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SAP has launched Distributed Manufacturing, a new application which will aim to make 3D printing a ‘seamless part of digital manufacturing’, at Hannover Messe 2017.
A leading industrial exhibition event, Hannover Messe is being held between April 24 – April 28th. SAP, a German software company, has used the event as the platform for its latest product launch, which resulted from its co-innovation with customers and service providers.
The application allows users to collaborate, while standardising industrial pre-production and approval. This collaborative environment will connect design and procurement teams with 3D printing service providers. SAP believes this platform will work to optimise design and integrate order creation.
“As 3D printing technology advances beyond prototyping, more companies are rethinking their manufacturing and supply networks to take advantage of cost-effective local production, customisation and rapid delivery to meet changing customer expectations,” said Dr Tanja Rueckert, executive vice president, IoT and Digital Supply Chain, SAP. “After successfully co-innovating with our customers, we are now delivering a solution for manufacturers to have a standard and scalable business process to intelligently manage design, material, pricing, procurement and logistics decisions in a collaborative network to drive more effective Industry 4.0 strategies.”
The Distributed Manufacturing platform is part of SAP’s Leonardo portfolio for the Internet of Things (IoT). SAP’s latest release provides a scalable process for manufacturers to collaborate with 3D printing companies, service and materials providers, and OEMs in open or private environments. Through integration with S/4HANA Cloud, SAP’s cloud Enterprise Resource Planning suite, Distributed Manufacturing supports the end-to-end, quote-to-contact process and enriches standard procurement objects with information on how to make these parts using additive manufacturing. General availability of the application depends on successful validation in early access and adoption phases with more than 45 participating customers and service providers.
In addition to the Distributed Manufacturing announcement, SAP also showcased expanded partnerships with HP and Jabil. As a showcase SAP partner for 3D printing of industry-standard plastic parts, HP will leverage SAP’s enterprise systems and network of partners to work to eliminate friction in the process of evaluating and sourcing 3D print technology. Meanwhile, Jabil is co-innovating as both customer and partner with SAP, creating end-to-end industrial digital manufacturing with real-time visibility to the machine level on the production floor. Combining the company’s own manufacturing qualities with SAP Leonardo, Jabil can create a digital twin to enhance the management of the entire lifecycle of a part, from design to production and recycling.
TUV NORD, a Hannover-based technical services provider with operations in more than 70 countries, is among the first to collaborate with SAP in auditing and certifying the processes of 3D printing service providers in the network. TUV NORD plans to offer ISO 9001 certification adapted for distributed manufacturing.
“For customers it’s enormously important that the manufactured components should be of consistently high quality so that they can be safely and reliably used,” said Ulf Theike, general manager of TUV NORD Systems. “To this end, demonstrably reliable processes and certification from trusted providers provider assurance that customers require.”
Elsewhere on the first day of Hannover Messe, Siemens also announced a new software platform through its product lifecycle management business. Set to launch in the summer of 2018, this platform will look to promote global on-demand product design and 3D printing production. In similar vein to SAP’s Distributed Manufacturing platform, next year’s Siemens PLM release will have a significant focus on encouraging collaboration.
