butterfly & elephant, the investment company of GS1 Germany, is investing in Additive Marking GmbH. Founded by Dr. Ulrich Jahnke, Dr. Matthias Habdank, and Philipp Alexander Bornefeld, the startup has developed a patented process that permanently integrates GS1-compliant, machine-readable codes into components during the 3D printing process. This makes every component digitally identifiable from the moment it is created and enables seamless documentation across the entire supply chain. It significantly reduces the effort required for quality assurance and compliance and eliminates the need for additional marking steps.
Digital Identity Begins in the Production Process
In many industries, components are marked only after they have been manufactured, for example by laser, engraving, or labels. Additive Marking moves this step into the manufacturing process itself. Machine-readable codes are embedded as early as the digital design phase and are created during printing as an inseparable part of the component. This eliminates manual process steps, reduces sources of error, and automatically makes production data and quality records available. For industries with high documentation requirements, such as automotive, aerospace, or defense, this represents a structural gain in efficiency.
The marking process is complemented by a modular software solution for serializing and managing codes, with interfaces to ERP, MES, and PLM systems. With its innovative technology stack for barcode scanning, Direct Part Marking codes (DPM) can also be captured reliably and on mobile devices, even when material properties or challenging surface structures make them difficult to read with conventional scanning solutions. The solution works on standard smartphones and does not require any additional specialized hardware. This makes access to standardized component identification significantly easier, particularly for industrial SMEs.
“Industry is no longer asking whether traceability is coming, but how. Together with butterfly & elephant, we can provide this answer based on standards that are already embedded in millions of supply chains,” says Dr. Ulrich Jahnke, co-founder and CEO of Additive Marking.
Foundation for the Digital Product Passport
Additive Marking connects the physical marking of components with a digital data infrastructure based on GS1 standards. By integrating GS1 Digital Link, unique digital identities are created during the manufacturing process, linking product, quality, and origin data with the respective component.
With its PASS-X.EU platform, Additive Marking complements physical marking by providing the associated product data for applications such as the Digital Product Passport (DPP). This creates an end-to-end connection between the physical product and digital data, from manufacturing and use through to the circular economy.
Against the backdrop of the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), this connection is becoming increasingly important. With the DPP, the European Union is laying the foundation for greater transparency regarding the origin, composition, and life cycle of products. Additive Marking already enables companies to capture the required data in a standardized way, link it to the product, and make it available digitally.
“Our mission is to identify companies that not only use GS1 standards, but also transfer them into new fields of application. Additive Marking does exactly that with a solution that industry needs in order to stay one step ahead of upcoming regulatory requirements,” says Benjamin Birker, Managing Director at butterfly & elephant.
Image material:
2. Benjamin Birker, Managing Director butterfly & elephant - Credits: butterfly & elephant
Press contact:
GS1 Germany GmbH
Marie Euler
Manager Corporate Communications
Stolberger Straße 108 a, 50933 Köln
Phone: +49 170 7009027
E-Mail: marie.euler@gs1.de
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