I may be extrapolating but it’s almost as if the number of companies that shut down their operations this year equals the number of newcomers that debuted on the AM market this year. The latest company to join the group of newcomers is nPower Technologies – a tech startup that aims to address the scheduling challenges on the AM shopfloor.
These challenges include:
- The difficulty of scheduling nested builds in work centers based on material availability as well as capacity
- The difficulty of scheduling a build plate work order containing multiple end items such that each end item order that diverges from the build plate is delivered on time
- Assigning and scheduling controlled assets based on capability and approval to produce certain products
- Scheduling all work centers based on overall shop and individual resource calendars
- Updating the schedule based on changes to delivery dates, production quantities, job progress, and more
Before becoming a standalone company, nPower Technologies was the brainchild of ProfitKey, a provider of software and services that help SMEs in their manufacturing operations.
“nPower Technologies derived its name from the growing complexity of scheduling additive machines, commonly referred to as 3D printers, in a divergent manufacturing environment,” said David Bennett, Chief Product Officer. “While scheduling divergent manufacturing with one or two printers and multiple post-print operations can be done with spreadsheets, scheduling additional additive machines becomes a geometric problem of the nth degree.”
The nPower Scheduler™
The technology behind nPower is geared toward additive manufacturers in the medical device, aerospace, defense, and transportation industries but also has broader market application in circuit board, sheet metal fabrication, and other nested manufacturing processes.
Named nPower Scheduler™, it provides a rich, graphical interface and seamless integration with existing ERP systems, enabling users to visualize and manage jobs on the shop floor.
While we can’t wait for small and medium-sized manufacturers to testify of the benefits of these solutions, the company said it has already secured partnerships that will propel its activity.
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