Automation Alley's Project DIAMOnD initiative has made its Digital Transformation Center (DTC) available for print orders from businesses outside its membership network.
Small and mid-size businesses will now have access to the organisation's industrial-grade additive manufacturing equipment and support.
The DTC was created to support Project DIAMOnD grant participants as they scaled beyond the limits of their in-house 3D printers, but Automation Alley is now evolving it into a professional, fee-for-service manufacturing resource. Users of this resource will be able to access advanced polymer and metal additive manufacturing capabilities, including polymer powder-bed fusion (SAF), high-performance and large-format thermoplastic FFF/MEX printing and directed energy deposition (DED) metal printing, as well as post-processing, inspection and validation tools.
With this capability, Automation Alley is confident it can cater for functional prototyping requirements, tooling requirements, and short-run and bridge production needs. Users can submit designs through a secure digital portal, receive transparent quotes and work directly with experts to determine the appropriate materials, processes and workflows for their applications. All orders are managed through secure digital workflows that protect intellectual property and enable repeatable production for future orders.
"The Digital Transformation Center was built to help companies move from experimentation with additive manufacturing to real production," said Pavan Muzumdar, CEO of Project DIAMOnD and COO of Automation Alley. "By opening the DTC to businesses beyond our membership network, we're removing another barrier to adoption of this powerful technology and giving more companies a low-risk path to validate products, scale production and compete using additive manufacturing.
"Not every company needs to own a fleet of industrial 3D printers to benefit from additive manufacturing. The DTC allows businesses to access production-grade capabilities on demand, while maintaining control over their designs and process knowledge."
