Build Your Own Business Model: Wibu-Systems at formnext 2022

formnext is the leading expo for the additive manufacturing and 3D printing industry, and Wibu-Systems will be returning as one of the key exhibitors at this year’s edition in Frankfurt, Germany, from 15 to 18 November. The licensing and protection specialists will be on site in Hall 11.1, booth D69J to present the business-enabling potential of their flagship CodeMeter technology.

Additive manufacturing represents the expression of Industry 4.0 that is most immediate and true to the original vision: A digitalized and servitized world, where entrepreneurs can work together from anywhere to create more agile and flexible businesses. With 3D printers making it possible to create physical products with little to no specialized tool development or lengthy machine fitting and retooling, products can be created by manufacturing service providers at the point of need. This eliminates many of the entry thresholds for new entrepreneurs and can potentially make the entire manufacturing sector more sustainable with a more targeted response to actual demand and less waste in the industry.

Wibu-Systems has long been one of the pioneers of the Industry 4.0 vision and has refined its popular CodeMeter licensing and protection technology to become a true business enabler with smart license models, including pay-per-use or subscription licenses. At this year’s formnext, Wibu-Systems is keen on speaking about two unique success stories that show the value of CodeMeter to enable new business models in the additive manufacturing sector.

OMNIplus is Daimler Buses’ service for the owners and operators of Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses. In the company’s quest to provide its users with fast and agile parts and services, Daimler Buses took the courageous step to move wholescale into the digital world and offer a growing selection of parts and components as 3D-printable downloads from its new 3D printing shop. Customers only need a certified printer of Farsoon Technologies and the right licenses, provided courtesy of CodeMeter. Together, Daimler Buses, Farsoon, and Wibu-Systems created a fully secure and smart online store in which all digital assets are securely protected by CodeMeter’s award-winning encryption technology and licensed at two stages: When they buy a digital part, the customers receive a prepress license to prepare the print job and a separate license for the actual number of parts they can print. With CodeMeter’s extensive integration capabilities, all of this is built right into the OMNIplus ecosystem, with swift and reliable order handling, delivery, and billing. The new store solution is not only a model for how effectively different companies can cooperate to create a new service, but also for how CodeMeter can be far more than a protection and licensing technology and become the backbone of a completely new form of enterprise.

The second particular highlight at the show is a look at Wibu-Systems’ contribution to the ProCloud3D project, a combined Sino-German venture in which high-profile enterprises and research institutions are working together on a model platform for additive Manufacturing-as-a-Service. Highly automated, user-friendly and, above all, secure thanks to Wibu-Systems’ technology, the ProCloud3D platform will offer a taste of what the future holds for a more nimble, responsive, and responsible manufacturing industry in the years to come.

Oliver Winzenried, co-founder and CEO of Wibu-Systems, is reminded of his own past: “When Marcellus Buchheit and I launched Wibu-Systems more than 30 years ago, we were driven by this spirit of pragmatic optimism. It’s great to see our technology now giving both young and established entrepreneurs a powerful tool to go out and create their own innovative business models, as we can see at formnext.”