Asahi Kasei Corp. (Tokyo) has decided to invest in Castor Technologies Ltd., an Israeli startup specialized in the development of 3D printing software. In addition to utilizing CASTOR’s software and services, the investment will allow Asahi Kasei to pursue synergies between its CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) technical service for plastic products and CASTOR’s software.
The 3D printing market has grown by an annual average of over 20% since 2015. Through the emergence of rapid prototyping and manufacturing, this annual growth rate is likely to rise to 24%, increasing the need for an optimized technical service and faster response times to customer requests.
When 3D printing is applied to conventional products, an engineer usually selects the candidate parts and decides whether to use 3D printing or not, sometimes modifying the shape to enhance 3D printability. In contrast, CASTOR’s software with its proprietary algorithm can automatically select parts that are suitable for 3D printing from CAD drawings of thousands of parts in a bill of materials (BOM), and propose shape modifications. Further optimization of customers’ manufacturing processes is enabled by estimating manufacturing lead times, costs, and CO2 emissions of the analyzed parts.
The 3D printing market has grown by an annual average of over 20% since 2015. Through the emergence of rapid prototyping and manufacturing, this annual growth rate is likely to rise to 24%, increasing the need for an optimized technical service and faster response times to customer requests.
When 3D printing is applied to conventional products, an engineer usually selects the candidate parts and decides whether to use 3D printing or not, sometimes modifying the shape to enhance 3D printability. In contrast, CASTOR’s software with its proprietary algorithm can automatically select parts that are suitable for 3D printing from CAD drawings of thousands of parts in a bill of materials (BOM), and propose shape modifications. Further optimization of customers’ manufacturing processes is enabled by estimating manufacturing lead times, costs, and CO2 emissions of the analyzed parts.