Would your MES be able to support other production methods such as CNC and sheet metal fabrication (this is mostly in 2D). If yes, do you have real life examples of this?
Yes, there is nothing limiting this extension, and it is something we are actively pursuing. Technically there is no change to the technology required - many of the machines even rely on GCode. We are beginning to extend the range of devices natively supported in two ways:
Some of our MES clients are beginning to hook up non additive manufacturing devices such as post processing machines. While these integrations are ongoing, post-production management is still possible through our MES, just manually. As machines are connected they will be able to benefit from similar automation as we are getting from additive machines today. Of course if a specific device is important to you, we can focus on its integrations early on.
We are being recommended to other, non-additive led departments. These are opportunistic deals for us - we are planning to pursue them more aggressively in the next 18 months as we feel there is still a lot to do in 3D printing. If you have applications outside for 3D printing in mind, we would be delighted to talk to you about them.
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