The questions operations directors, process engineers and certification engineers ask in the first meeting, answered as plainly as we can, including where the answer is planned rather than done.
Illustrative scenario: PBF-2 · Ti-6Al-4V bracket family, 24-part build, 23 of 24 parts released, one held
Thirteen questions. If yours is not here, ask it.
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.
A paid pilot on one machine, scoped to a single workflow with a baseline agreed in writing. The first weeks are connection and shadow-mode observation, then assist mode with engineer approval and accuracy measured against real CT outcomes, then bounded autonomy on low-risk loops if the floor is satisfied.
The one whose scrapped builds or failed qualifications cost you the most. The wedges we propose are in-situ melt-pool and defect monitoring with build-failure prediction, parameter and orientation optimisation for first-time-right builds, and CT porosity classification. Each has a metric a floor already measures.
Your parameter sets, build and qualification specs, AS9100, ISO 13485, ASTM F42 and ISO 52900 documents, and your quality and genealogy procedures. Retrieval is tenant-isolated and every answer cites what it used.
No. Dashboards report. Powdrix perceives, predicts and acts inside limits you set, and writes the record. The review console exists so AM process engineers can approve, correct and feed back, and those corrections train the models.
Usually not to start. Most metal PBF printers already have coaxial melt-pool and layer cameras, and most qualified floors already run CT. Meltrix retrofits onto the existing cameras. Thermal sensors, recoater cameras and robot cells are confirmed per floor.
The Machine tier is $6,000 per AM machine per month for in-situ, parameter-control or inspection AI on one printer. The Floor tier is $70,000 per month for the whole loop. Enterprise is priced per agreement, landing at $500k to $7M ACV for multi-site fleets.
No. Powdrix is a product company building its own software and models. Integration with your slicer, printers, CT and MES is part of deploying the product, not a services business.
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.
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 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 |
Land on one printer with a measured baseline. Expand by machine, module, floor and autonomy level. Outcome components are available on build failure, yield, qualification and energy. Annual prepay carries a 15 to 20% discount.
In-situ, parameter-control or inspection AI for one printer. For manufacturers validating ROI on the wedge.
The whole loop: prep and parameter, melt and layer, recoat and powder, thermal and distortion, defect, post-process, yield and takt, robotic handling and the twin.
Multi-site AM manufacturers and bureaus standardising on Powdrix, with custom alloy, polymer and qualification models.
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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