Group autonomy policy
One policy model for the group with per-site override and approval chains. Parameter envelopes, allow-lists and limits reviewed and versioned like code.
Multi-site additive manufacturers and bureaus standardise on Powdrix for the governance as much as the control: one autonomy policy with per-site override, one audit trail, fleet-managed floor-edge nodes, and alloy, polymer and qualification models that stay private to each site.
Illustrative scenario: PBF-2 · Ti-6Al-4V bracket family, 24-part build, 23 of 24 parts released, one held
Items marked planned follow the 6 to 12 month roadmap.
One policy model for the group with per-site override and approval chains. Parameter envelopes, allow-lists and limits reviewed and versioned like code.
Named approvers, role-based access down to the parameter. Planned for the 6 to 12 month release.
Model versions promoted by machine with canary rollout and automatic fallback across every floor. On-prem GPU inference and air-gapped options.
Per-site models built on the floor's own part families and kept private to that tenant, under validated change control.
Build failure, yield, porosity and parameter benchmarks compared across floors without moving recipes or geometry across tenant boundaries. Data-network tiers are planned.
A dedicated deployment engineer, quarterly model review per floor, SLA terms set per agreement, and AS9100 and ISO 13485 evidence packs, planned.
The floor edge is always local. The control plane can be cloud, on-prem or absent.
| Option | Floor edge | Control plane | For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud control plane | Jetson at each printer, GPU server at CT | Powdrix cloud, per-tenant isolation | Most floors; cloud training optional |
| On-prem control plane | Jetson at each printer, GPU server at CT | In the floor's data centre | Sensitive producers, strict IP controls |
| Air-gapped | Jetson at each printer, GPU server at CT | In the plant, no external link | Defence and export-controlled part families |
| Edge-only degradation | Returns to the printer controller and standing recipe | Unreachable | What happens on any control-plane loss |
One policy model, one audit trail, one benchmark across every machine on every floor, with the alloy, polymer and qualification models kept private to each site.
Every Powdrix run is an ordered, inspectable sequence. This is run_7c2e4b on PBF-2 · Ti-6Al-4V bracket family, 24-part build. Scenario completes in 10 steps with one approval gate. Twin recipe #14 selected, one lack-of-fusion precursor at layer 1,872 cleared by a bounded power trim, CT triage in 11 minutes, 23 of 24 parts released with full genealogy and one held for review.
Floor Orchestrator · Pulled the job from AM MES: 24 Ti-6Al-4V brackets, 60 µm layers, 3,140 layers, density target 99.7%, geometry tolerance ±0.10 mm, AS9100 evidence packet required. Locked the OEM-approved parameter envelope for PBF-2.
Part Twin · Simulated 40 candidate orientation, support and parameter recipes for thermal field, residual stress and distortion, ranked on predicted density, geometry deviation, takt and energy.
Prep-and-Parameter · Recipe #14 released: 32° orientation, lattice supports on two faces, laser power and speed inside the qualified envelope. Predicted distortion 0.06 mm, predicted density 99.8%.
Recoat-and-Powder · Recoater image checked every layer. Powder lot L-2291 on its third reuse, humidity in window. One short-feed at layer 412 corrected with a dosing increase before the next layer fused.
Melt-and-Layer · Melt-pool, photodiode and thermal streams fused at 120 fps. Lack-of-fusion risk rose to 0.61 on part 17 at layer 1,872 and was cleared by a 3% power trim inside the envelope within four layers.
Thermal-and-Distortion · Interlayer temperature on the tall brackets ran 14 °C above the twin's prediction from layer 2,300. A 1.5 s interlayer dwell held the thermal field inside the predicted band through the top section.
Floor Orchestrator · Melt-and-Layer proposed a hatch-spacing change on part 17 beyond the qualified envelope. Held for the AM process engineer, who declined it and chose to flag part 17 for CT priority instead. Decision logged.
Robot-and-Handling · Plate unloaded by the handling cell on build complete, depowdered, and parts transferred to stress relief. Powder returned to the sieve with lot L-2291 reuse count incremented in genealogy.
Defect-and-Inspect · 24 CT volumes segmented for pores, cracks and lack of fusion in 11 minutes. 23 parts graded accept against the acceptance criteria. Part 17 shows a 180 µm indication at layer 1,870 and is routed to the inspector for disposition.
Quality-and-Conformance · 23 parts released with the full genealogy: recipe, layer tags, melt-pool events, thermal trace, approvals, post-processing cycles and CT result. Part 17 held with a non-conformance opened. Evidence packet assembled for sign-off.
