Oqton and Baker Hughes partner to offer software suite for industrial Additive Manufacturing
March 13, 2023
Oqton, Ghent, Belgium, has partnered with energy technology company Baker Hughes, headquartered in Houston, Texas, USA, to form a technical and commercial software development agreement. The companies hope to develop an industrial digital ecosystem that can transform how manufacturers bring products to market in highly regulated industries, such as energy, aerospace, and healthcare. The solution is intended to accelerate the design and production of additively manufactured parts across the entire manufacturing workflow to increase efficiency and facilitate regulatory compliance.
As part of the development partnership, Baker Hughes is integrating Oqton’s Manufacturing OS into its workflow, including its own proprietary Additive Manufacturing solutions developed for vertical applications over the last decade. The intelligent Manufacturing OS is a technology-neutral, hardware-agnostic software platform that connects manufacturers’ applications and machines across multiple sites enabling companies to track every action with a digital thread for complete traceability and visibility from order to delivery.
“We believe that manufacturing is going through its most significant phase of disruption since the first industrial revolution,” stated Dr Ben Schrauwen, SVP and General Manager, Oqton. “Our mission is to accelerate making autonomous manufacturing accessible to companies of all sizes, enabling the continuous flexibility and adaptability of manufacturing processes. Through this collaboration, we see the potential to make a significant leap forward in enhancing our Manufacturing OS by leveraging the expertise of Baker Hughes’ engineering team to accelerate the manufacturing workflow and facilitate regulatory compliance.”
Combining Oqton’s autonomous approach to manufacturing and Baker Hughes’ experience in the development and introduction of production processes into highly regulated industrial environments is hoped to enable the companies to create an enhanced Additive Manufacturing platform for the energy industry. This is intended to serve as the foundation for the companies to develop additional applications and plug-ins that will become part of the Oqton Manufacturing OS and open new markets in additional regulated industries with demanding end-use applications.
“As an energy technology company, Baker Hughes is fully committed to the development of the most advanced technologies looking for more efficient, more reliable, and cleaner energy solutions,” added Jim Sessions, vice president for completions and well interventions at Baker Hughes. “Digital transformation is the centre of gravity in the advanced manufacturing process. We believe that to achieve an efficient and reliable process, we need to enable automation and autonomous controls in our end-to-end manufacturing workflows. We are transforming how the industry works today and in the future.”
Jim Apostolides, senior vice president of enterprise operational excellence at Baker Hughes, concluded, “As an energy technology company, Baker Hughes believes in the power of digital enablement to improve operations and support a more sustainable energy industry,” said. “Our agreement with Oqton will support the industrialisation of our Additive Manufacturing and help drive more intelligent operations for the energy and industrial segments.”
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