From Quoting to Delivery: Mapping a Modern AM Workflow

In the early days of 3D printing, "workflow" usually meant a designer carrying a USB stick to a machine. But as Additive Manufacturing (AM) shifts from prototyping to full-scale production, that manual approach becomes a bottleneck.

A modern AM workflow isn’t just about the time the laser is hitting the powder; it’s about the seamless flow of data from the initial customer inquiry to the final quality report. If these steps are disconnected, you aren’t just losing time - you’re losing money.

The Anatomy of a Connected Workflow

To achieve true efficiency, your process needs to move away from fragmented spreadsheets and toward a unified digital thread. Here is how a high-performing AM workflow - powered by platforms like Authentise - should look:

1. Smart Quoting and CRM

The journey begins before a single layer is printed. A modern workflow uses automated quoting engines that analyse CAD geometry to instantly calculate material usage, build time, and costs.

• The Goal: Reduce the "quote-to-order" time from days to minutes.

• The Authentise Advantage: Our system integrates directly with your customer portal, allowing for instant geometry analysis and price generation based on your specific machine logic.

2. Technical Evaluation & Job Prep

Once an order is placed, the file enters technical validation. This is where build orientation, support generation, and nesting (packing parts into a build volume) happen.

• Integration Point: Your workflow software should "talk" to your slicer or build prep tools. Authentise acts as the central hub, ensuring the right version of a file - and its metadata - is always the one being sent to the floor.

3. Production Scheduling

Disconnected shops often rely on whiteboards to track machine availability. A modern workflow utilizes Real-Time Machine Monitoring to see which printers are active, idle, or down for maintenance.

• Optimisation: Automated scheduling ensures that jobs are queued to maximise machine utilisation rates. By pulling data directly from the machines, Authentise provides an accurate "heartbeat" of your production floor.

4. Post-Processing & Quality Assurance (QA)

For many AM parts, the "printing" is only 50% of the work. Heat treatment, support removal, and surface finishing must be tracked with the same rigor as the build itself.

• The Digital Thread: Every part should have a "birth certificate" - a digital record linking it back to the specific machine, material batch, and operator. Authentise automates this data collection, making compliance and ISO certification far less painful.

Why the "Hand-Off" is Where Most AM Shops Fail

The greatest risk to an AM operation is data fragmentation. When information lives in silos - an email for the quote, a local drive for the STL file, and a paper log for the furnace - errors are inevitable.

Key Insight: A disconnected workflow hides the true cost of production. Without a unified view, you cannot accurately track material waste or identify where delays are occurring in post-processing.

For a deeper look at the fundamental requirements for these tools, see our pillar post: Maximising Efficiency and Innovation with Additive Manufacturing Workflow Software, where we break down the 8 critical factors for success.

Moving Toward a Scalable Future

Mapping your workflow is the first step toward automation. By identifying every touchpoint - from the moment a customer uploads a file to the moment the shipping label is printed - you can begin to eliminate manual data entry and human error.

At Authentise, we’ve built our Manufacturing Execution System (MES) specifically to bridge these gaps, providing the connectivity needed to scale without adding headcount.

Is your current workflow built for scale, or is it held together by manual effort?

Book a demo today to see how we can help you save money, and save time.