New 3DXpert user meeting strengthens collaboration with customers

Software that is genuinely useful doesn't come straight out of product development meetings. It’s created in dialogue and close collaboration with those who use it in real production environments. 

And the team behind 3DXpert has a razor-sharp focus on what their users need. As part of our continuous effort to help manufacturers get the most value out of their software, we hosted the first Additive User Group meeting – a one-day event with power users where we discussed recent updates and the potential for improvements. 

The event inaugurated in February 2023 brought together 30 users and a dozen members of our team, in Denver, Colorado. The day was entirely devoted to industrial additive manufacturing.  

The agenda included interactive workshops about the newest tools, customer experience presentations, an introduction to Oqton’s platform for managing additive production, as well as a look at online quoting service provider Digifabster. Participants also had a quick tour of the biomechanical design and new technologies areas in the facility, as well as metal printers and materials.

Deep-dive into new 3DXpert features 

The day kicked off with the Impossible Session which offered a complete overview of all 2022 software updates in a short span of 45 minutes.

With the introduction of an agile product development environment in 2022, 3DXpert license holders are seeing more frequent updates and bug fixes. But it can be tricky to keep track of all the new capabilities and how to use them best. This event was a unique opportunity to find out in person. 

 Deep-dive into the most important 3DXpert updates in 2022. 

The team examined more closely the key capabilities in workshops about compensation to meet print tolerances, supportless printing, conformal lattices, heat exchanger design, and build prep automation with scripting.  

Since many industrial additive manufacturing productions are seeking ways to optimise their entire workflow, we asked our Senior Sales Director, Mark McGarry, to give an overview of the MES capabilities of Oqton's platform, the Manufacturing OS. 

Boosting productivity with 3DXpert

No matter how innovative, new features and platforms are only valuable if they have a practical application. That’s why the Additive User Group meeting focused on how manufacturers are using 3DXpert in production to achieve significant productivity gains. With this in mind, two of our customers with extensive hands-on experience took the stage and shared their insights. 

One was Bob Markley, Executive Vice President at ADDMAN, a US-based vertically integrated provider of manufacturing services. The company’s production site in Westfield, Indiana, uses 3DXpert as its primary setup and slicing software, generating build files for multiple machine OEMs. 

With Oqton’s software, ADDMAN achieved a 20% efficiency increase across the board and a slicing time reduction from four to five hours down to 30 minutes. They have also seen significant improvements in the software over the years, and this is in huge part thanks to Oqton’s responsive customer support. 

Tom Gabriel, R&D Manager for Additive Manufacturing at Emerson Automation Solutions, also praised collaboration with the software development team in his customer presentation.

When the global software and technology company launched metal additive manufacturing in 2013, the software tools available were spread across multiple packages, ultimately leading the company to use 10 different programs to go from design to print-ready file.  

Since they started using 3DXpert, Emerson managed to reduce inefficiencies in its metal additive manufacturing workflow. They doubled the part production with the same amount of resources and cut software packages from 10 to two, which greatly simplified management. 

Users share stories about working with Oqton's software online

We closed the day with a presentation about simplifying quoting and payments with DigiFabster. The web-based solution is helping manufacturers process quotes in minutes, generating instant quotes and orders 24/7 online. This is another step towards full automation of additive production.

The workshop and presentations sparked a host of interesting conversations about the beginnings of 3DXpert, the progress achieved so far and the potential for future improvements. Customer feedback has always been central to Oqton’s development, and the new user group is another step towards ensuring 3DXpert supports manufacturers in their goals in a meaningful way.