VELO3D announces Assure™ Quality Assurance and Control System for 3D metal printing and Stratasys Direct Manufacturing as First Customer of Assure

Assure provides unprecedented traceability of machine-health, part integrity, and build reporting

 

CAMPBELL, California – Nov 5, 2019 — VELO3D, an innovator in metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) has announced the release and availability of the VELO3D Assure™ Quality Assurance and Control System for its Sapphire® 3D metal printers. Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) and one of the largest providers of additive (3D printing) and conventional manufacturing services in North America, is the first customer to implement Assure.

Assure provides substantiation of part quality needed for volume production. It detects process anomalies, flags them, and highlights the corrective actions required so errors are not repeated. Through real-time, multi-sensor, physics-based detection algorithms, Assure delivers unprecedented traceability of part quality and flags process anomalies as soon as they occur. This decreases variation and provides comprehensive documentation to fast-track printed-part validation.

Image 1. VELO3D’s Assure™ quality control dashboard enables engineers to track the quality and progress of Sapphire® machines in real-time.

Image 2. Assure provides true z-height quantitative powder bed and part metrology.  Note the sections of parts with red lobes indicating metal protruding >300um above the powder bed but still below control limits.

“Assure is a revolutionary quality-control system, an inherent part of the VELO3D end-to-end manufacturing solution for serial production,” says Benny Buller, founder and CEO of VELO3D. “Assure is part of our vision to provide an integrated solution to produce parts by additive manufacturing with successful outcomes.”

Image 3. Assure predicts defectivity as a function of layer number. An increase in the defectivity metric is correlated with increasing defectivity in the bulk core of the part.

Stratasys Direct began working with VELO3D on Assure testing soon after they acquired a Sapphire printer earlier in the year. Stratasys Direct implemented Assure to identify variations and anamolies in the production of the parts on several builds. Throughout the study, Stratasys Direct accessed Assure’s dashboard and sophisticated algorithms to monitor the integrity of the builds, validate the bulk material density, observe ongoing process metrics, and verify the calibration of the system across multple production runs.

Image 4. Before and during a build, Assure validates that critical parameters stay within control limits ensuring high quality parts. Clicking on individual squares reveals details on the underlying event.

“Stratasys Direct has built a culture of continuous improvement that means we are continually setting new standards for our industry on quality,” said Kent Firestone, CEO of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing. “We integrated Assure into our quality control workflow because it produces highly actionable insights. The user interface features intuitive graphs and charts that enable us to see and interpret the vast amount of data collected during builds. This information helps our engineers verify the quality of the build each step of the way, and enables them to make quick decisions in the event of an issue. Assure helps us reduce production variation, improve yields, and circumvent anomalies to ensure consistent additive manufacturing.”


About VELO3D 


VELO3D empowers companies to manufacture anything. By bringing together innovations in software, hardware, and process control, VELO3D created the industry’s first SupportFree solution for 3D metal printing, enabling unlimited design innovation by reducing the need for support structures in metal additive manufacturing. The company’s Sapphire® system is built with a semiconductor mindset on quality assurance, ensuring repeatability and dependability throughout serial manufacturing. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, VELO3D helps companies deliver immediate business impact by making the impossible, possible. To learn more, please visit www.velo3D.com.

About Stratasys Direct

Stratasys Direct Manufacturing Inc. is the leading provider of 3D printing and advanced manufacturing services utilizing a broad range of additive and conventional technologies. We leverage nearly 30 years of 3D printing, design and engineering experience to ensure customers’ project success in each stage of product development, from prototypes to production runs. Serving companies of all sizes, from start-ups to established global brands, we develop methods, materials and processes that optimize and enhance additive and conventional manufacturing’s capabilities. Online at: www.stratasysdirect.com.

Media Contact

VELO3D
Joyce Yeung
joyce.yeung@velo3D.com

972.914.8732