.STLX – A secure system to transmit confidential Additive Manufacturing design and production data in an encrypted manner, directly to Additive Manufacturing machines - enabling full remote control over the distributed manufacturing process.

汽车和航空零部件市场总价值为7870亿美元，是世界上最大的产业之一。传统上，这些部件是在一个地方大量生产的，然后储存起来，然后在需要时运往全球。规模经济总是超过与这种模式相关的物流和库存成本。然而，随着增材制造（AM）技术的出现，使用分布式制造商网络在更接近需求点和时间的地方制造实物产品将很快在技术和商业上都是可行的，这大大减少了停机时间、物流成本和库存规模。到目前为止，行业对分布式增材制造的采用受到了一些关于传输和共享有价值的增材制造设计和数据的担忧的阻碍：失去对机密性的控制；-对生产过程和产品完整性失去控制；缺乏安全可靠的审计机制。-法律保护昂贵、无效且容易规避。因此，尽管分布式增材制造的优势越来越大，成本也越来越低，但只有1%的零件是使用分布式增材制造制造的。为了解决这个问题，在三家最大的增材制造机器制造商的支持下，我们将开发第一个系统，以安全、加密的方式将机密的增材制造设计和制造指令直接传输到增材制造机器，从而实现对分布式增材制造过程的完全远程控制。该项目是我们在STL文件加密和制造过程元数据直接与am机器通信方面完成的创新专利POC工作的结果。通过消除关于分布式制造的机密性、完整性和审计问题，我们希望消除它和AM采用的障碍，并具有明确的成本、效率和环境效益。

The market for automotive and aviation spare parts is collectively worth 787bn USD pa,making it one of the largest industries in the world. Traditionally, these parts aremanufactured subtractively, in very high volumes at a single location before being stored andthen shipped globally when required. The economies of scale have always outweighed thelogistic and inventory costs associated with this model. However, the advent of AdditiveManufacturing (AM) technology, it will soon be both technically and commercially feasibleto manufacture physical products closer to the point and time of demand using a network ofdistributed manufacturers – significantly reducing downtime, logistic costs and inventorysizes.So far the adoption of distributed AM by industry has been hampered by a number ofconcerns regarding the transmission and sharing of valuable AM designs and data:- loss of control over confidentiality;- loss of control over manufacturing process and therefore product integrity; and- lack of secure and reliable audit mechanisms.- legal protection is costly, ineffective & easy to circumvent.As a result only 1% of all parts are manufactured using distributed AM, despite its growingadvantages and reduced cost.To address this, with the support of the three largest AM machine manufacturers, we willdevelop the first system to transmit confidential AM designs and manufacturing instructionsDIRECTLY to AM machines in a secure, encrypted manner, enabling full remote control overthe distributed AM process.The project is the result of innovative, patented POC work we have completed on theencryption of STL files and the communication of manufacturing process metadata direct toAM machines. By removing the confidentiality, integrity and audit concerns regardingdistributed manufacturing, we hope to remove the barriers to it’s, and AM's, adoption withclear cost, efficiency and environmental benefits.