3D printing solutions firm Materialise announced its acquisition of San Francisco-based Identify3D, a company that develops software to encrypt, distribute and trace the flow of digital parts across supply chains. Materialise said the acquisition will improve data security for its customers by preventing counterfeits and keeping parts that are modified, substandard or uncertified – whether maliciously or inadvertently – from entering the supply chain.
“We believe that the factory of the future will not be a single central location,” Materialise CEO Fried Vancraen said. “Instead, future manufacturing, enabled by smart technologies like 3D printing, will take place at multiple digital production sites, distributed around the world, closer to customers. But this will only be possible when companies are sure that their design and production data remains secure. This acquisition allows manufacturers to secure the flow of digital parts and maintain a competitive advantage.”
Belgium-based Materialise said that with this acquisition, its cloud-based CO-AM software platform will give manufacturers access to a broad array of software tools, along with the most robust and secure software platform available.
