"You may have heard there's no 'I' in "team'? Well we've put the 'I" back in 'team'," claimed Dr Michael Grieves, from the Florida Institute of Technology at RAPID + TCT last week, as he took to the keynote stage to announce the beta launch of the Independent Technical Evaluation of Additive Manufacturing Consortium (ITEAM) platform.
Working with the SME, organisers of the event in Fort Worth, TX, the web-based ITEAM platform consists of evaluation tools and a virtual repository of machine and material capabilities to aid users in making better decisions in additive manufacturing (AM).
ITEAM compares and calculates the best machine, material and process for a particular application. Utilising the SAM-CT methodology which covers size, accuracy and materials and economic evaluation of cost and throughput, companies can upload their part file to the secure platform and evaluate whether something "can" or perhaps most important, if it "should" be produced by AM.
"To truly take advantage of the benefits and opportunities created by additive manufacturing, companies need the ability to quickly and easily judge the suitability of the process for making their products," said Grieves, executive director, Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design at the Florida Institute of Technology. "The beta launch of the ITEAM platform now provides users with an accurate and reliable tool to make the best technical and economic decisions about production."
New ITEAM beta for is now live.
First announced at last year's event, ITEAM was created to be a centre and clearinghouse for design for AM research, methodology, qualification and advancements. New users are invited to join the ITEAM consortium, where they will be the first to know about new features and have the opportunity to help influence development through input and iterative design. Plus, there is an AM community section which allows users to share experiences and feedback on equipment, materials and techniques, and create specialised apps. The idea is to build out a platform called RAMP (RAPID Additive Manufacturing Platform) Architecture which will be a secure repository of all AM machines/materials to help manufacturers make informed decisions about AM. Some features include training, education, free apps, guides, standards and beyond.
"Manufacturers are continuously looking for new ways to reduce waste, improve productivity, produce better parts, and cut their time to market while cutting costs and eliminating expensive tooling," said Debbie Holton, vice president, industry strategy and events, SME. "Additive manufacturing not only enables manufacturers to reach these goals, it allows products and geometries not possible with traditional manufacturing processes."
An ITEAM repository beta form has been released so that users can enter a criteria for a machine they are looking for and receive information about the systems that fulfil their application needs. You can test it for yourself here.
