A team of researchers from Australia’s RMIT University is using ‘laser metal deposition’ technology to build and repair steel and titanium parts for defence force aircraft under a two-year project. via Tumblr RMIT studies laser metal 3D printing for defence aircraft parts
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NOWlab, the innovation department of large-format 3D printer manufacturer BigRep, has created a ‘smart concrete wall’ with an adaptive surface enabled by embedded capacitive sensors. This touch-activated smart concrete wall was completed using a bigrep ONE 3D printer at Immensa Technology Labs in dubai. According to NOWlab’s design team, through the utilization 3D printing, the techniques in concrete casting that were used by skilled craftsman in the past can once again return to current building sites. via Tumblr NOWLab@BigRep creates smart concrete wall through 3D printing This post originally appeared on the XMPie site. It’s republished here with permission. Today, if you don’t have a web-to-print (W2P) solution you may be missing out on valuable business opportunities. In this digital world, convenience is key – and a Web-to-Print Storefront can provide the convenience and efficiencies your business needs and your customers want. But B2B Web-to-print storefronts require different feature sets to those set up for B2C opportunities. In this two-part series, we’ll take a look at which features sets are required for each option. In the B2B space, you can create private Web-to-print storefronts for your business customers’ employees to order products 24/7 to support their day to day activities, from marketing materials to business cards, and process and fulfill their orders more efficiently. Here are the top 5 features to look for in your solution:
Your Web-to-Print Storefront should easily integrate with your businesses processes to ensure there are no hiccups in your workflow. If anything, you’ll likely streamline more than a few manual tasks! The solution should be able to weave in seamlessly with your MIS system and offer a variety of key capabilities such as multi-level approval options, single sign-on user authentication, recipient list upload, split-shipping and the ability to bill using different methods including credit cards, purchase orders and budget centers. XMPie customer, Hemlock, used XMPie’s PersonalEffect StoreFlow Pro to build a B2B web-to-print storefront with hundreds of products, multiple integration points to third-party systems, and advanced credit card handling for a major Canadian utility company. You can read the case study here.
Creating each storefront shouldn’t be a hassle. Look for a solution that has a user-friendly dashboard so you can easily set up and manage each store. With XMPie StoreFlow you’ll step through a few set-up tabs to define basic store information to get your store online quickly. From there, you can define the parameters for product catalogs and user profiles. Branding is everything and creating a familiar e-commerce experience for your customers is key. Look for capabilities that allow you to control each store’s skin to mimic the look and feel to match the brand standards. This way, the customer’s end-users will feel more comfortable to use the portal. CTP Digital used XMPie StoreFlow to do just that. They won new projects from both existing and new clients to survive in this new era for print providers. They were able to prove to their B2B clients that CTP Digital was the print provider to turn to for all print communications – and especially when brands needed print on demand.
Variable Data features, that offer the ability to customize a print product to each end-user is a must in any storefront, even if only customizing a simple business card. Make sure that your Web-to-print storefront can support both static AND variable documents to drive a wide variety of printed options. Ensure that the products on offer completely adhere to the exact branding guidelines, for instance by using the correct Pantone colors. Check that both variable and static pages can be used within the same document, so that you can offer a rich set of products from flyers and brochures, to booklets and more. Learn how the THP Creative Group transformed its business by shifting strategy towards providing businesses with B2B Web-to-print storefronts for ordering variable products.
Every Web-to-print system is different and being able to scale functionality based on current and future needs is important. Two years down the line you may need to bump up capabilities to help you and your business customers meet growing requirements, so a scalable solution is key. XMPie customer Ditto Documents took the initiative to find a solution to problems that B2B customers didn’t even recognize they had. Because StoreFlow is part of the XMPie platform, Ditto Documents could offer its clients turnkey web-to-print solutions to suit each particular business challenge. Make sure that your web-to-print storefront supports both static and variable documents to drive a wide variety of printed options. Find more W2P storefront tips. Want to learn more about XMPie’s B2B Web-to-print capabilities? Drop us a note below! via Tumblr 5 Must-Have Features for Your B2B Web-to-Print Storefront When looking for ways to strengthen a material, nature often provides the best answers. Researchers at Purdue University have used the mantis shrimp as inspiration - two years ago, they published research covering their use of 3D printing to develop new ultra-strong materials inspired by the rainbow-colored mantis shrimp. In their recent work, the researchers studied the mechanism behind just how mantis shrimp wields its powerful club without permanently damaging itself, and the design strategy, aiming to develop a new class of super-tough materials. via Tumblr 3D printed composite materials inspired by Mantis Shrimp powerful club weapon 3D bioprinting is a process for patterning and assembling complex functional living architectures in a gradient fashion. Generally, 3D bioprinting utilizes the layer-by-layer method to deposit materials known as bioinks to create tissue-like structures. Several 3D bioprinting techniques have been developed over the last decade, for example, magnetic bioprinting, a method that employs biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles to print cells into 3D structures. via Tumblr Russian scientists 3D printing biological tissues with magnets in microgravity BIOLIFE4D, a Chicago-based medical tech firm specializing in 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering, announced it has successfully demonstrated its ability to 3D bioprint human cardiac tissue – specifically, a human cardiac patch. via Tumblr BIOLIFE4D successfully 3D bioprints human heart tissue Fincantieri Australia, the Australian division of Fincantieri S.p.A.– one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups, has signed a material science testing (MST) agreement with Melbourne-based metal additive manufacturing company Titomic to support sovereign industrial capability and Australia’s continuous naval shipbuilding plans. via Tumblr Titomic signs MST agreement with Fincantieri Australia for Kinetic Fusion 3D printing Professional 3D printer manufacturer INTAMSYS, headquartered in Shanghai, has announced a joint-research initiative to advance 3D printing applications in the field of orthopedic surgery with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). via Tumblr UCSF and INTAMSYS to develop 3D printed PEEK implants for orthopedic surgery Michelle Bernhardt-Barry, assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Arkansas, has been studying the structure of soil and how to make it more effective for bearing heavy loads, with a view to 3D printing optimized soil material in future construction projects. In April 2018, Bernhardt-Barry received a $500,000 grant to expand her research into the use of soil as a 3D printing material. The five-year grant will allow her to hire two doctorate students to deepen her investigation of mechanisms in nature that have proven to be efficient at bearing loads. via Tumblr UA professor to develop 3D printed soil and bacteria binding for construction General Motors sees great value in 3D printing and is taking advantage. The company said most of GM’s factories have 3D printers, and 3D printing has the ability to save GM millions of dollars in annual production costs. Dan Grieshaber, GM’s director of global manufacturing integration, said use of the 3D printing technology has recently increased, leading GM to expand and better standardize operations. via Tumblr General Motors saves $300,000 in tooling costs using 3D printing |
Charles Gorton
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April 2020
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