On-Demand 3D Printing in SAP Distributed Manufacturing Early Access Program Increases as Roboze Joins Initiative

3D printer manufacturer Roboze, based in Italy, has been announcing partnerships all over the world in the last several months, with the most recent being its first 3D printing distribution agreement in Asia. Today, Roboze revealed a different kind of partnership, and announced that it had joined enterprise application software leader and supply chain company SAP‘s early access program, for the SAP Distributed Manufacturing application. In joining the program, Roboze will be among the ranks of other global 3D printing companies that are taking advantage of SAP’s “exclusive initiative.”

SAP’s early access program is actually part of its joint collaboration with UPS, which was introduced last spring and expanded just a few months ago, when its early adopters program offered on-demand 3D printing services to more companies. So far, early access program participants include postal companies, manufacturers, industrial 3D printing companies and service providers, global logistics networks providers, and now Roboze.

SAP and UPS want to make on-demand manufacturing and 3D printing an essential piece of the digital manufacturing puzzle, and the early access program is intended to help with just that. The goal of the program is to give scalable, as well as standard, business processes, so early access customers can approve, digitize, certify, and manufacture digital parts in a solid, end-to-end process. Roboze plans to take advantage of the early access program initiative from UPS and SAP to produce, according to Roboze, accurate, high-quality 3D parts from advanced metal replacement techno-polymers.

Roboze technology, and particularly its Roboze One+400 3D printer, is being used by leading customers all over the world to save on costs and increase manufacturing efficiency, including GE Global Research, Italian luxury helicopter manufacturer Mecaer Aviation Group, and Israeli defense manufacturer Cyclone, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems.

The SAP Distributed Manufacturing application has many benefits, including:

• increasing cost-effectiveness of small production and prototype runs
• improving production consistency with low-cost, high-quality certified parts
• innovating product design
• significant savings with parts inventory reduction
• faster delivery

The application was created to assist suppliers and manufacturers in working together to outsource their manufacturing processes. High-tech companies all around the world can use the cloud-based solution and work with the top 3D printing solutions providers to quickly and efficiently get 3D printed parts delivered. Customers who take advantage of the SAP Distributed Manufacturing application can be involved with every step of the process, from managing CAD and STL files and pricing issues, to analyzing which parts will work for digitization, evaluating various manufacturing options (in-house to external service providers), and even deciding on the proper shipment of parts, which is supported by UPS logistics infrastructures.

Some of the other leading companies that are taking advantage of SAP’s early access program are EOS, Stratasys, voxeljet, Materialise, Nano Dimension, and several other big names we frequently talk about here on 3DPrint.com. The program itself is actually a part of the SAP Leonardo IoT Portfolio.

New solutions are always needed to support the 3D printing industry as it moves past prototyping to adding the innovative technology to existing manufacturing processes, and SAP’s early access program for its Distributed Manufacturing application will certainly help its customers take advantage of and gain access to the necessary resources to keep on climbing. Discuss in the Roboze forum at 3DPB.com.