Securing Distributed Manufacturing: GROW Patent Set to Revolutionise Process 2017.07
As Additive Manufacturing becomes increasingly popular with distributed manufacturing as an increasing focus, certain challenges become more acute. AM is set to revolutionise the production of materials with especially valuable — and vulnerable — product data, including in the aerospace, defence, and medical industries. Therefore, Additive product design data creates a host of security concerns: how do we make sure manufacturers cannot accidentally intervene in a design? How do we guarantee highly parameter-sensitive medical implants are made correctly? How do we avoid the need for quality assessment at every turn?
If done correctly, distributed manufacturing will allow a flawless final product to be dispatched to the client directly from the manufacturer. GROW has focused on providing security solutions for the Additive process, working on technology that erases opportunity for human error (or, indeed, tampering) and produces a perfect product every time. After spending several years refining their method, GROW received a US patent for their secure technology in June 2017 and is set to lead the Additive Manufacturing industry into its next phase.
GROW’s patent (Publication No. US9604406) provides a method to securely manufacture an Additive design consistently, in a controlled manner, and at a remote location. A 3D model and its machine process instructions are combined to create an Additive design file, containing all information needed to manufacture the model.This Additive design file is encrypted and can be transferred to the manufacturing location. Without allowing access to the design file, the build location is authorised and the model with its manufacture instructions are transmitted directly to the Additive machine, exactly as the designer intended.
GROW’s solution provides security from designer to client, at every step of the manufacturing process. No party can access any product geometries or intervene with the original design at any stage. The whole process is safe, secure and protected from human error. Setting manufacturing process instructions centrally ensures consistency of output, wherever or whenever you build your parts. Users can verify and trace authorisations by tracking each build, receive automated reports on manufacturing events and access all information necessary to perform Quality Assurance on their final product.
GROW has been an integral player in the forward movement of the Additive Manufacturing industry for some time. GROW’s technology was formed inside Within Labs and integrated with EOS and Arcam machines, piloting new approaches to distributed manufacturing for the digital design age. Within, part of Autodesk Inc since 2014, is an engineering design software company passionate about pushing the boundaries of additive manufacturing, and GROW’s early work produced security and control forms for thousands of production parts made using Within technologies. Under the leadership of Dr. Siavesh Mahdavi, GROW was spun out to focus on new security challenges and shape the future path of Additive.
The impact of GROW’s latest technology on the Additive industry is set to be significant, as corporations begin to adapt to the advantages of newly secure distributed supply chains. For more information on GROW and how it will impact both micro and macro manufacturing, reach out at info@grow.am or visit www.grow.am
