Siemens Launches Additive Manufacturing Network

Siemens has announced the launch of the Additive Manufacturing Network, an online collaborative platform designed to bring on-demand design and engineering expertise, knowledge, digital tools and production capacity for industrial 3D printing to the global manufacturing industry.

First announced in concept at Hannover Messe 2017, the platform has launched with an early adopter program for designers and engineers, manufacturing service providers, 3D printing machine OEMs, material vendors and software providers to join the new ecosystem. By accelerating the distribution of knowledge, as well as streamlining, monitoring and securing the transactions and commercial processes for sourcing high-quality functional prototypes and serial production parts, Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network looks to reduce the overall adoption risk of additive manufacturing (AM) and create new business opportunities for all members of the global manufacturing community, the company says.

“Additive manufacturing will unfold its full disruptive potential if we enable direct access to highly valuable services, globally available AM systems and crucial knowledge for engineers, designers and machine operators,” says Güngör Kara, chief digital officer at EOS. “Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network can help establish these connections and make them accessible to the general market with the aim of facilitating innovative AM parts and creating high-performing AM production cells within a smart and fully digital factory. As a partner to the Additive Manufacturing Network, EOS and its consulting unit Additive Minds together with Siemens will help bring additive manufacturing to the next level.”

“As innovation cycles are getting shorter and shorter, companies need to constantly reimagine their products, reinvent manufacturing and rethink business,” says Jan Mrosik, CEO of the Digital Factory Division, Siemens AG. “The Additive Manufacturing Network augments our leading Digital Enterprise portfolio, where we combine the real world with the virtual world. It offers the Additive Manufacturing industry—from product manufacturers, engineering companies, automation technology suppliers all the way to service providers—a place to co-create, co-innovate and come up with completely new business models.”

Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network creates an open ecosystem that connects members to co-innovate and help realize new products using software tools, printing technologies and materials for additive manufacturing. Part buyers and manufacturing service providers can benefit from streamlined collaboration, quoting, procurement and order monitoring processes. This can facilitate the design of innovative products for additive manufacturing, replacement of physical inventories with digital inventories, as well as economical scaling up or down of 3D printing production as needed. According to Siemens, this is the next step in a vision to digitally transform the global manufacturing industry and accelerate delivery of reimagined parts made with industrial additive manufacturing.

“Stratasys and Siemens share a vision for the industrialization of additive manufacturing, which will unlock unique advantages for our customers, helping enable them to create better products more efficiently and economically,” says Scott Sevcik, VP Manufacturing Solutions at Stratasys. “Stratasys is enthusiastic to be an early partner in Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network. It will be a great platform for connecting the ecosystem and facilitating the accessibility and adoption of additive manufacturing. We are excited to support Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network with Stratasys’ industry leading additive manufacturing technology and application expertise and by connecting to it our world class services division - Stratasys Direct Manufacturing.”

“We are right on schedule in launching the Additive Manufacturing Network, a commitment we made one year ago,” says Zvi Feuer, senior vice president of Manufacturing Engineering Software for Siemens PLM Software. “Collaborating with a vibrant ecosystem of industry leaders and start-ups is a necessary element for building knowledge and accelerating new innovative solutions to scale. Our platform provides a unique capability to accumulate, store and reuse knowledge that can be utilized by diverse participants.”

“HP is committed to the collaboration and seamless integration between designers, manufacturers, and technology providers to truly unlock the power of 3D printing. Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network is a significant step for the industry in this direction,” says Michelle Bockman, global head of 3D Printing Commercial Expansion & Development, HP Inc. “Platform users will have access to HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology providers, experts, and tools to successfully help their adoption of additive manufacturing.”

Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network early adopter program is currently accepting new partner applications. To learn more about Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Network, and to join the early adopter program, visit siemens.com/plm/am-network.