Tennessee-based Branch Technology designs and manufactures commercial facade systems, including rainscreens and mega panel systems that offer articulated surfaces. Inspired by nature’s efficient cellular structures, the company developed a construction-scale, freeform 3D-printing technique and direct digital manufacturing approach called cellular fabrication (C-Fab®) to enable architects, designers and innovators to imagine, compose and construct complex design structures.
Challenge
Branch Technology required software that could help it process complex geometries to produce many components for a variety of different digital fabrication methods. It also wanted to implement a digital process that eliminated digital fabrication bottlenecks, could be easily updated, and yielded high fidelity parts.
Solution
Using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE® Cloud platform, Branch Technology created a digital model of an intelligent template that included fabrication instructions, quality control metrics, cut files and digital production elements. This was used in a project in Alabama, where a model consisting of 102 panels – each with around 70 custom elements – was generated within the platform during the digital production phase. The template, created in CATIA, housed geometric configurations and components as logic.
With the powerful capabilities of the 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform, we are able to innovate faster, freeing up time to focus on delivering beautifully designed and high-quality projects, without any worries about maintaining software.
Benefits
Branch Technology achieved 100% accuracy in modeling information using the 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform. As a result, every panel is manufactured correctly, and customers benefit from improved costing through accurate bill of materials (BOMs) for manufacturing. The company received a great deal of support and training from Dassault Systèmes, and it also remains active in a user community with other like-minded experts in its field.
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About Branch Technology
For more information: https://branchtechnology.com/