Oqton has announced a technical and commercial software development agreement with energy technology firm Baker Hughes.
The agreement will see the two companies work together to develop an ‘industrial digital ecosystem’ that they believe will ‘transform’ how products are brought to market in highly regulated industries, starting with the energy space.
Through the development partnership, Baker Hughes will integrate Oqton’s Manufacturing OS into its workflow. Oqton offers a technology-neutral, hardware-agnostic software platform deigned to connect applications and machines across multiple sites to allow manufacturers to track every action with a digital thread.
By pairing Oqton’s autonomous manufacturing approach with an expertise that has developed proprietary additive manufacturing solutions for vertical applications in the energy field, the partners state that they will create an enhanced additive manufacturing platform that will be offered under the Oqton brand. This platform is intended to serve as the foundation for the partners to develop additional applications and plug-ins that will become part of the Oqton Manufacturing OS. They say this will then be used to open up highly regulated markets beyond energy, such as aerospace and healthcare.
Read more | Leading the way: Baker Hughes on its deployment of 3D printing in oil & gas
“As an energy technology company, Baker Hughes is fully committed to the development of the most advanced technologies looking for more efficient, more reliable, and cleaner energy solutions,” commented Jim Sessions, Vice President for Completions and Well Interventions at Baker Hughes. “Digital transformation is the centre of gravity in the advanced manufacturing process. We believe that to achieve an efficient and reliable process we need to enable automation and autonomous controls in our end-to-end manufacturing workflows. We are transforming how the industry works today and in the future.”
“We believe manufacturing is going through its most significant phase of disruption since the first industrial revolution,” offered Dr. Ben Schrauwen, SVP and General Manager of Oqton. “Our mission is to accelerate making autonomous manufacturing accessible to companies of all sizes, enabling the continuous flexibility and adaptability of manufacturing processes. Through this collaboration, we see the potential to make a significant leap forward in enhancing our Manufacturing OS by leveraging the expertise of Baker Hughes’ engineering team to accelerate the manufacturing workflow and facilitate regulatory compliance.”
Oqton was acquired by 3D Systems in a 180 million USD deal in September 2021.
