June 2024

I just got back from Rapid sicker than I was going there, so this email is both late and brief. It’s the post-Rapid energy buzz that’s got me writing this at all. While there’s a lot of talk about the doldrums the industry is currently in, there’s also excitement.

Part of that was due to partnerships, one of which was our announcement with UPM. Together, in an industry first, we’ve released a Vendor Managed Inventory extension to Flows AM! The tool allows consumable and services suppliers to additive manufacturers to collaborate much more closely.

They can provide detailed information of their delivery way before the materials or tools even arrive at a client site and can see the inventory movements inside of their facility so that they know when stock is low or build plates need to be picked up for resurfacing or disposal.

There are lots of reasons why this is an important addition to the additive industry. First, because it shows that the industry is maturing. The fact that the industry didn’t have these tools built into additive specific software is testament to the fact that we weren’t really thinking at scale. 

Secondly, because of all the improvements these tools bring to AM manufacturers, including:1. Increased Efficiency: saving you valuable paperwork time in cutting POs, calling up suppliers to find out where it is and more...2. Improved Traceability: In the first example of this, build plate data (flatness, hardness, parallelism, surface roughness etc) was uploaded and made part of the build plate traceability record before the build plate was even delivered to the client site.3. Financial Benefits: This tool enables consignment, which means the client only gets billed when the material is actually used. In addition, it enables suppliers to reduce the inventory they’re keeping at your site, which reduces their working capital and their ultimate cost to the user. 

In short, it’s a win-win-win. So why not give it a spin – we’re offering this tool as a standalone or together with our material genealogy, which is also available in our workflow engine, Flows. I don’t usually pitch in this email but really – you should try this. It’s cool. 

Now back to feeling miserable – this Man Flu is real and I have to shake it, as I’m meant to be writing my next mail all the way from Costa Rica. 

Thanks,