The latest 3D printing company to express an interest in blockchain is GE, which recently filed a patent application for the use of blockchain in the use of verifying and validating 3D printed objects in its supply chain. The application was filed in December and was released last month by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
“Current systems for additive manufacturing lack verification and validation systems for ensuring that objects produced by the process are appropriately certified,” the patent application states. “If, for example, a replacement part for an industrial asset is possible to produce via an additive manufacturing process, any user with access to an appropriately configured additive manufacturing device can reproduce the part. End users who purchase or otherwise receive such a part [have] no way of verifying that a replacement part manufactured in this way was produced using a correct build file, using correct manufacturing media, and on a properly configured additive manufacturing device.”
GE also announced earlier this year that it had joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a blockchain consortium aimed at creating standards in the transportation and logistics industry.
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