse functionality. Key components of the solution are the OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange platform with the blockchain module and SAMPL technology for integrating 3D printers, which turns them into secure and trusted printers. Blockchain technology ensures that the 3D data to be printed can be identified in a traceable manner and can only be printed the licensed number of times to avoid the manufacture of pirate copies.
“The partnership with AMbrace is an important step on the way to industrializing the solution, as was originally intended in the SAMPL project,” states Dr. Martin Holland, Head of Strategy & Business Development at PROSTEP. “The way we see it, this partnership supports a new business model with which we intend to transform global supply chains for spare parts provisioning,” says Herman von Bolhuis, CEO of AMbrace. “Our streaming platform makes it possible for customers to have spare parts manufactured quickly and securely, whenever and wherever they want.”
By Markus Sachers
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Sunday, May 17th, 2020
Now that the SAMPL project has been successfully completed, PROSTEP has made the blockchain-based solution for the forgery-proof exchange of 3D print data part of its consulting portfolio. In an online discussion called TechTALK, our experts informed customers and interested parties about the blockchain and possible use cases in the PLM environment.
As a basis for the discussion, Dr. Martin Holland first gave the participants a brief overview of how the blockchain works. Similar to the Internet, it is a disruptive technology, but it is not about the decentralized provision of information, but about the decentralization and transmission of values. What distinguishes the blockchain is that the information passed on cannot be subsequently changed because each miner creates a copy and each block of information is inseparably linked to the next by a cryptographic procedure.
In order to create new blocks, the miners have to solve cryptographic problems. The process used by PROSTEP requires significantly less energy than, for example, mining with Bitcoin technology. In addition, it is also possible to embed executable software code, so-called smart contracts, in the blocks in order to map more complex processes, e.g. the activation of a vehicle as soon as the leasing rate is paid.
PROSTEP has integrated the block chain technology into the OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange solution as part of the SAMPL (Secure Additive Manufacturing Platform) project. This end-to-end solution for the forgery-proof exchange of 3D print data ensures that the exchanged data cannot be misused and that printed components can be identified beyond any doubt.
A prerequisite for this is the use of certified 3D printers that support this technology and, for example, report back the printing status, as Holland said in response to a question from a participant.
The blockchain not only enables the licensed production of a limited number of spare parts and traceable documentation of where they were built in which Holland demonstrated using the example of a use case at Airbus Spares. It also supports new business ideas such as the “Earn as you ride” program developed by automotive supplier Continental on the base of a blockchain platform. Drivers receive mini payments for information on free parking spaces or weather data, which their vehicles report back in encrypted form.
Holland invited the Online-TechTALK participants to think about possible applications of the block chain in their companies themselves. PROSTEP has developed a number of criteria for identifying potential use cases. The blockchain makes sense whenever many parties are to use or change data, decentralized data storage is desired but an intermediary is not desired, documentation must be unalterable and participants interact in processes where transaction time is critical. If four of these criteria are met, the blockchain promises added value.
By Daniel Wiegand
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Tuesday, December 17th, 2019
The Secure Additive Manufacturing Platform for the secure exchange of 3D print data, which PROSTEP has developed together with partners, is becoming a prime example of the industrial use of the blockchain. No matter where we present the results of the SAMPL project, the solution is very well received. At the IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona, we demonstrated how it can be used to print licensed spare parts for the Mars Rover.
Hamburg – Berlin – Barcelona – Frankfurt were the stops on our SAMPL tour. First, we presented the results of the BMWi-funded joint project together with our partners at the User Day at the Centre for Applied Aviation Research (ZAL) in Hamburg. More than 70 participants from industry, research and development were able to convince themselves that the blockchain-based solution for the forgery-proof exchange of 3D print data and the unambiguous identification of printed components is ready for industrial use. This was demonstrated by the experience reports of users and service providers in the field of 3D printing technology. For example, Weidmüller, the manufacturer of control cabinet systems, was the first industrial user to produce a component on a metal-based 3D printer from SLM Solutions using the SAMPL Chain of Trust.
At the Mechanical Engineering Summit in Berlin, we presented the project to over 700 participants. We had intensive discussions with many of them about the use of the technology, which showed the growing interest in the SAMPL Chain of Trust. In order to present them to an even broader, global public, PROSTEP took part for the first time this year in the IoT Solutions World Congress (IoTSWC), the world’s largest event for industrial IoT applications. Over 16,000 people from 120 countries attended the event, where over 350 exhibitors from all over the world presented their IoT, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and blockchain solutions. In 200 lectures, discussions and presentations they could inform themselves about the current technological trends in the field of the industrial Internet of Things and about the previous experiences with IoT solutions. We took the opportunity to present the SAMPL project to the visitors at the blockchain Conference in a 45-minute lecture. Many listeners wanted to learn more about how they can protect data with the blockchain against subsequent manipulation.
