Today, says the company, the additive industry uses a vast array of build preparation tools, technologies, interfaces and licenses, which creates an additional layer of complexity for design engineers to manage and navigate during the CAD design to print process. A lack of interoperability, due to different interfaces, file types and user experiences, can result in costly mistakes and delays for the design engineering community and machine operators.
GE Additive’s software strategy centres on simplifying the additive process and enabling an interoperable workflow. Its vision is to create a common experience through a secure, intuitive tool that reduces design iterations and speeds up the time to print a good part, according to the design intent.
Improving additive’s build preparation workflow and lowering barriers to additive adoption involves the combination of several elements:
In pursuit of this, GE Additive announced partnership agreements with Autodesk, PTC, Siemens PLM Software and Vera Security to address the need for simplified, interoperable and secure digital workflows. The company has also initiated a collaboration agreement with industry-leader Dassault Systèmes. The terms of each agreement were not disclosed.
“We acknowledge that the industry needs to improve overall interoperability for design engineers,” said Lars Bruns, software leader, GE Additive.
Working with partners will helps GE Additive provide build preparation services directly into the tools of choice for design engineers. Embedding these services in the design engineer’s CAD toolset saves time, reduces errors, enables more accurate builds and accelerates the adoption of additive through secure access to GE Additive machines.
