Twikit Create and Twikit Live: supporting back-office systems to accelerate mass customization

May 6, 2021

 

The TwikBot Cloud Suite includes core technologies such as TwikBot and TwikFit and back-office applications that enable and accelerate mass customization. These supporting systems are essential for a seamless and efficient manufacturing flow and link the dots in the supply chain. 

 

The previously named Product Creator and Order and User Service have been updated and renamed, supporting the mass customization workflow even better. Twikit Create and TwikitLive allow for the creation of customizable products, traceability, and easy order management.
 
Twikit Live: enabling  on-demand  manufacturing  and  customization  by  connecting  customer front-end  with  production  back-end 

Live is a cloud-based platform accessible from anywhere through a web browser and allows you to create, track, and manage orders for digital manufacturing. The open API structure ofLive enables the use of plug-ins to integrate with your manufacturing services, MES systems, ERP systems, logistics, and others that are already in place. 

 

Digital traceable order flows   

The order service that Live provides handles confirmed orders. It controls the flow for each created order: the creation of production files and production briefings (multiple files per order are possible), API transfer of files to correct production facilities, status tracking of production/finishing/shipping in case of 2-way APIs, API triggers to connected services (e.g., ERP). 

 

Detailed tracking for efficient management  

The monitoring service smoothly integrated into Live monitors the behavior of a product: tracking the number of started customization sessions, saved configurations, ordered configurations, usage of parameters, the success rate of production, etc. This data can be visualized in dashboards. These dashboards are defined based on the user’s permissions in the system. 

 

Access your orders anywhere with a secure web app  

The Live platform provides secure web access on desktop and mobile devices. This web module can be used to place, track, and manage orders for digitally manufactured personalized products. 

 

Explore existing integrations or integrate your own API’s  

Integrate with your slicing software, digital manufacturing networks, service providers, ERP systems, and more. A library of plug-ins is available, and the open API structure allows for the easy creation of new plug-ins.

 

Twikit Create: Design  and manage parametric  models

Create contains a powerful graph-based tool to combine your product resources and define the blueprint of the product parametrization. The use of the Create platform requires no programming experience. When products are deployed, Create automatically generates user interfaces that can be integrated into websites or e-commerce platforms.  

 

Explore Twikit Create’s highlighted features:

Modular and extendible platform to create, modify and release products  

Create is an open and extensible system to create and maintain your parameterized products. It gives users all the tools to create beautiful products while staying in control (no lock-in).  

 

Connection to digital manufacturing  

Production-ready files, uniquely configured by your clients, are calculated on the Twikitservers and can be sent to third-party DMN and MES systems for distributed manufacturing.

 

Highly scalable and performant everywhere, on mobile included  

The published 3D configurator operations run entirely in the web browser on the client-side, making the system highly scalable for websites with many page visits. Visualization files are cached through a worldwide CDN network, while high-resolution production files are calculated upon ordering. 

 

Create and parameterize products with a node-based tool  

The node-based tool provides a drag and drop interface to build your product definition starting from raw resources such as meshes, fonts, textures, and materials. It requires no programming experience. 

 

Live 3D view in a web browser  

Create aims to parameterize products that can be visualized in real-time in a web browser so users can directly see the result of what they’re creating. 

 

Design automation by connecting CAD software and Twikit Create   

By connecting TwikBot and CAD software, 3D designs are easily uploaded onto the Create platform in the cloud, interpreting the CAD data and preparing it for customization by defining the parameters. TwikBot algorithms and modifiers can be combined with CAD / CAE functionalities by setting up a hybrid model. It results in flow automation and connection.  

 

The integration between Create and Rhino Grasshopper has launched, with more in the pipeline. Many designers have already parameterized their products in Rhino/Grasshopper. Create allows using these files directly for both real-time front-end visualization and the creation of production files.