The digital solutions provider looks toward an open ecosystem model for 3D printing.
Additive manufacturing (AM) has progressed to the point that the manufacturing industry considers it a valuable part of the overall landscape. In situations where small batches, customization, freedom of design, and in situ manufacturing are desired characteristics of the process and product, AM is a significant development that continues to evolve rapidly beyond its preexisting barriers—but it has not yet grown beyond niche industry status.
Hexagon, a digital solutions provider, sees its future strategy in AM as a series of collaborations with other companies and organizations in the sector.
Most recently, Hexagon revealed new developments that advance the application of Directed Energy Deposition (DED), a technology where lasers apply and melt the material simultaneously. The resulting solidification of the melt generates new layers, which are arranged above and next to each other.

DED incorporates several metal 3D technologies and is attractive for the cost-effective production of large parts. It is gaining traction in industries like aerospace because of its ability to repair or rebuild advanced equipment such as turbine blades with metal alloys, including titanium and high-temperature stainless steel.
Hexagon works with customers, OEMs and service providers to predict how such materials will behave when subjected to the thermal-mechanical stresses of DED. Optimizing deposition production processes often requires taking advantage of a combination of powerful simulation tools, state-of-the-art scanning technology, reverse engineering and analysis software to achieve the required quality and repeatability.
Recently, electron beam technology company pro-beam used Hexagon technologies to validate a 100 percent virtual design-for-manufacturing workflow. In another first, DED service bureau and machine builder DM3D used Hexagon measurement technologies to validate one of the largest DED builds ever made—a two-ton engine part—to prove it could meet NASA’s tolerance requirements.
Another partnership with a leading supplier of industrial metal 3D printing solutions, Sciaky, has expedited the time frame to complete high-quality simulations for additive processes. Whereas not long ago, these simulations took months to complete, the collaboration has enabled the company to make accurate predictions in days or hours, facilitating the efficiency of production for parts of any size or complexity.
The larger the geometries involved, the trickier it is to predict materials’ behaviors. Sciaky’s technology enables closed-loop control of its Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) 3D printing process to eliminate variations and improve its quality and production throughput by sensing and digitally self-adjusting metal deposition in real time. The EBAM process starts with a 3D model from a CAD program. An electron beam gun deposits metal from wire feedstock layer by layer until the part reaches close to its final shape and is ready for finish machining. Deposition rates using EBAM can range from 7 to 20 pounds per hour. This particular type of metal 3D printing is not limited by part size, material or geometry. Parts of nearly 20 feet in length can be made, utilizing virtually any metal, including refractory metals such as tantalum and titanium.

Hexagon’s Simufact solution utilizes predictive analysis tools to simulate the thermal-mechanical behavior of the DED process accurately. It enables users to analyze thermal history stresses, strains and distortions throughout the process and optimize the build setup and process parameters before deposition. The software reads EBAM’s printer trajectories and process parameters direction, reducing the effort required to produce the simulation model and streamlining the overall production process.
Hexagon is further industrializing AM with a recently announced plan to build a flexible and open AM ecosystem to alleviate complexities in 3D printing processes and help customers effectively build their product development and manufacturing workflows. With a focus on open data standards, the company recently made several additions to its ecosystem—Sciaky, Meltio, CADS Additive, AMcubator and Additive Center—as its suite of AM partners and products becomes more comprehensive.
“Far from Industry 4.0 creating a ‘connected’ end-to-end supply chain, today many 3D printers and protocols are creating ‘walled kingdoms’ of hardware that are incompatible with certain CAE tools, and vendors are introducing machines with proprietary connectivity, standards and protocols designed not to work with machinery from rivals,” said Paolo Guglielmini, president of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division.
By taking a consultative approach, developing long-term relationships with the most prominent players in global manufacturing—the disruptive new players and the leading research institutes—Hexagon’s open ecosystem benefits from both sides of the exchange.
The concept of a business ecosystem involves industry players collaborating to advance technology, identify new applications, and enable users to exploit the resulting advantages. There are several advantages that such a structure has over hierarchical supply chains and vertically integrated companies. These include the fact that multiple partners can contribute their specific capabilities toward co-innovating and developing products and services. Business ecosystems can quickly scale because they are modular in structure. In addition, ecosystems are resilient and flexible because they can adapt more easily to changing customer requirements.
Hexagon has also entered into a partnership to exchange technologies with CADS Additive to integrate the build prep specialist’s material-saving support structure generation technology into its metal build simulation software. CADS Additive will integrate Hexagon’s build simulation capabilities into its AM-Studio software.
Different 3D printing technologies require support structures for various reasons. Some require a support structure to resist deformation or collapse caused by gravity as the fabrication of the component proceeds. Support can be used to balance a printed object and tether it to the build platform during manufacture. Support structures can also be used to alleviate the effects caused by any thermal gradients generated during the manufacturing process and any shrinkage occurring upon solidification, which is inherent within many AM techniques. Finally, support structures help to reduce thermal distortion, which can lead to sag, cracking, curling and shrinkage.
Global manufacturers use Hexagon’s Simufact Additive to optimize production from laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and metal binder jetting (MBJ) processes. Simufact Additive is a scalable software solution for the simulation of metal-based additive manufacturing processes that focuses on L-PBF and MBJ. It is designed to compensate for distortion, residual stress and temperature distribution throughout the printing, heat treatment, cutting, hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and machining processes virtually before the part is manufactured by the 3D metal printer.

Power support structure creation by CADS Additive enables customers to reduce preparation for materials costs and build time. Customers can now create lightweight hollow rod supports, complex line supports, or block supports using CADS Additive and further optimize material utilization with access to the company’s high stiffness “heart cell” support structures and metal-optimized tree supports. This deep integration gives users complete control over support structure parameters, allowing them to simulate the support structure and part build without additional steps or software.
Another benefit of implementing the CADS Additive in Simufact Additive is the significant reduction of material waste, enabling customers to optimize the materials and process.
Hexagon’s latest partnerships and collaborations are an example of how one AM company is shaping production and people-related ecosystems to become increasingly autonomous and connected, with the goal of ensuring a scalable, sustainable future.
If it is going to emerge out of niche market status, some experts suggest that the rest of the AM industry explore the open ecosystem strategy as a way forward. The AM industry is well-suited to an ecosystem model because it has a high degree of modularity and complex issues around software development, customization, and production flexibility that will not be solved by any one industry player.