Riven has pioneered a revolutionary 3D scanner that will accelerate new product introduction for the additive manufacturing industry.
Of all the industries that have been forced to make full-scale changes to function throughout the coronavirus pandemic, manufacturing may have experienced the most drastic. Additive manufacturing, more commonly referred to as 3D printing, is finally having its moment, with the pandemic acting as an accelerant to force widespread adoption of the technology. With no choice but to adapt to counter the impacts of COVID-19, additive manufacturing is no longer a niche industry and is finally beginning to pick up speed and gain market share in the hyper-competitive manufacturing world.
Profit margins are razor-thin in the manufacturing world. That is even more so for additive manufacturers, which are often at a disadvantage to competitors that still use traditional manufacturing techniques. Every step of the process—from design to prototyping and finishing and shipping work orders—must be optimized for additive manufacturing to remain competitive.
In additive manufacturing, one of the most time-consuming and profit-sucking steps is new product introduction (NPI). For additive manufacturers working to develop new parts and products, considerable time and material must be spent on verifying that what the machines lay down matches the 3D model and CAD files. Identifying the issues that arise when beginning to produce a new product can be a challenge due to the difficulty that previously existed in comparing every dimension and surface of a finished product. These issues can ultimately lead to multiple iterations of product development, wasted material, shipping delays and unhappy clients.
Product development and software veteran James Page is seeking to change the way NPI engineers do their job and handle the evaluation of their components compared to the models. Page founded Riven, a 3D-scanning solution that helps solve development challenges with a push-button scanning and communications solution.
Page broke down Riven’s ultimate mission. “Every product iteration takes time, resources and materials. Riven’s cost-effective 3D data capture, analysis and communication tools provide the missing link for an advancing industry while reducing scrap, travel and shipping makes important in-roads toward eliminating the $3 trillion of annual manufacturing waste.”
Riven aims to accelerate the new product development process by scaling down the number of iterations required to successfully complete a design. The scanner allows engineers to refine and understand more in their design processes with robust data tracking and communication across teams. Each scan delivers a go/no-go check that makes it possible to quickly compare to CAD and log each result, providing insight for future product development.
“Riven is truly easy to use and a game-changer for tuning designs and adjusting parameters faster than ever before. Riven is accelerating metal additive manufacturing’s growth surge,” said Nate Higgins, FreeFORM Technologies president.
Several users have already seen big cost savings thanks to using Riven. A Mid-Atlantic metal manufacture used Riven to diagnose deformation and pick out problem parts before they were sent for post-processing, saving thousands of dollars in engineering time. A Bay Area company that received several bad batches of product trusted Riven to diagnose their issues and discovered areas of warping by comparing the scan to their CAD models, ultimately helping drive the decision to switch to a new vendor.
The Riven 3D scanner can be operational in less than 30 minutes and is easy to use. The scanner is accurate within 0.002 in and has scan-to-scan comparison and repeatability of 0.0004 in with best results seen on 3D printed, MIM and injection molded parts with lengths ranging from 0.2 in to 12 in.
As the additive manufacturing industry continues to evolve and gain traction, technologies like Riven’s will drive further adoption, increase innovation and improve product development. It’s a win-win for everyone involved to implement Riven’s 3D scanning to cut down on wasted engineering time and materials. Continued growth and progress in the manufacturing industry will be driven by innovators like Riven and their partners.
