Identify3D illustration
Computer-design engineering. Laptop, gear, trammel and draft. 3d
As digital manufacturing moves swiftly toward the mainstream, the technology is opening new possibilities for industrial companies looking to create small quantities of highly specialized parts, or even individually customizable designs, wherever and whenever they are needed, across the globe.
But it also exposes a company’s virtual assets to a world of potential hackers bent on stealing and sabotaging their digital information. One tiny but virtually undetectable flaw inserted into a design file could lead to the production of weak or faulty parts, with possibly devastating results.
Identify3D, a tech start-up with offices in Lexington and San Francisco, is working to help companies protect those digital assets as they venture out from behind the safety of a company’s firewall and onto the global manufacturing scene.
“Large manufacturing companies are starting to realize that they need a system to protect their information,” said Stephan Thomas, co-founder and head of business development for Identify3D. “They need to make sure when they send that data, that whoever is going to produce that part is going to do it only according to the specifications that they define.”
The company creates encryption software for use with both the newer additive industrial 3D printers and also the industry’s more mature market of subtractive CNC machines. The software is designed to provide customers with not only cybersecurity but also quality assurance and secure data feedback through every step of the digital manufacturing process.
In March, Identify3D completed a multimillion seed investment round, led by the Palo Alto-based venture capital firm SoftTech VC. Other investors participating in the round included the company’s pre-seed lead investor Bee Partners and Siemens Venture Capital, a key financial player in the digital manufacturing space, along with German investment group La Famiglia and Australia-based DART Capital Partners. The base of support is particularly helpful, Thomas said, as the company looks to establish its credentials and create valuable inroads as a leading solution in a quickly evolving global manufacturing landscape.
End-to-End Security
Identify3D’s software solution essentially uses a bookend approach, first encrypting a company’s digital files at the design stage to protect and license the product data. The company’s software also can be embedded directly into manufacturing machines on the factory floor that can be used to create the parts anywhere in the world, enabling the machines to verify the authenticity of the files and ensure authorization for the production of a specified quantity before the information will be released.
“When the customer sets up what they want the part to look like, they can also specify the settings or the standards for the machine to use,” said Chris Adkins, chief security architect, who heads up the Lexington office for Identify3D. “Whatever settings they use to qualify the part, they can set those up within our software, and we can assure that those settings are being met by the printer. Otherwise the printer can’t produce that part.”
Adkins, a University of Kentucky electrical engineering graduate, previously spent 20 years at Lexmark working on counterfeiting protections for the company’s printer cartridges. He joined the Identify3D team when the company was formed three years ago, with Thomas and additional co-founder Joe Inkenbrandt, CEO.
The aerospace and defense industries have been leading the charge in the transition to digital manufacturing, Thomas said, as they look to reduce the quantities of new parts required, while also improving their efficiency, reliability and availability. The energy industry is looking to do much the same with its generator technologies, and the automotive industry is expected to follow suit within the next few years.
The transportation industry is exploring digital manufacturing opportunities for the production of crucial spare parts that are no longer available for aging equipment, such as municipal trains and subways. The customization potential also makes the technology useful in the production of medical devices, which can be tailored to an individual patient’s specifications.
All of those industries also share a vital interest in maintaining the privacy and security of their digital assets across a vulnerable manufacturing landscape with fewer and fewer boundaries.
Plans to Expand
With the capital raised in its most recent round of financing, Identify3D will be moving from the prototype stage into actual full product deployment, Adkins said, with its first functional products to be deployed by early 2018. The company currently has five employees in its Lexington office, and Adkins expects to almost double that within the next year, depending on how quickly the company expands its customer base.
Thomas said that the company’s Lexington office has been an important asset, not only because there is good quality to be found in the local tech workforce, but also because it establishes a solid central connection for Identify3D to the country’s manufacturing base.
“The ability for us to say that we actually have a software development team in Lexington was really part of our pitch to investors,” Thomas said. “The Silicon Valley is not much anymore of a manufacturing hub. … Everything is in the code. Our ability to say that we are still connected to the manufacturing heartland of the U.S., that we have people who know manufacturing and we are close to a lot of important manufacturing hubs, is a good selling point.”
Thomas added that the tech sector on the West Coast has become highly competitive, with large and well-known companies fighting to attract the best talent. That brings with it a lot of turnover in the workforce, as software developers constantly look to move onto the “next big thing,” Thomas said.
“By building something in Lexington, we hope and we expect that there will be more loyalty to the company,” Thomas said.
Thomas added that the City of Lexington has also been very welcoming and supportive. Identify3D was recently awarded a Jobs Fund grant from the city for its expansion in Lexington.
Thomas said the company expects to continue to expand in the future, as it works to stay ahead of the still-emerging digital manufacturing market. The company has targeted its next round of financing to fund further growth and expansion for first quarter 2018.
“This is a space where you can’t have 2,000 different solutions. … There’s a bit of a rush to be first and to be the best, so we can occupy that space,” Thomas said. “I don’t think there will be more than three players, so we want to be the main one.”