TRACE Ecosystem + CALIBRA – One Connected Digital Factory with Four Specialized Systems
TRACE Ecosystem + CALIBRA connects metrology, maintenance, tools and materials, production readiness and the Virtual Factory concept through four specialized industrial systems that can operate independently or together.
An increasing part of 3DPS development focuses on solutions that improve visibility across the manufacturing environment instead of handling only a single machine or isolated process. This direction has grown into TRACE Ecosystem + CALIBRA: four industrial systems that can operate independently while being designed to work together.
Not another monolithic system intended to replace everything
One of the core principles is that a factory should not have to replace everything at once. Each product can be introduced independently, while TRACE interoperability allows selected information to move between systems in a controlled way. A company can therefore start with metrology or maintenance and expand its digital factory environment later.
CALIBRA
Calibration and metrology. Measuring-instrument registry, calibration status and due dates, certificates and documents, auditable history, QR-based quick access and instrument-validity management.
MainTrace
Maintenance and work management. Machine and equipment registry, preventive maintenance planning, tasks and work orders, downtime tracking, inspections and maintenance history.
ProTrace
Tools, materials and production readiness. Tool and material management, inventory visibility, purchasing workflows and support for ensuring that required resources are available at the right time.
CoreTrace
The connecting layer and Virtual Factory. Factory-level visibility across the specialized systems, a shared access and integration environment, and the developing visual representation of the factory.
Connecting real manufacturing situations
The value becomes clearest when individual areas no longer operate as isolated information islands. For a production task it may not be enough to know that a machine is available. The required tool and material may also need to be present, the measuring instrument may need a valid calibration status, and maintenance conditions may affect production risk.
TRACE is designed to turn these signals into a controlled, unified view while allowing every domain to retain its own specialized application.
Interoperability with controlled boundaries
Communication between the systems is based on the trace.interop 1.1 protocol. Its design includes unique message identification and idempotent processing, push/pull recovery, Bearer authentication and HMAC-SHA256 signing. A key rule is that one product does not directly write into another product's business database: the source system remains authoritative for its own data.
Virtual Factory: putting information into spatial context
One of CoreTrace's most visual development directions is the Virtual Factory. The goal goes beyond displaying a static floor plan. It is intended to provide an editable factory view where buildings, roads, plants, areas and departments can be positioned and connected to information from the TRACE systems. The concept also supports map imagery and preserves an editable source alongside a fast generated view.
Modular deployment – start with the problem
TRACE does not require factory digitalization to begin with a complete site-wide transformation. A pilot can start in one workshop, with a group of machines, a set of measuring instruments or one production workflow. Once measurable value is achieved, the deployment can expand.
“One ecosystem. Four specialized products. One connected digital factory.”
Opening toward international manufacturing – with a strong focus on China
An important next step is cooperation with international manufacturers. Opening toward the Chinese market is particularly important to us, not merely as a sales objective, but as an opportunity to build long-term technical partnerships in real manufacturing environments.
We aim to work with Chinese manufacturing partners that can evaluate the system through real production processes, provide feedback about local requirements and take part in the further evolution of TRACE. The multilingual architecture and Simplified Chinese localization provide a technical foundation for this direction.
Four products, one direction
CALIBRA, MainTrace, ProTrace and CoreTrace remain separate specialized products. That is a central part of the concept: companies do not have to choose between independence and integration. Each product can deliver value on its own, while together they can form the foundation of a connected digital factory.
