4th December 2018

Is Additive Manufacturing the future of construction?

(Originally published in Dassault Systemes blog)

The construction industry is the world´s largest employer, but it has been losing profitability for over three decades. Why? Reasons include a lack of efficient collaboration, increasing regulations, an absence of digital solutions and poor or no lifecycle management.

Could the solution to boosting profits lie in adopting new building methods?  Additive manufacturing (AM) – commonly called 3D printing – may hold the key. AM offers many benefits to traditional construction: a high level of creativity and flexibility, less material waste, a lower carbon footprint and lighter and sturdier structures.

Enter a team of digital enthusiasts who believe it is time to free the construction industry from past constraints. The group founded XTreeE to revolutionize the construction process with AM.  They came to the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab for help with industrializing the digitization of the construction industry.  Being part of the program gives XTreeE mentoring and consulting services along with cloud-based design, simulation and manufacturing software and a community on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for the sharing of ideas.

Discover more about the promise AM holds in the construction industry – including environmental benefit due to greatly reduced material waste and less transportation of materials, as well as innovation in creating unique shapes – and what XTreeE is doing to transform the approach to architectural design and construction using advanced digital technologies and additive construction techniques.