Today, Siemens and Materialise announced that they have integrated Materialise additive manufacturing technology into Siemens’ NX software, a product development system that, just a few weeks ago, incorporated topology optimization technology from Frustum into its functionality. NX combines computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) capabilities to enable fast, streamlined product development and manufacture, and the new partnership with Materialise will enhance the additive manufacturing potential of the software.
Materialise’s technology will allow NX users to prepare CAD models for powder bed fusion and material jetting 3D printing processes, potentially reducing the time required to go from product design to completed 3D printed part by 30 percent or more. In addition, an agreement between the two companies allows Siemens’ product lifecycle management (PLM) business to sell the integrated solution through its global sales channels.
“Today’s announcement represents a huge leap forward in making additive manufacturing a mainstream production practice for our customers,” said Zvi Feuer, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering Software for Siemens PLM Software. “Until now, the additive manufacturing process required manufacturers to work with two separate systems – one for product design, and another to prepare that design for 3D printing. The data translation issues and lack of associativity between these two systems created a process that was time consuming and subject to errors. By eliminating these issues, we are helping to expand the adoption of additive manufacturing as a universally accepted production tool.”
NX software is one of the most widely used digital product development solutions in the world, assisting manufacturers in a number of industries including consumer products, medical devices, machinery and transportation. The newly announced partnership will integrate the software with Materialise’s lattice technology, support structures design, 3D nesting, build tray preparation, and build processors framework technology for additive manufacturing, eliminating the need for data translation and conversion. Not only will this speed design to production, but it will result in better, more accurate prints, and bring additive manufacturing another step closer to an actual manufacturing technology, rather than just a prototyping method.
“Additive manufacturing is a reality now, even in highly regulated markets like aerospace and healthcare,” said Johan Pauwels, Executive Vice President at Materialise. “By bringing together solutions from Siemens and Materialise, we are optimizing and simplifying the workflow for design, engineering and manufacturing of components. For the past 25 years, our neutral backbone of solutions has pushed the boundaries of additive manufacturing technologies. We’re pleased to partner with Siemens, who truly understands large-scale industrial manufacturing environments and shares our belief that designers and engineers can create better products if additive manufacturing is embedded into their mainstream business processes.”
We looked to Materialise to learn more about the integration, and Pauwels expanded on his thoughts, telling 3DPrint.com:
“3D printing has become a part of the manufacturing toolkit, and manufacturers are beginning to understand that they need to improve processes surrounding this tool. The solution we have developed with Siemens seamlessly closes the loop between product design and 3D printers, eliminating common issues in an effort to advance additive manufacturing as a full-scale production technology.”

Stefaan Motte (L), VP of Software for Materialise, meets with Andreas Saar, VP of Additive Manufacturing, Siemens PLM Software, at formnext 2016. [Image: Siemens]
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
You May Also Like
TPM Launches New 3D Printing Lab in the Heart of the Southeast’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub
On June 1, TPM, a digitization solutions company based in Greenville, South Carolina, opened its new Additive Manufacturing (AM) Lab, also in Greenville. TPM sells hardware, software, and materials for...
3D Printing Webinar & Event Roundup: June 4, 2023
In this week’s roundup, Stratasys has a few stops on its road trip, and TCT 3Sixty is taking place in Birmingham. There are also webinars about automotive 3D printing, electron...
3D Systems Confirms Bid to Buy Stratasys to Create $1.84B 3D Printing Company
See the update at end of this article. In what has to be one of the 3D printing industry’s biggest news weeks, additive manufacturing (AM) pioneer 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD)...
3D Printing News Unpeeled: Stratasys, Nano Dimension and 3D Systems
Today we’re talking about all the merger options on offer between Desktop Metal, Stratasys, Nano Dimension and 3D Systems. It seems like most people in this industry are publicly saying...
Print Services
Upload your 3D Models and get them printed quickly and efficiently.