Additive manufacturing leader Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) has announced a new collaboration with 3D printing and engineering software startup nTopology, which creates next-generation design and engineering software. Together, the two are working to make 3D printing easier by offering several customizable, accessible Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) workflows, the first of which is the FDM Assembly Fixture Generator for simplified fabrication of jigs and fixtures.
“Together we’re unlocking scalable 3D printing. It’s the power of Stratasys performance enabled by nTopology workflows,” the Stratasys website declares. “It’s the power of collaboration.”
New York-based nTopology recently closed a $40 million funding round to enhance its nTop Platform software, which offers rapid iterations, high-performance designs, and complex geometries to help users optimize digital manufacturing and fabricate parts that meet both functional and performance requirements. By partnering up with Stratasys, the quick modeling, topology optimization, and reusable workflows of its software will form the base of the new DfAM workflows, meant to be used with multiple Stratasys FDM 3D printing systems.

The FDM Assembly Fixture Generator automates the design of jigs and fixtures, such as this Stratasys Nylon 12CF manufacturing fixture.
“We look forward to super-charging the Stratasys additive community with nTop Platform by combining Stratasys expertise with our powerful platform, giving both of our users improved designs with faster time to manufacture. Manufacturing is going through the most profound shift it has seen in 100 years, and the Stratasys and nTopology collaboration brings this unique combined innovation to accelerate that shift,” said nTopology Founder and CEO Bradley Rothenberg.
Stratasys’s powerful FDM printers offer high reliability and accuracy, and work with advanced materials such as Nylon 12 Carbon Fiber, so these systems can actually provide 3D printed solutions for commercial airplanes and the International Space Station, two exciting but exacting applications. But current CAD software tools aren’t always the best bet, causing long lead times that make some think it isn’t worth it to adopt AM. By pairing nTopology’s software innovative platform with Stratasys expertise, the two companies are making the road to adoption easier to traverse, with improved design for additive manufacturing leading to better parts created faster.
“nTopology’s software for additive design is a powerful pairing with our additive manufacturing systems, so it was clear we should work together. Our analysis shows manufacturing applications are currently seeing the most growth in our industry, from $2.8 billion in 2015 to $25 billion in 2025, so we focused our first Collaboration on serving that segment,” explained Stratasys Senior Vice President of Products and Solutions Pat Carey. “Companies want to move faster – to be able to adapt to change – and pure digital manufacturing gives them that agility.”
Jigs and fixtures are tools used to control how another instrument operates, and, according to nTopology, making jigs, fixtures, and other tooling accounts for over 20% of all 3D printed end-use parts. The new FDM Assembly Fixture Generator automates the design of these tools, giving engineers a faster, easier way to turn part files into ready-to-print fixtures. A drag-and-drop is all that’s needed to remove bottlenecks and ramp up productivity and efficiency in manufacturing environments.

Complex 3D design of a jig produced using the FDM Assembly Fixture Generator on the nTop Platform engineering software
As part of the collaboration between Stratasys and nTopology, the FDM Assembly Fixture Generator is now available through a free trial on the nTop platform. The two companies are planning to release several other DfAM workflows in the future, and are also offering training videos and resources to users.
(Source/Images: Stratasys)
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.