Metal 3D Printing - Customer Journey
| Walking the Additive Manufacturing Journey With You
AddUp was born out of a need for a PBF system to provide a repeatable reliable industrial system for serial production with the performance benefits of superior surface finish and feature resolution. Michelin embarked on a journey similar to that of our customers, first discovering the benefits and exploiting the capabilities of additive technology through more complex and innovative designs of the sype in a tire mold. Through their iteration and development of this application they were able to achieve superior performance throughout the life a of tire. To achieve this benefit broadly across all tire platforms Michelin first needed to control the process qualifying the output to be consistent and repeatable before scaling to serial production.
Today AddUp is committed to supporting our customers throughout this journey for their applications. Whether they are at the early stages of adoption and looking to understand the benefits and capabilities of additive or are a mature user of the technology looking for a repeatable, reliable solution at scale; AddUp has the expertise and support team to guide our customers through this path.
» Stage 1 - Discovery
New adopters of the technology are enamored with the promise of additive manufacturing soon to realize that they don’t know where to begin or how to apply it to their business.
• Our team first provides guidance on part identification to highlight where additives are a strong fit and can provide potential benefits.
• We also then support the customer to understand design rules associated with the manufacturing process to be applied to future applications.
• Finally, we assess for economic feasibility of the parts identified as a first step towards building out a full business model.
» Stage 2 - Development
Once target applications have been identified both the business case and application have to be developed and refined
• Here our team co-develops the application with our customers to redesign the part for the manufacturing process, Design for Additive Manufacturing or DfAM, working closely with our customers to maintain design intent of the end use part.
• This iterative process allows for proof of concept and technical feasibility of our customers application providing prototypes for testing and validation.
• Finally, we further develop the business case to include the new changes to the model and applying our customer’s inputs and cost structure validated for their business.
» Stage 3 - Qualification
With the application fully developed and tested it is time to lock down and qualify the process. Whether you’re making medical parts in an ISO13485 environment or flight worthy hardware under AS9100 our team has the background and skill to support you through this process.
• Medical IQ/OQ/PQ
o Our team has the infrastructure, protocols and expertise to guide you through the process associated with the qualification of medical application. We also understand and support our customers navigate any regulatory challenges.
• Aerospace AMS7003
o Our process engineers understand the key process variables associated with the technology and our machine. We support our customers through the development of the Process Control Document for implementation into your quality system.
• General Industry
o Our history of mold making with AM allows us to understand that not every additive part needs to be worthy of flight or implantable. With our deep understanding of the process, we can tailor the process to meet the quality requirements for you industry.
» Stage 4 - Scale
Now you’re ready to ramp to full scale production. Our company was built on the pedigree of our parent companies in Michelin, making a million tire sipes every year, and Fives, 200+ years of expertise in machine tool building for serial industrial applications.
• Our machines are designed to meet an OEE level demanded for serial production.
• Facilitation support to go from one machine to many validating any machine to machine variation.
• Support to create tailored automated solutions
• Monitoring solutions to track the process ensuring each machine, each build, each part meet your quality requirements and notifications of when they are not.
Get Started with AddUp
Today’s metal 3D printers make parts that can’t be made by traditional manufacturing methods. Metal Additive Manufacturing is the way of the future and AddUp is committed to supporting our customers throughout their journey. AddUp has the expertise and support team to guide our customers whether they are at the early stages of adoption and looking to understand the benefits and capabilities of additive or are a mature user of the technology looking for a repeatable, reliable solution. Get started with AddUp today!