Supply-chain solutions provider Würth Industry North America (WINA) and Baker Hughes created a joint service offering for their design, digital inventory, and customized 3D printing services to expand into different industrial sectors.
The companies will work on design and additive manufacturing opportunities in the oil and gas, renewables, power generation, maritime, automotive, and aerospace industrial sectors.
The collaboration improves WINA’s automation with no infrastructure change, allowing it to take customer prototype ideas to small-batch production and mass production at accelerated rates.
Würth will offer Baker Hughes’ additive manufacturing services, and Baker Hughes gains access to Würth’s global customer base of 80,000 clients. The expanded service includes access to Baker Hughes’ digital inventory capabilities.
With digital inventory management, Baker Hughes can select parts for additive manufacturing, digitize the parts, and provide them on demand through a combination of machine-learning algorithms, maintenance records, production forecasts, and other documentation. Parts can be stored and produced at hubs closer to operating sites.
“Now more than ever, industrial companies are looking for innovative manufacturing solutions to reduce lead times and eliminate physical inventories, while reducing the carbon footprint of operations, and we believe additive manufacturing plays an important role,” said Scott Parent, chief technology officer for digital solutions at Baker Hughes.
NASA is one of the first clients of the joint service offering with Baker Hughes adapting and printing a design use in wind tunnel testing.