Powdrix writes to production printers that make qualified parts. Every capability is scoped to the qualified envelope, every write is policy-checked, and every action is written to an append-only audit log the floor owns.
| Item | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type I | Cloud control plane | QUEUED Planned, first 6 months |
| SOC 2 Type II | Cloud control plane | QUEUED Planned, 6 to 12 months |
| SSO and RBAC | Console and approvals | QUEUED Planned, 6 to 12 months |
| AS9100 and ISO 13485 assurance packages | Evidence packets and model change control | QUEUED Planned, 6 to 12 months; not a certification claim |
| Standards-cited reasoning | AS9100, ISO 13485, ASTM F42, ISO 52900 | RUNNING In the design, every answer cites its source |
| Per-tenant isolation and on-prem option | Recipes, geometry, models, memory | RUNNING In the design from day one |
A qualified floor does not go from manual to unattended in one step. Powdrix makes the level explicit, auditable and reversible at any time, and human approval for anything that affects qualification stays mandatory until validation exists. The first release runs shadow mode, then assist mode, then graduated autonomy.
| Level | What the agent does | What the human does | Where it sits in a pilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 · Advisory | Predicts and recommends, with citations; nothing is written | Enters every change manually | Shadow mode on one machine, first weeks of a pilot |
| L2 · Supervised | Proposes a parameter, thermal or inspection move; it executes on approval | Approves each move in the review console | Assist mode once accuracy is measured against CT |
| L3 · Bounded | Writes inside the OEM-approved parameter envelope and per-tag limits | Approves anything that leaves the envelope or affects qualification | Graduated autonomy on low-risk loops, if the floor is satisfied |
| L4 · Unattended | Runs the envelope without prompting | Sets the envelope; reviews the shift record | Planned; only after validation on the part family |
Powdrix reads and writes through the systems already on the floor. No rip and replace, no parallel historian, no new slicer to learn. Vendor names are examples of systems found on additive floors; connector availability is confirmed per site.
Build-preparation and slicer software (Materialise, Autodesk Netfabb, Oqton, Siemens NX AM and nTop class tools)
Geometry, orientation, supports and parameter sets in; validated recipes out
Laser and electron-beam PBF, DED and polymer SLS, MJF and FDM machines through OEM control APIs
Machine state and in-situ streams in; bounded parameter writes inside the envelope
Coaxial and off-axis melt-pool cameras, photodiodes, layer and recoater cameras, thermal sensors (EOS EOSTATE, Nikon SLM, Sigma Additive and Velo3D Assure class systems)
Frames and streams fused at the printer edge
CT scanners, surface vision and metrology (Zeiss, Nikon CT, Waygate and Volume Graphics class systems)
Volumes, images and scans in; grading, routing and packets out
Stress-relief and heat-treatment ovens, HIP units, depowdering and support removal (Solukon, AM Solutions and PostProcess class equipment)
Cycle data in; recipe parameters inside the qualified window out
Sieving, lot tracking and reuse records
Lot, reuse count and quality into genealogy
Jetson and Isaac driven handling cells, grippers, transfer rigs
Build-complete and oven signals in; handling tasks out
AM MES and build management (Oqton, Authentise, 3YOURMIND, AMFG and Materialise CO-AM class systems)
Jobs and orders in; genealogy, holds and dispositions back
The questions operations directors, process engineers and certification engineers ask in the first meeting.
Only inside the OEM-approved parameter envelope, only on an explicit allow-list with per-tag limits, and only at the autonomy level your floor has set. Level 1 is advisory: Powdrix predicts and recommends and a human enters everything. Design partners start there, in shadow mode. Anything that leaves the envelope or affects qualification always waits for a named approver.
Control returns to the printer's own controller and the standing recipe. Powdrix is a supervisory layer on top of the machine controls, monitoring systems and MES you already run, never a replacement for them, so an outage degrades the floor to its current way of running, not to a stop.
Advisory recommendations start from the twin's physics and the part spec in the first weeks. Defect and build-failure prediction improve as layers, CT results and engineer corrections accumulate per part family. The first models are trained on existing in-situ camera data; synthetic rare-defect scenarios augment them only after validation against real CT.
Only if you choose cloud training. Parameter sets, geometry, defect libraries and process memory are isolated per tenant and never used to train another customer's models. Cross-customer learning is federated and IP-isolated and waits on written data agreements. A fully on-prem deployment is available for sensitive producers.
It is designed not to. Validated parameters never change without the sign-off your quality system requires, model changes go through change control, and every action carries model version, data lineage, approval status and qualification impact in the audit log. Powdrix does not claim AS9100 or ISO 13485 certification; assurance packages are planned for the 6 to 12 month release.
You are, as with any process change, which is why every write is policy-checked, bounded, logged and reversible, and why anything that affects qualification waits for a named approver. The audit log records the request, the reasoning, the limits applied and the human decision.
Start with one printer or one inspection cell and one measurable baseline. A paid pilot on melt-pool and build-failure prediction, CT porosity triage or pre-build recipe optimisation shows the number before you commit further.
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