DiManEx: Digital Supply Chain Service Provider for 3D Printed Parts – Interview with Pieter Ruijssenaars

DiManEx, a digital supply chain service provider, is dedicated to elevating the performance of supply chains worldwide. Their innovative platform leverages AI to analyze the 3D printability of parts and assess their economic viability within the supply chain context. In an interview with 3Druck.com, CEO Pieter Ruijssenaars shares his insight into the additive manufacturing industry.

DiManEx employs a suite of advanced digitisation services to craft digital twins of parts and spare parts, primed for 3D printing. This includes meticulous 3D scanning of parts, efficient software-driven extraction of bulk 2D file data (JPG), and seamless conversion from 2D to 3D files, along with the creation of a „Digital Passport“ for parts, which specifies the 3D printing materials, technology and partners required to meet demanding part quality specifications.

Moreover DiManEx maintains a network of additive manufacturing service providers around the world, ensuring that they can 3D print their customers parts anywhere and anytime they’re needed, in the precise quantity and quality demanded. The company’s customers include global leaders in sectors such as railway, transport, packaging, heavy equipment, oil and gas, and beyond. 

Essentially, they guide their customers through a transformative journey from a physical and naturally risky supply chain to a digital and future-proof supply chain, resulting in a data-driven and intelligently optimised supply chain.

Interview with CEO Pieter Ruijssenaars

In an interview with 3Druck.com, CEO Pieter Ruijssenaars offers a glimpse into the industry, shedding light on the areas where he sees both the promise and the present hurdles of additive manufacturing. In his opinion the sector must shift focus from solely driving technological advancements to actively helping customers in rapidly and effectively adopting and scaling additive manufacturing.

In your opinion, what significance does additive manufacturing (AM) have for companies using this technology?

Data, digitisation, and AM are crucial in today’s world where geopolitical, social-economic and environmental issues will increasingly determine the performance of companies, especially in their supply chains. To protect themselves against these increasing threats, companies will need to embrace innovations and the digital way forward in which data, AI, analytics and AM will play a decisive role. 

It starts with AI based data analytics about technical and economic justification of AM application, to make effective and efficient use of scarce resources (material, people, time and money) possible. A connected ecosystem of qualified and certified AM service providers allowing for local production of parts where and when they are needed will provide for part of the solution to avoid the geopolitical and environmental threats. Having a digital twin of an AM validated part in a library available will make companies less vulnerable in their supply chain. 

AM applied in combination with analytics and digitisation not only makes customers less vulnerable, it leads to concrete and immediate benefits, e.g. lead time reduction by printing locally, cost reduction due to less stock keeping, less capital required due to less Minimum Order Quantity purchases of parts, a significant and measurable contribution to a more sustainable world as a result of less KMs transport, less material used in production and less scrapping of unsold products among other benefits.

Additive manufacturing has continuously developed in recent years. Which innovations or technological breakthroughs do you consider to be particularly important for the industry sector?

The past 10 years a lot, if not all, emphasis has been on technological innovations and breakthroughs such as materials or AM technologies. This has helped the market in the sense that companies (the customers we all serve) have become more and more convinced about the quality and reliability of AM, to make it a structural part of their operations. That was needed. 

The focus now should be much more on the business application of AM. AM in itself is only a means to an end. It serves to solve a problem, fulfil a need. Our background is in supply chains. We think that is one of the biggest business domains in which AM can and should be widely applied. So, the coming years should all be about business, insights to make justified AM application decisions, data, AI in AM, new business models based on the benefits AM can bring, and finally; change management in companies to be able to not only adopt but scale rapidly the application of AM. The latter has been one of the main inhibitors for years in widespread application of AM (changing processes, people, knowledge, skills, KPIs, mindsets) in organisations.

First Corona and the now high inflation pose major challenges for the entire industry. In your opinion, how do the multiple crises affect the additive manufacturing industry?

As mentioned earlier geopolitical, social-economic and environmental issues will increasingly determine the performance of companies. There is no other way forward for companies: become highly digital, put data at the heart of supply chains, work in an ecosystem with technological and geographical partners. And AM is a crucial part of that way forward. 

AM developments over the next few years will make more and more products/parts of companies 3D printable, hence building that data based AM infrastructure now should be part of the focus of companies. They should invest in this now, because having data, digitization and AM as a controlled part of your production of supply chain takes time (the earlier mentioned need for change of processes, people, mindset etc.). 

The AM industry should not push more, like before, on technological AM innovations only. It should find and execute ways of helping our customers adopt and scale AM fast and in a controlled way. We all in the AM industry can do this by cooperating more together, but also extending our cooperation towards others (e.g. organisation consultants) to drive that needed change.

What impact do you think additive manufacturing will have on various industries and possibly society as a whole in the coming years?

The widespread acceptance and application of AM will, just like many other innovations in the past, take time. AM as a stand-alone technology will not be enough to reach that widespread acceptance and application. It will need to go hand in hand with other technologies, and data and AI will play key roles in that.

I expect in due time that industries and society will let go of mentioning specifically that a part is 3D printed. In the end it should matter an industry customer or a consumer whether or not the part is 3D printed, as long as it serves the purpose. The sooner we all stop mentioning a part is 3D printed, the sooner widespread acceptance and application of AM becomes a reality.

Finally, I think another strong driver for growth of AM application will be sustainability. Producing less parts, using less material, using circular materials, less transport of products due to local production, less scrapping of unsold products, EU legislation and so on will increase the need and willingness to use AM as a solution for that.

You can find out more about DiManEx here.