A 3D print service bureau has added an unusual capability.
UK-based 3D people offers SLS and MJF 3D print services, as well as a series of typical post processing capabilities. These are common features found in many 3D print services, and it’s a pretty competitive market. Most services develop capabilities that differentiate them from the others in the market.
3D People has come up with a capability that I haven’t seen previously in a 3D print service: PartsVault, their take on the digital inventory concept.
Digital inventory is a new concept that involves eliminating (or reducing) physical warehouse space for spare parts. The idea is to digitize the relevant 3D models and hold them in a database. When a spare part is needed, the 3D model is used to print the replacement on demand.
Digital inventory is quite challenging to implement, but the benefits can be enormous: instead of holding spare parts in large warehouses for, in some cases, decades, there’s just a database and some printing. Huge savings can be made, especially if all parts can be digitized.
Up to now I’ve heard of only a few implementations of digital inventory, most of which were undertaken by large business operations where massive inventories of spare parts awaited optimization. Railways and airlines seem to be the major sectors where digital inventory projects are underway, likely because they have to maintain spare parts for aircraft and railway cars that are in service for twenty or more years.
Smaller operations tend to have challenges starting a digital inventory project because the savings may not be sufficient to justify setting up the infrastructure to handle on demand manufacturing and data storage.
This is where 3D People’s PartsVault comes in: they’ve combined their 3D print services with a 3D model repository set up for private company parts inventories. 3D People explain the concept:
“What if every repeat part— or an entire set of components with predefined specs — could live in one secure, central place — ready to go into production with a few clicks?
That’s why we built PartsVault — a smart and secure digital inventory platform that builds on what you were already doing, but removes the friction.
Think of it as your digital parts locker. Whether you’re managing repeat production runs, ordering spares, or updating designs, everything is centralised, version-controlled, and connected directly to 3D People’s manufacturing capabilities.”
One of the interesting twists of this service is that it can be used by non-UK businesses to “trigger UK-based manufacturing” when required. This might be for speedy parts delivery, tax reasons or any number of other factors.
For smaller companies PartsVault might be an easy way to begin the digital inventory process, especially if based in the UK.
Via 3D People
