Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division and Authentise have partnered to extend the Additive Manufacturing (AM) control loop from the machine level to connect the end-to-end value chain from design, manufacturing operations and quality assurance to make additive manufacturing more predictable, repeatable and traceable.

Data from shopfloor manufacturing operations, engineering data from the design phase, materials properties and quality data from validation and inspection processes hold the key to automating serial production improvements and enabling design improvements.

However, the technical challenge of connecting these silos and applying these data have inhibited the ability to consistently apply AM to new designs.

New solutions delivered through the partnership will apply Statistical Process Control (SPC) with Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to mitigate waste and quality issues during the design phase and improve the repeatability of additive manufacturing processes within a site or between global locations.

Through the partnership, Hexagon and Authentise will build solutions to industrialise AM technology by digitising every step of the workflow from part design through production to final product and quality assurance utilising their unique stack of technology capabilities to connect the digital thread of a part and trace its pedigree.

This is made possible by a shared commitment to open architectures that integrate data and automate workflows between Hexagon´s best-of-breed applications for AM and the third-party equipment and software manufacturers chose to use.

Mathieu Pérennou, Global Business Development Director Additive Manufacturing, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division says, “Together with Authentise, we are building a next-generation framework for our customers to manage flexible, fully digitised production workflows in private cloud environments.

“For manufacturers, AM is a complex and changing market with many excellent tools, printers and materials to apply. We believe our open and flexible systems will enable us to respond quickly to customer’s needs and integrate with their unique environments. This will connect the data flow and help streamline their workflows in all stages of the AM process – before, during and after production and support their specific standards or compliance needs.”

Authentise is a key partner in Hexagon´s open AM ecosystem, having built an open manufacturing execution system tailored to the specific needs of additive manufacturing methods.

This growing ecosystem provides a broad solution portfolio that allows Hexagon to build solutions tailored to the specific needs of customers from different industries and any level of complexity – from achieving high volume production of precision metal gears to first-time-right production of bespoke aerospace parts from composites.

Andre Wegner, CEO, Authentise says, “We are excited to combine Hexagon’s solutions with our open workflow management engine to offer a unique end-to-end solution platform. Integrating data from Hexagon’s best-of-breed software and sensors helps deliver a seamless experience for users, automation across their process, and unlocks the ability to learn from data.

“This partnership represents a step change for the industry – together we’re delivering the integrated digital thread for additive manufacturing that customers have sought for so long.”