PTC Acquires CloudMilling: Step Towards An End-To-End Production Digital Thread

Manufacturing PTC Acquires CloudMilling: Step Towards An End-To-End Production Digital Thread Andre Wegner Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I cover the future of manufacturing, especially additive. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Sep 5, 2022, 12:16pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin PTC announced the acquisition of the cloud-native computer-aided Manufacturing (CAM) solution, CloudMilling. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The UK-based father and son team, which had already provided an integration with PTC’s Onshape platform 2021, will fully integrate their solution with it early 2023.

PTC acquires maker of cloud native CAM software, CloudMilling. © 2021 Bloomberg Finance LP Generating the complex tool paths for multi-axis subtractive manufacturing devices is seen as a critical barrier to automating the machining process. Current tools are mainly offline and require significant expertise to operate successfully.

Additive manufacturing has illustrated the benefits of integrating this step with design tools – most toolpaths are generated by algorithms based on human parameter inputs. This enables engineers to break down barriers between design, pre-production and manufacturing, with the resulting ability to learn and implement resulting changes much more rapidly. Doing so affects everything from part performance, production quality, and quoting.

The much larger machining market has struggled to incorporate these new, cloud-native approaches first learned in the nimbler additive market. Companies who have innovated in the CAM market have tended to retain insights to gain a competitive edge for their in-house production. Protolabs, the publicly listed short-run manufacturing provider, is the most famous example.

Multiple startups have followed suit, including Plethora (which raised $40m before shuttering last year), Hadrian ( which recently raised $90m from Andreesen Horowitz to build out its factories ), and CloudNC ( which more than doubled its funding with a $45m injection from Autodesk, Lockheed Martin and others earlier this year ). The dearth of mature software solutions without a heavy manufacturing exposure may explain why PTC chose to pursue a relative minnow. For PTC this transaction bears significant opportunity, but not without risk.

Completing the digital thread for production from idea to part is a critical strategic pursuit aiming to reduce the total time to help deliver products to market. CAM is a cornerstone to this pursuit. Autodesk ADSK had already made significant inroads with its Fusion360 product, which incorporates insight from its CAM acquisition, DELCAM .

Yet, the question remains: is PTC stifling innovation in a nascent market by acquiring CloudMilling? Industrial engineering is dominated by a small number of actors (Siemens, Dassault, Autodesk, PTC to name a few). They act as gatekeepers to customers and value. While PTC will undoubtedly claim that its Onshape platform remains open to other CAM providers, the acquisition will worry innovators who fear they have lost yet another route to market.

Without this lifeblood of new ideas in a vertical that’s only just getting started, PTC may soon wish it had retained CloudMilling as an independent provider. MORE FOR YOU Germany’s Renk Group Seeks To Revitalize An Iconic American Defense Manufacturer What Drives Newly Minted CRISPR Unicorn Mammoth Biosciences A Million Parts Using 3D Printing? Mantle’s Printed Tooling Powers Mass Production Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Check out my website .

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