Home Press Releases & Guest Posts Digital Inventory from 3YOURMIND: Moving towards an Automated Warehouse for 3D Parts

Digital Inventory from 3YOURMIND: Moving towards an Automated Warehouse for 3D Parts

3YOURMIND, one of the leading providers of software solutions for additive manufacturing (industrial 3D-printing), is launching their Digital AM Inventory module. With this extension of the 3YOURMIND workflow software, AM experts and engineers can centralize their digital inventory of AM-ready parts and production data. 3D-Files in a Digital AM Inventory are then available throughout organizations to move into production with a single click. This saves significant costs compared to a physical component warehouse, and is an important step towards distributed manufacturing.

3YOURMIND has worked closely for more than five years with early AM adopters including Volkswagen, GKN, EOS and Continental to develop their industry-focused software. By working with power users, 3YOURMIND can anticipate the waves as they come to shore and develop stable, standardized software that is ready to scale alongside AM production.

Over the last twelve months, the volume of orders 3YOURMIND customers have processed has grown substantially. After on-the-ground interviews by the product team, it was clear that the centralization of AM files and order data into a single, searchable database would bring the most value to their customers. This has become the 3YOURMIND AM Digital Inventory.

The main features of the AM Inventory are focused on solving the most common needs of AM production;

  • Centralized AM file management
  • Storing part specifications and production requirements
  • Visibility of 3D model versioning
  • Repeat ordering with saved material and technology selections

Accurately Filling an AM Inventory

Simply storing files is not enough. 3YOURMIND is leading the drive to fill digital AM inventories with production-ready parts. The company began by creating direct connections to all the leading CAD systems in 2015 to simplify the transfer from CAD software to part production. It quickly became clear that the level of knowledge about preparing files for 3D printing is still very low.

In 2017, 3YOURMIND launched the Inventory Analysis module of their AM Part Identifier software to find strong use cases from existing part data. In 2018, the Use Case Screening module was added to validate new ideas for AM parts from employees of companies like Deutsche Bahn. This proved especially useful for cataloging replacement parts.

Now in 2019, 3YOURMIND launches this new tool to automate the movement of parts from their order management software directly into a digital inventory to be saved for future production. The AM inventory can also be directly filled with parts by AM experts and design engineers to give a one-click ordering system that includes production requirements, technology and material selection.

Ordering AM Parts via API

3YOURMIND has begun another early access program with three customers to work on the next phase of development for the Digital Part Inventory. The next requested use case is to place AM orders from the AM Inventory using an existing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. The 3YOURMIND API has included instant ordering for almost five years. They will now be extending their API to allow external systems to access the items in the digital inventory, which in turn collects data summaries and manages data via customer-specific management systems.

As with the early access program for their Agile MES, the participants are power users from different sectors, selected to ensure a wide variety of use cases during the development process. Participation in the program is still open.


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