Baker Hughes and Oqton are nominated for Mobility or Energy Application of the Year in this years 3DPI Awards.Baker Hughes uses additive manufacturing for product performance, supply chain efficiency, and sustainability. The global energy technology company strives to drive and lead the transition to clean and sustainable energy. As part of this technology-driven approach, Baker Hughes has adopted Oqtons software solutions.The Oqton platform has five key modules: Order Management, Digital Warehouse, Engineering, Manufacturing Execution Solution (MES), and Monitoring, offering end-to-end traceability and efficiency in additive workflows. By leveraging AI and machine learning, the solution detects anomalies during production, ensuring consistent quality.3DPI asked Faisal Iqbal, Senior Digital Product Manager, Global Additive Manufacturing Team at Baker Hughes and Roy Sterenthal, VP, Engineer Software, Oqton about the technologys transformative potential for the energy sector, enabling innovative designs, customized components, and on-demand manufacturing that reduces supply chain dependencies.Vote now in the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards.3DPI: Can you describe your application?Roy Sterenthal, VP, Engineer Software, Oqton: Oqton has commercialized a software solution to support on-demand additive-based manufacturing for regulated markets. The solution was developed together with Baker Hughes and according to our joint vision to enable decentralized manufacturing processes across locations and suppliers.The solution includes five integrated modules:Order Management: A complete set of configurable workflows for order entry and approval processes, including a customer portal for managing the communications and requests.Digital Warehouse: Ability to store pre-certify and certified parts, including the full definition of how they need to be manufactured and inspected. Building catalogs per customer and managing inventories.Engineering: All-in-one software solution for supporting DoE and Production engineering challenges for preparing and certifying parts for production.MES: Manufacturing Execution Solution for production order planning, workflow execution, dashboard and reports, and a full traceability of the entire additive based workflow and all actions.Monitoring: Realtime read of In-situ data from printers is used for operational cost optimization, to record the complete manufacturing process, and to analyze the process quality and repeatability.The solution uses AI/ML to identify anomalies and quality concerns during the build process.3DPI: What are the key benefits of your technology in terms of performance, efficiency, or durability compared to conventionally manufactured components?Faisal Iqbal, Senior Digital Product Manager, Global Additive Manufacturing Team, Baker Hughes: Baker Hughes provides technology-based solutions that solves some of the extremely challenging problems the energy industry faces in delivering to the worlds demand safely, cleanly, and efficiently.Baker Hughes is striving to lead the energy transition and providing advanced technological solutions, such as carbon capture, emissions abatement, and the use of digital in optimizing customers operations.Additive manufacturing is one of such technologies where the company sees opportunities to increase the value of its product and services portfolio to the customers, through improved product performance, increased supply chain efficiency, and a positive impact on overall sustainability.3DPI: What inspired your team to integrate additive manufacturing into your application, and how does it transform traditional manufacturing methods in the mobility or energy sector?Faisal Iqbal, Baker Hughes: Additive manufacturing offers opportunities for a freedom of designs that can truly improve product functions, which the end-user can realize in terms of increased efficiencies and reliability. Additionally, additive technologies are well-suited for customizing products to meet the operating and environmental conditions under which products in the energy sector must operate.With additive as an alternate fabrication method, the supply chain sees increased resiliency in a highly dynamic world, in terms of short lead time and producing near the point of use.3DPI: How have you addressed challenges related to the scalability of your additive manufacturing process, especially when dealing with large or complex components?Faisal Iqbal, Baker Hughes: Scalability requires repeatable working process. Being able to accurately repeat a complete workflow to ensure quality, certification and reliable parts manufacturing is a challenge that our solution was design to address.One of the ways these challenges can be addressed is through the effective use of digital and data.Repeatability requires monitoring every aspect and parameter of all actions. Traceability is key for a reliable process. The solution we commercialized includes a digital recording and approval of every action, and collection of all physical data available throughout each action.3DPI: What are the long-term implications of your work for the future of mobility or energy, and how might it influence the adoption of additive manufacturing in these sectors?Faisal Iqbal, Baker Hughes: The main objective is to enable the industrial scale use of additive manufacturing to unlock the full potential that the technology offers. A reliable and just-in-time supply chain of the additive manufacturing portfolio will impact the energy generation efficiency.Additive manufacturing can help the industry transform from on-hand inventory to on-demand. This disrupts conventional business models with a shortened cycle time. Pre-qualified digital representations and manufacturing recipes of a component can reside in a digital inventory setup, and called upon in a single request, which triggers production close to a point of use, and eliminates a longer traditional supply chain route.This additively manufactured part would not only replace a physical component but can be a customized product tailored to maximize the efficiency on its operations.One foundational task needed to realize such a transformative state is to build a digital infrastructure that connects energy operators (i.e., end-users), OEMs, and suppliers. Baker Hughes and Oqton are working together to set a foundational digital ecosystem in the industry.3DPI: What advances or emerging industrial 3D printing technology trends do you anticipate will further enhance your application or open new possibilities for innovation?Faisal Iqbal, Baker Hughes: The technology is in its early development stage, and its a very complex process. One trend that has the potential to impact the adoption with a quick win is to rely on the digital front to reduce the technical entry barrier and help to warrant the stability which of the production matching the confidence of more mature manufacturing process, will reduce the overall industrialization cost.Open systems and industry data standards will allow work and data exchange among the companies while securely protecting their intellectual properties and trade secrets that will also help streamline industry supply chain challenges. With automation driving business operations more autonomously, we will see increased opportunities to create more innovative product designs that are highly efficient in use and friendlier to the environment.Vote now in the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards.To stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, dont forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter or follow us on Twitter, or like our page on Facebook.While youre here, why not subscribe to our YouTube channel? Featuring discussion, debriefs, video shorts, and webinar replays.Michael PetchMichael Petch is the editor-in-chief at 3DPI and the author of several books on 3D printing. He is a regular keynote speaker at technology conferences where he has delivered presentations such as 3D printing with graphene and ceramics and the use of technology to enhance food security. Michael is most interested in the science behind emerging technology and the accompanying economic and social implications.