Large-format LPBF darling Solukon Maschinenbau launches SPR-Pathfinder PRO, an upgrade to its depowdering software. This is a smart play because it enables the company to keep ahead of potential competition through software. It could also enable the better use of existing Solukon machines.
The company says the new software offers improved process time prediction, simulation, and validation. The company also has a BASIC version of the software. This again seems like a smart move. If I have something relatively simple to depowder, like some engine block components, then maybe BASIC is just fine. I don’t have to pay for the McSalad Shaker Tom Cruise in Cocktail, top-of-the-line stuff, then.
Meanwhile, if I have a rocket engine, I’m a money-no-object type of person anyway, looking at a backlog of 300 satellites, so I’ll upgrade for every willy-nilly advantage, no matter how small. This can let the company make a good software offering for car companies and other cost-conscious buyers, and develop super-premium features for the heat-exchange and rocket-engine crowd. Too often, most of the differentiation, value-based pricing, and premium offerings in 3D printing are stupid. But this is an example of letting the cost-conscious spend less. Letting the performance crowd get more while showing improvement to your product. And let’s not forget that this software will improve your existing machine. What Solukon is doing here may seem simple, but it is anything but. Too often, in any kind of differentiation in pricing, a lot of people will feel “had,” or worse yet, you kind of break your product somehow. So far, at least here, there is a balance around the right lever for pricing and channel complexity that parallels the cost consciousness and price elasticity of their customers.
Simulation and validation tools in SPR-Pathfinder PRO help predict depowdering outcomes before processing begins. Image courtesy of Solukon.
The company says there were customer parts that were simply too complex for the previous version of the software. Here, more accuracy and simulation were needed than they could provide. The firm says it previously had a limit of 2.4 million voxels for predictive capability but no longer does.
Additionally, the company needed greater traceability for customer certification and has now implemented it. The company also said that it is now looking to let customers design for depowdering so that it can enable more structures and customers can design parts that are easier to depowder reliably.
Solukon CEO Andreas Hartmann said,
“At Solukon, we have always believed that reliable and intelligent automated depowdering can be achieved when machine, process, and software are aligned. The parts our customers print today are more complex than ever and we have grown alongside that ambition. SPR-Pathfinder® PRO reflects years of listening to the market and advancing our software in step with the most demanding
Large-format LPBF darling Solukon Maschinenbau launches SPR-Pathfinder PRO, an upgrade to its depowdering software. This is a smart play because it enables the company to keep ahead of potential competition through software. It could also enable the better use of existing Solukon machines.
The company says the new software offers improved process time prediction, simulation, and validation. The company also has a BASIC version of the software. This again seems like a smart move. If I have something relatively simple to depowder, like some engine block components, then maybe BASIC is just fine. I don’t have to pay for the McSalad Shaker Tom Cruise in Cocktail, top-of-the-line stuff, then.
Meanwhile, if I have a rocket engine, I’m a money-no-object type of person anyway, looking at a backlog of 300 satellites, so I’ll upgrade for every willy-nilly advantage, no matter how small. This can let the company make a good software offering for car companies and other cost-conscious buyers, and develop super-premium features for the heat-exchange and rocket-engine crowd. Too often, most of the differentiation, value-based pricing, and premium offerings in 3D printing are stupid. But this is an example of letting the cost-conscious spend less. Letting the performance crowd get more while showing improvement to your product. And let’s not forget that this software will improve your existing machine. What Solukon is doing here may seem simple, but it is anything but. Too often, in any kind of differentiation in pricing, a lot of people will feel “had,” or worse yet, you kind of break your product somehow. So far, at least here, there is a balance around the right lever for pricing and channel complexity that parallels the cost consciousness and price elasticity of their customers.
Simulation and validation tools in SPR-Pathfinder PRO help predict depowdering outcomes before processing begins. Image courtesy of Solukon.
The company says there were customer parts that were simply too complex for the previous version of the software. Here, more accuracy and simulation were needed than they could provide. The firm says it previously had a limit of 2.4 million voxels for predictive capability but no longer does.
Additionally, the company needed greater traceability for customer certification and has now implemented it. The company also said that it is now looking to let customers design for depowdering so that it can enable more structures and customers can design parts that are easier to depowder reliably.
Solukon CEO Andreas Hartmann said,
“At Solukon, we have always believed that reliable and intelligent automated depowdering can be achieved when machine, process, and software are aligned. The parts our customers print today are more complex than ever and we have grown alongside that ambition. SPR-Pathfinder® PRO reflects years of listening to the market and advancing our software in step with the most demanding