Companies Partner to Protect Integrity of Digital Supply Chain
Siemens Digital Factory partner Identify3D Inc. develops software that enables complete monitoring of and, as needed, lockout of a part program to protect a manufacturer’s intellectual property and ensure production quality.
Posted: May 20, 2020
Identify3D Inc. (San Francisco, CA) joins the stable of Siemens Digital Factory (DF) Division partners to support automated, end-to-end, secure and controllable manufacturing data distribution, collection, and monitoring across multiple control systems and production equipment.
Identify3D’s NX software suite encrypts, distributes, and traces the digital flow of parts, preventing counterfeits and ensuring that maliciously modified, substandard, or uncertified parts won’t enter the physical supply chain. It can be integrated with Siemens’ Teamcenter product lifecycle management (PLM) software and Siemens’ Opcenter manufacturing operations management (MOM) software for digitizing operations. By securing communication, NX helps protect data throughout the digital manufacturing thread, providing intellectual property protection, repeatability, and traceability from design to finished product.
From NX, Teamcenter, or Siemens Opcenter, customers create encrypted data instructions for the operation of 3D printers or CNC machines. These instruction “containers” include machine parameters, machine type, operator privileges, and number of parts allowed. Every action that affects a container for a given manufacturing operation can be collected, tracked, and displayed in a dashboard.
“Customers can lower operating costs by interacting more efficiently with machines,” says Identify3D VP Business Development and Strategic Accounts Fabrizio De Pasquale. “With secure data and enforceable process policies, they can realize more automated production for in-house operations as well as for distributed scenarios.”
Identify3D’s value proposition includes: [I’m sorry, Kim, but I could NOT figure out how to delete this fucking rule line]
- Part design encryption with Identify3D Protect integrated into Siemens NX
or Teamcenter, the common source for BOM information across a customer’s organization. - Encrypted design stored in Teamcenter.
- Encrypted design licensed via Identify3D Manage with a set of business
and manufacturing policies to a specific Siemens Sinumerik 840D sl on a CNC machine. - Shop Floor Connect for Teamcenter pulls encrypted design from Teamcenter and places it onto the CNC.
- Design decrypted for manufacturing by Identify3D Enforce running on the CNC.
- All transactions logged to Identify3D Trace for specific part traceability.
Solution can be used point-to-point or all transactions can be placed on a blockchain.