Authentise has made a number of announcements this year demonstrating the consistent buildup of its unique additive manufacturing (AM) platform, with projects focused on strategically critical applications like defense and maritime. In the latest Authentise development, the Philadelphia- and UK-based software provider has announced three new integrations into its Digital Design Warehouse and Flows offerings with key customers from the digital manufacturing space.

First off, German digital inventory platform 3D Spark GmbH has been fully integrated into the Digital Design Warehouse, which gives users access to automated evaluation of part files for printability, while also assessing a number of different metrics, including cost comparison and CO2 footprint. Earlier this year, 3D Spark signed a two-year deal with a subsidiary of Austrian Federal Railways following the user’s initial success with the platform’s instant quoting function.

Authentise has also now integrated the instant online quoting platform from California-based Digifabster, which works with enterprises across the advanced manufacturing value chain, into Authentise Flows. Digifabster markets itself as a “Shopify for the manufacturing industry.”

Finally, the integration of Paperless Parts into Authentise Flows gives users access to Paperless Parts’ “frictionless order transfer” as well as a unified source of truth for real-time production monitoring. According to Paperless Parts, the Boston-based company founded in 2017, has over 500 customers and has quoted over 4 million parts to date.

In a press release about Authentise’s integration of three new platforms into its manufacturing ecosystem, Konstantin Ivanov, the CEO of Digifabster, said, “Partnering with Authentise is a natural step for us. Our mission has always been to help manufacturers respond to customer requests instantly and accurately. Connecting Digifabster directly with Authentise Flows takes that a step further — quotes don’t just get accepted, they get built. Together, we’re removing the last bit of friction between the front office and the factory floor.”

As I mentioned in a post earlier this year, the AM industry could really use more standardized software solutions — something like “Microsoft Office for manufacturing”. We’re still a long way off from that, but Authentise is at least starting to lay the groundwork for a broadly integrated suite of key capabilities, and that’s an impressive accomplishment.

I think it’s noteworthy that the work of integrating all these AM-relevant capabilities seems to be starting to centralize around instant quoting and digital libraries. I really like the idea of combining AM and configure-price-quote (CPQ), and Authentise appears to be trying to corner that market.

Another angle that sets the company apart is the strategic vision of its leadership and its informed bullishness on AI. There are, of course, plenty of spaces across the global economy that are far too exposed to AI-dependent growth right now, but manufacturing somehow isn’t one of them. There is actually ample room for more AI hype in manufacturing, and automated ordering is one of those boring-sounding applications where a near-term path to ROI seems plausible.

For a software platform, in particular, the success of all that, of course, depends on getting the right adopters. That’s an angle that Authentise has also excelled at, getting its software to a growing number of users in the industries that are indispensable to accelerating AM adoption over the next decade.

Images courtesy of Authentise