Siemens Acquires Additive Manufacturing Software Developer Atlas 3D

Siemens acquired additive manufacturing software developer Atlas3D after an agreement was signed between the two companies in November.

Atlas 3D is the creator of Sunata, a cloud-based 3D printing software designed to help choose the best orientation for specific 3D printed parts and generate support structures for additive manufacturing.

Image courtesy of Cision PR Newswire

Siemens has been very active recently: Just a few weeks ago, the company signed an agreement to acquire MultiMechanics, Inc., developer of MultiMech finite element and computer-aided engineering software.

Both Atlas 3D and MultiMechanics will be added to Siemens' Xcelerator portfolio of software, which continues to expand at a rapid pace.

Zvi Feuer, senior vice president of manufacturing engineering software at Siemens, commented: 

"The cloud-based Sunata software makes it easy for designers to determine the optimal way to 3D print parts for high quality and repeatability. The combination of Sunata with the robust CAE additive manufacturing tools in Simcenter enables a 'right first time' approach for industrial 3D printing."

Siemens making strides in additive manufacturing

For years, the major issue that was hindering the growth of 3D printing was the lack of software development. While the industry focused more on hardware and materials advancement, software innovation remained stagnant.

However, the tide seems to be finally shifting; more 3D printing software is becoming integrated with CAD software as well as hardware. With the purchase of Atlas 3D and the 3D printing software Sunata, Siemens may be ahead of the game.

In fact, just a few weeks ago, Siemens presented new additions to its enterprise portfolio of additive manufacturing at formnext 2019.

One major addition was the NX AM path optimize, which is a new beta technology that optimizes the 3D printing process during production planning. The AM path optimizer also  quickly calculates and corrects laser paths and process parameters as it detects imminent overheating.

In addition to this, earlier this year Siemens announced a new manufacturing solution with HP. HP announced it would integrate its new 3D printing and data intelligence platform, including the new 3D printer (5200 Series), with Siemens’ Digital Enterprise software portfolio. This is another indicator of the 3D printing market moving toward more hardware and software integration. 

What’s next for the 3D printing software market?

Over the past year, we’ve seen traffic to G2’s 3D printing category increase by 85% as more buyers are looking for software to couple with their additive manufacturing hardware.

Research suggests that the entire 3D printing market is projected to reach $34.8 billion by 2024 with an annual growth rate of 23.2%. This includes software as well as services.

With this in mind, at G2 we expect more growth in our 3D printing software category as well as more major CAD vendors to invest in their 3D printing software.