[3D Printing News] A Look Back at Ultimaker's Exhibition at Siemens PLM 2017

[3D Printing News] A Look Back at Ultimaker's Exhibition at Siemens PLM 2017

The Siemens PLM Connection exhibition was held from Monday, October 23 to Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at the Estrel Conference Center in Berlin, Germany.
A record number of participants were set by 1,180 professionals from 36 different cultures and 54 exhibitors.
During this event, Ultimaker showcased its innovative approach to enhancing manufacturing.

We showcased several successful business examples, including custom fixtures and tooling developed by Autoeuropa for production. Such applications significantly reduce production time and costs compared to using external suppliers, highlighting the advantages of using FDM 3D printing in industry .
We also showcased new software products, including the newly released Cura Connect features, and Siemens for Ultimaker Cura .
NX add-in integration.

Switching to 3D printing saved Autoeuropa Fuchs 91% of its tool development costs and reduced development time by 95%.

Business advantages of third-party plug-ins

Ultimaker Cura 's third-party add-ons offer a unique opportunity for businesses using FDM 3D printing: the core software's functionality can be extended by creating custom add-ons or software tools to meet specific business needs.

One example is the Siemens NX add-in, which allows designs to be exported directly from Siemens NX to [other systems] with a single button.
Ultimaker Cura. It can now be downloaded using a plugin browser.

Ultimaker Cura supports plugins and industry-standard CAD software suites, enabling a simplified prototyping process.

Improve the flexibility and efficiency of production workflows

Siemens NX add-on integration represents a significant improvement to the typical FDM design and manufacturing workflow.

Previously, users could create designs using CAD software, export them as .stl or .obj files, manually import them into slicing software, export them again in .gcode format, and save them to an SD card or USB drive, which would then be manually loaded into a printer. If any modifications were needed to the design later, this process had to be repeated.

Siemens NX integrates a plug-in, bypassing this entire process. The workflow is detailed below:

First, the design was built in Siemens NX.

Users can push their designs directly to Ultimaker Cura by pressing the "Cura Interface" button.

The plugin will prompt the user to select the file to export. The user selects it and confirms.

Ultimaker Cura will automatically open the imported model and prepare it for slicing. If modifications to the original design are needed, simply click the button in Siemens NX to import the modified model into Ultimaker Cura.

This simplifies the workflow, eliminating the need to export any files. It also significantly simplifies the design change process, as changes can be made simply by pressing a button in the Siemens NX again.
Modifying the design allows for quick and easy submission to Ultimaker Cura.

More streamlined

The workflow is further simplified by combining software features such as Ultimaker 3 and Cura Connect: Ultimaker 3’s networking capabilities allow users to wirelessly transfer designs from Ultimaker Cura to the printer via a local network.

When used with a set of Ultimaker 3 printers, users can use Cura Connect to schedule and print multiple items at once for a continuous production workflow, which can be monitored through a single interface.


Cura Connect allows you to control multiple Ultimaker 3 machines from a single interface.
To schedule continuous production operations or distribute the workload among multiple machines for faster and more efficient production.

Showcasing these new innovations was an exciting opportunity for Ultimaker and was well-received by many visitors.
We thank everyone involved. For more information on Ultimaker Cura plugin integration, please refer to our latest article.

"The way this software is used will make this machine a testament to the future."

Original source: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/51880-recap-siemens-plm-connection-2017