SAMPL was also the secret protagonist of the joint testbed stand where PROSTEP, the prostep ivip Association, the International Dataspaces Association, innovalia METROLOGY and FIWARE Foundation demonstrated the interaction of IoT applications, model-based systems engineering and industry 4.0 using the example of the Mars Rover. The model of the remote-controlled vehicle for exploring the red planet, which PROSTEP developed on the basis of data provided by NASA and supplemented by sensors and actuators, serves as an open testbed for testing digital twin scenarios. It was one of the eye-catchers of the organizers, as the video of the third day of the event shows.
The spectators were amazed at how the Mars Rover itself triggers the licensed and automated 3D printing process for a defect component. This was made possible by the integration of SAMPL and an AI-based solution into the testbed.
Our solution for the tamper-proof exchange of 3D print data and the unambiguous identification of printed components has also impressively demonstrated its practical suitability in Barcelona. The challenge now is to bring the application to industrialization. PROSTEP intends to work closely with manufacturers of 3D printers and 3D printing service providers in the industrialization process. At the User Day in Hamburg, several companies exhibited SAMPL-enabled 3D printers, including 3DMicroPrint and SLM Solutions. The company NXP demonstrated how components in 3D printing can be identified without a doubt by automatically inserting an RFID chip.
In order to intensify the contacts to existing partners and to establish new contacts, we travelled with the SAMPL Chain of Trust this year also to the formnext in Frankfurt. formnext is the world’s leading trade fair for additive manufacturing and next-generation intelligent industrial production. The use of the blockchain in 3D printing met with great interest among the manufacturing specialists and brought us into conversation with potential customers who are faced with the question of how they can safely integrate additive processes into their global manufacturing processes.
During the discussions, we were also approached with new requirements from the field of medical device technology for which the documentation of process data or the materials used is of interest rather than the licensing of print jobs. Ensuring that this information cannot be changed is a key component of blockchain technology. In this way, blockchain integration also opens up new areas of application for our OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange solution. All essential prerequisites have been created for the implementation of a blockchain demonstrator. Contact us if you would like to find out more about the possibilities of the blockchain.
The importance of the blockchain was underlined not least by the publication of the blockchain strategy of the Federal Government in September. In addition, the EU Commission has just approved a new technology fund worth two billion euros for AI and blockchain technologies.
By Martin Holland
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Saturday, June 8th, 2019
Yes, they can. And we have demonstrated this within the framework of the SAMPL project. For almost three years PROSTEP, together with seven partners, has been developing an end-to-end solution for the forgery-proof exchange of 3D print data. The key to this is the use of blockchain, or distributed ledger, technology. On 10 October 2019, we will be presenting the project results at a user conference being held at the Center of Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL) in Hamburg.
Additive manufacturing processes allow components like prototypes and spare parts, for example, to be produced quickly, but they also raise a number of security and copyright-related issues. When it comes to safety-critical components in particular, it must be possible to guarantee that only authorized persons have access to the data, that only the original data is used for a defined number of components, and that this data cannot be misused to manufacture pirate copies. This is exactly what the Secure Additive Manufacturing Platform (SAMPL), which we developed together with partners as part of the SAMPL project, does.
SAMPL is a consortium project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). The aim of the project is to develop an end-to-end security solution that covers the entire process from creating the digital 3D print data to exchanging the data with 3D print service providers and their specially protected trusted 3D printers through to the tagging of the printed components (see www.sampl-3d.de). The consortium comprises the consortium head PROSTEP, the Hamburg-based companies NXP Semiconductors and consider it, 3D MicroPrint in Chemnitz, the University of Hamburg, the University of Ulm, Hamburg Technical University, the Frauhofer Institute ENAS in Chemnitz and Airbus, EvoBus and DWF associated partners.
SAMPL is based on PROSTEP’s secure data exchange solution OpenDXM GlobalX, which we have expanded to include a digital license management facility based on blockchain technology. The solution supports the entire lifecycle from transfer of the CAD and process data to the specially protected 3D printers through to documentation of the entire printing process. The parts can be identified with absolute certainty by means of RFID or other features to ensure that only the printed original parts were installed.
PROSTEP has already used the SAMPL demonstrator at a number of different events and trade fairs to show how digital license management works. The event being held on 10 October 2019 at the Center of Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL) in Hamburg will not only provide an opportunity to present the project results but also industry partners, such as Weidmüller, will report on their experiences with the integration of 3D printing and blockchain technology in the SAMPL project. In addition, the legal firm DWF will provide information on aspects such as IPP protection and the protection of corporate data, which impact on the forgery-proof exchange of 3D print data. Lively discussions can be expected. We cordially invite you to participate in the event and submit your own contributions. To do so, please send an abstract of approx. 100 words to Christian Gentili by 30.07.2019.
Further information will soon be available on the SAMPL website. Or you can contact the relevant project team member, Christian Gentili, directly.
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