Why Integrate Factory Systems With 3D Printing Software?

We all have systems that drive our day to day operations on the shop floor. What problems would it solve to integrate yours with 3D printing software?

Sometimes, these software systems – such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) – can connect to one another. When they do, integrating these systems allows automation to save time, reduce errors, and reduce delays that take place between actions and follow-up. However in the majority of cases, these systems must be operated manually, making management and upkeep both time intensive and error prone. The result is systems that are disconnected: not just from the rest of the factory, but also the people in them.  What if your production management systems spoke with one another, and with your 3D printing software?

Core factory systems are designed to administer and organize complex manufacturing environments. Each system tends to solve a specific problem or set of problems. For example, manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) help users track and document products as they progress through the series of business activities that turn raw materials into finished goods. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems exist to provide and manage all relevant data relating to design, production and support for a company’s manufactured products. Integrations between distinct manufacturing software systems – while not required for each system to do its job – generally make upkeep and management of factory operations significantly more efficient and less error prone, through automation.

Integrations between different factory software systems and additive manufacturing systems rely on 3D printing software APIs. An API (application programming interface) is an intermediary software connection that allows two different computer applications to connect and talk to each other, as permitted by predetermined functionality and security parameters. APIs are often used to facilitate integrations for interoperability between different applications. For example, through using the Google Maps API, a real estate website could receive information from Google Street View to show what a property looks like from the sidewalk, along with its surrounding vicinity. An example of how APIs can be used in the factory is to connect separate ordering systems and billing systems. This allows for the invoice process to be automated, for a completed work order. In the manufacturing space, countless other API integrations exist that allow automated interoperability between different software systems.

3D printing software APIs: For businesses that leverage additive manufacturing in their factory operations, 3D printing software can be integrated into other factory systems through its own API, to automate AM workflows at other touchpoints in the digital factory. As a 3D printing software, Markforged’s Eiger software has an API. The Eiger API allows users to receive details from Eiger around their parts, builds, print jobs, and printers, which can be passed through to other important business systems. A user’s credentials control what information can be shared or passed between the 3D printing software and other applications.

3D printing software can integrate with many different types of factory software: such as ERP, MES, QMS, CRM, AM/EAM, MRO, SCM, financials, and accounting systems. Users can benefit from integrating 3D printing software with the core factory software systems.

• Quotes can be generated, or parts can be printed directly from these systems.
• Orders, contracts, costs and other aspects of 3D printed parts can be managed more easily in supply chain management systems that communicate with AM systems
• User control management ensures that additive manufacturing functions can be controlled by the group that best knows AM.
• Additive manufacturing operations integrated with other business workflows are more repeatable, efficient, simplified, and have a reduced margin for error.
• AM operations can be scaled up using systems widely used at each plant, without necessitating a significant overhaul in workflows.
• Integration provides access to users of one software system to the workflows and benefits of another. For 3D printing software, this enables organizations to extend the benefits of AM throughout the org without hiring or training for 3D print slicing and production.
• Extensible API designs allow modifications to be made to the existing API without disrupting how it works for existing consumers.
• Connected systems promote collaboration, as opposed to contributing to the centralization of information. Information is easily shared and transferred, rather than being limited to a single repository.
• 3D printing part production can provide traceability through the following:
  • An information flow can be followed to determine the origin of an order, the unique part identifier, the 3D printer that completed the job, or the delivery address of the specific part.
  • 3D printing software integration creates a digital thread, which allows traceability of a part through a system, and which people and processes were involved in that part’s journey.