DEVELOP3D

The PTC Next event in Chicago this week saw the first steps for the company’s wider AI strategy, launching two new cross-portfolio AI tools and previewing agentic tools within Creo, Onshape, Windchill and more. PTC Orbit has been launched to provide manufacturers with a single trusted source for asset-centric data across entire operations.

Formlabs has launched the Fuse X1, its first large-format SLS 3D printer, starting at $84,999 as part of a new industrial ecosystem. Formlabs says that the Fuse X1 delivers production-quality parts in under 24 hours with up to 50 per cent lower cost per part and three-times the throughput of comparable industrial powder bed fusion systems.

An engineer working in CAD is typically doing two kinds of work at once. The first is what most engineers got into the field to do, defining the system, running analysis, weighing tradeoffs, finding designs that are lighter, stronger, cheaper, and better performing than what came before. The second is everything that turns that design into something manufacturable, including defining details, drawings, tolerances, BOMs and handling dozens of other project management tasks.

Specialist postgraduate university Cranfield and King’s College London (KCL) have signed a merger agreement aiming to bring together the two universities by August 2027 Cranfield University specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management, and the signing of this agreement is the first step in the merger process of becoming part of KCL.

Stratasys has announced it will acquire MarkForged – a subsidiary of Nano Dimension – for $42.5 million in a cash transaction. Nano Dimension will retain the Metal Binder Jetting product line, formerly Digital Metal – itself a $40M acquisition only four years ago. MarkForged changed the desktop FDM method of 3D printing with the 2014 launch of the Mark One at SolidWorks World, the world’s first 3D printer capable of printing in continuous carbon fibre.

New wireless Hyperprobe enables scanning and probing in the same application Hexagon’s new wireless probe, Hyperprobe, adds contact measurement to its large-volume laser scanning system, Hyperscan, to improve productivity during alignment, inspection, and reporting. The update enables Hexagon users to scan and probe within the same inspection workflow, helping teams measure hidden features, align large components or jigs, and streamline inspection and reporting without manual realignment.

UltiMaker’s Factor 4 Plus has been launched as an upgrade to its initial industrial-grade platform launched in 2024, promising twice the speed of the standard Factor 4 while maintaining traceable, industrial-grade production levels. Aimed at continuous factory production in the manufacturing and defense sectors, the Factor 4 Plus features an improved ruggedised gantry system, built to absorb vibration at high print speeds for consistent throughput during round‑the‑clock operation.

CAD Rooms, the cloud PDM and engineering collaboration platform for hardware and engineering teams, has attained ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, meeting the current international standard for information security management. Described as a collaborative layer on top of a users existing CAD and workflow tools, CAD Rooms supports over 30 file formats including Dassault Systèmes Solidworks and Catia, Autodesk AutoCAD, Rhino, and open standards like STEP and STL.

Ryzen Pro, 3D V-Cache, 256 GB memory and liquid cooling combine to redefine the mainstream workstation Lenovo has introduced the ThinkStation P4, a compact desktop workstation that brings AMD’s Ryzen Pro platform into a fully certified, long-life mainstream system.

3D printed padding systems are improving bomb disposal safety wear, with companies like Rapid Product Manufacturing engineering foam alternatives for helmets that help operatives keep their cool Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) helmets are key to a bomb disposal technician’s PPE. As well as a hard outer protective shell, internal padding plays a key role in energy absorption, comfort in a high-stress environment and a secure fit.