via PRNewswire -- The race to help bring automation to smaller manufacturers got a big bump recently as 3D software company announced the release of it's newest product aimed at smaller manufacturers and businesses. The technology, which works by removing several design-to-manufacturing steps now makes it possible for small operations to prototype and create custom or to-order pieces in less time than would traditionally be needed.

vPersonalize Announces First Integrated 3D Design and Manufacturing Automation Software for One-Off, Small Batch and On-Demand Manufacturing 

California based vPersonalize Inc. a pioneer in 3D design and automation software for on-demand manufacturing, today announced the launch of its new, unified design-to-manufacturing software for brands, designers and manufacturers to enhance operational efficiency, optimize product development, and help bring innovative products to market quickly.

Leveraging a portfolio of patented technologies, vPersonalize Inc (www.vpersonalize.com) delivers the only design to manufacturing automation solution that makes small batch and custom manufacturing viable at regular price points. The cloud-based platform provides the ability to quickly choose from a catalog of pre-made products or digitize one's own custom product and then design, proof or co-create and automatically have them converted into size-graded, production ready patterns, through a linked e-commerce and order management system. Designs can be transferred automatically across entire product lines, generating multiple SKUs across different styles, materials, and sizes.

"We see the future as being inventory-light and on-demand, where long design lead times, absence of inventory intelligence, product line limitation and a lack of customization are a thing of the past," says Bala Selvarajan, Co-founder and CEO of vPersonalize. "With on-demand manufacturing, brands can now make what sells, when it sells and quickly get it to where it sells," he adds.

In a short period of time, vPersonalize has signed on a wide range of customers, including two of the top 20 apparel manufacturers in USA, sports apparel brands, full service custom fashion makers and clothing brands in USA, Canada and Australia.

Sean Saberi, CEO of FABFAD, Inc. (www.fabfad.com), a top apparel manufacturer based in Los Angeles that works with several large brands, has partnered with vPersonalize to offer an integrated solution to his clients. "The integrated workflow enables the brands we work with to fully customize their products. Because the 3D apparel designer is connected to the production automation system, our customers can then order through the same cloud-based platform and have the products made on-demand, which has significantly reduced lead times. Clients feel far more in control, as they are able to create and see their designs in real time and then get it manufactured as seen," says Sean.

"As a brand focused on custom racing apparel, manufacturing one-offs had always been time consuming and expensive. Using vPersonalize's automated pattern generation and grading, we are now able to manufacture one-off, custom products in a fraction of the time it used to take and at very affordable price points," says Chuck Carothers, partner at CanvasMX (www.canvasmx.com), one of the earliest adopters of vPersonalize. "Their 3D clothing designer has further helped drive sales and conversions," adds Chuck.

"Using a combination of technology and automation, we are helping bring manufacturing jobs back to the US," says Zack Hurley, CEO of Indie Source (www.indiesource.com), a full service apparel manufacturer based in Los Angeles and an early adopter of vPersonalize. "With automation, the balance of power has shifted. For order volumes of 1000 or less, it is now more economical to make in US than abroad, which incur customs and shipping, not to mention long transit times and details lost in translation," he adds.

More information available at http://www.vpersonalize.com/

This week, the blog takes a look at recent developments in the world of artificial intelligence, specifically as it applies to the aging infrastructure of the United States and how General Electric Co. plans to tackle it.

For General Electric, Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Innovation

General Electric Co. (GE) is betting big that artificial intelligence will be the key to unlocking future profits. GE has been betting big in recent months on the flexibility and power of machine learning to tackle a number of different projects from healthcare to computing and it looks like that bet may have just paid off.

Last week, GE announced that with the help of artificial intelligence, they have discovered a new approach to managing electricity in a power grid. General Electric Co. expects the new technology to save the global economy more than $200 billion dollars with implementation and adoption. The tech works by optimizing and managing the flow of electricity into and out of storage devices such as batteries and consumption access points in real time, a feat that has eluded researchers for decades. The hope from GE is that this tech will help aging electrical infrastructure which has always been plagued with inefficiencies (this scene from Chris Nolan's The Prestige always comes to mind).

The announcement marks the beginning of a new age for manufacturers. Researchers from around the world are confident that the way forward will be with artificial intelligence. "We're also putting a lot into the machine learning side, a lot. We have a lot of people working on this." says GE chief digital officer Steven Martin. Martin goes further to suggest that General Electric is looking at applying this technology to a variety of services and industries.

There are still many hurdles to overcome before artificial intelligence can be thought of as a legitimate development or management tool. One of the largest and most glaring is the the basic need for AI to be platform agnostic. One needs only to look to the differences between iOS and Android applications to see why this would be an important barrier to breach. Standardization will very likely become a necessity in the coming years, but questions abound. 

General Electric's electrical grid project offers a tantalizing glimpse into the future and is inspiring new and old companies alike to jump headfirst into autonomous solutions within their market, so it is safe to say that the future looks bright for AI. By conservative accounts, we could see the first major financial impact of artificial intelligence on the US economy by 2020. And the most interesting thing is that it is not a given what that will take the form of, but with autonomous cars and AI driven analytics alone expected to comprise more than $153 billion dollars, the sky seems to be the limit for earning and innovation.