3D Industries Offers Drag and Drop Simplicity for Part Searches

As the additive manufacturing (AM) industry continues to expand, more and more 3D designs are making their way on to the Internet. Sites like Thingiverse and Shapeways offer thousands of 3D model designs, and similar sites are popping up all the time. That doesn’t even take into account the private model libraries stored in the computer banks of manufacturers and service bureaus. Taken as a whole, we are awash in 3D models.

While having all that variety and potential floating around out there isn’t a bad thing, it can make finding a supplier that happens to have (and can produce) the same kind of model as the one you need something of a challenge. Naming is part of the problem. What I call a square, you might call a block. If I try Googling service bureaus that can print squares, I’m not as likely to find exactly what I need. 3D Industries (3DI) intends to solve this issue with its new part search service.

Located in London, England, 3DI is a new company that received $350,000 in startup funding from the British government and an angel investor. That cash has been invested in a search engine named 3D Part Source, which has been specifically designed for AM. As is true for most tech-savvy companies these days, 3D Part Source is also available as an app.

Users drag a 3D design into the engine, and it spits out the names of companies that can provide the desired object. A keyword search is also available and can be modified by selecting the process and material you would prefer for your part.

Additional search options include searching by category (e.g. manufacturing equipment and tools, or seals and gaskets), and users can limit a search by country, zip code or distance. Along with a general search, users can search catalogs of specific companies.

“What Google did for words and text on the web, we aim to do for shapes and 3D models,” Dr. Seena Rejal, founder and CEO of 3DI told Forbes. “We are ordering the 3D world.”

Manufacturers and suppliers help with the process by uploading their library of models to 3DI’s cloud. Premium accounts allow clients to host a version of the search engine on their own site, featuring the models that company has available.

The entire project relies on momentum. If enough companies sign up for the service and upload their catalogs to 3DI, companies that haven’t bothered will be at a disadvantage, making it more likely they’ll eventually add their catalog as well. At a glance, 3DI already has a few hundred businesses signed up, so momentum may be on its side.

Below you’ll find a video that discusses the impact AM has had, and may yet have, on business and the world in general.

Sources: Forbes, 3DI