As the overall demand for streamlined 3D printed parts rises, one-stop manufacturing solutions become more and more important to designers and engineers looking to innovate as quickly and efficiently as possible. But, oftentimes, there are quite a few tedious steps to follow in between CAD design and the print bed, which can delay the entire manufacturing process in and of itself. That’s why some manufacturing solution providers, like Xometry, are working to streamline the production process for product engineers. When I recently spoke to Randy Altschuler, the CEO of Xometry, about their one-stop manufacturing platform, the focus seemed to rest on providing the optimal manufacturing solution in an automated fashion, leaving their clients to do as little as possible once the design work is done.
“When customers are looking for high-volume needs they go to contract manufacturers, but when you look beyond that, from one part in a prototype to a few thousand parts, that’s where the market is much more fragmented and that’s where our customers struggled to find the best solution for what they’re trying to accomplish,” Altschuler told me. “We thought we could build a platform and software tool with a marketplace to allow customers to get pricing in an automated way, and also clue them in on the ability to make something utilizing different technologies.”
The Maryland-based manufacturing startup, which founded in 2014, has one the most efficient on-demand manufacturing platforms out there. Xometry has engineered their proprietary software to connect engineering and design professionals directly to one of the many manufacturing solutions they offer, including CNC Machining, Sheet Metal, Professional 3D Printing, and Casting. Today, the manufacturing company made their streamlined platform even more efficient, announcing the new Xometry Add-in for Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS, one of the premier CAD software program.
“We’re proud to be an approved solution partner of SOLIDWORKS and offer our industry leading instant pricing, lead times and manufacturability feedback all in one integrated CAD workspace,” said Bill Cronin, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Xometry. “Our integration with SOLIDWORKS provides engineers and product designers with important information and feedback early on in the design process. Xometry’s Add-In makes the designing and ordering of custom parts faster and easier than ever.”
With this latest integration, SOLIDWORKS users will be able to obtain an instant quote for Xometry’s manufacturing services without ever having to leave their CAD platform. Not only will the integration provide users with instant pricing estimates and lead times, but also real-time manufacturing feedback while they are working on their CAD designs. From directly inside of SOLIDWORKS, designers will now be able to choose between the numerous manufacturing solutions that Xometry has to offer, sort through over 200 materials, and order the design with a simple click of a button.
By wrapping up their full arsenal of manufacturing technology in an efficient, one-stop platform, the young startup has established quite the reputation already. Their clientele varies from startups to Fortune 100 companies, such as General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Medtronic, MIT Lincoln Lab, NASA, and SpaceX. All in all, as important as the actual manufacturing machinery is to their process, it’s clear that Xometry sees their on-demand platform as the bread and butter of their operation. The new Xometry Add-in for SOLIDWORKS can now be downloaded for free.