The Belgian start-up Thrinno is launching ‘Thrinno MarketPlace®’, a new online “one-stop-shop” platform for metal additive manufacturing. Their platform is intended to redirect customers to the most competitive supplier for 3D-printing metal objects, based on the actual manufacturing capacity of those suppliers. Integrated in the platform: design optimization tools and (free) design checks.
Thrinno is an AM Software Solutions Provider, already known from ‘Thrinno Fast Quote’, the quotation generator for metal AM service providers.
The company tell us that the tool will address the following problem: when you ask a quotation from three potential suppliers, you get three entirely different prices. More surprisingly: when you ask the same suppliers to price the exact same object one month later, you probably end up with six quite different prices. There is a simple technical reason for this: objects of different customers are printed together on the same build plate, and the fuller the build plate, the cheaper each object becomes. So if you’d be able to locate excessive capacity on a build plate anywhere in the world, you’d probably be able to source your products at an optimal price. Thrinno MarketPlace® is aiming at fulfilling the role of such an “intelligent platform”.
On the platform, companies can choose to be matched with suppliers through a proprietary matching system and request a quotation from a selection of suppliers. Suppliers can be filtered on location, materials, experience, sector, dimensions of the build plate and lead times. Suppliers can be asked to sign an e-NDA before they can access the file.
Thrinno claims that suppliers, too, will benefit as they will be able to “top-up” their build plates. Adding an extra object to a fully priced build-plate, could indeed increase the overall net profit on a single build. Eventually, suppliers will have the option to connect their system with the platform to get real-time feedback on existing demand.
The platform offers a printability scan and background information on the design process and other factors that influence an objects’ printability. This “design check toolbox” is currently freely available for all users of the platform.
Another service on the “MarketPlace” is the possibility to get in touch with consultants on Design for Additive Manufacturing. As all these functionalities are integrated in one platform, Thrinno MarketPlace® claims to be the one-stop-shop for metal AM.
