Company patents
Sodick Co., Ltd.
Sodick Co., Ltd. demonstrates a surprising shift in its patent strategy, with a strong and emerging focus on Plastics Shaping & Molding, which saw a significant 62.5% year-over-year growth in 2024 and accounts for 39.5% of its portfolio. This comes despite a notable decline in historically strong areas like Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) and Powder Metallurgy, both experiencing substantial year-over-year decreases of over 40% in recent years, indicating a strategic pivot away from these areas.
Patent Trend by Technology Area
Yearly patent publications since 2023
Product themes
Product-level themes inferred from filings since 2023, with category chips showing where each theme appears. Select a theme to filter the patents below.
81 US filings (since 2023) · 8 categories · 14 themes
Systems and methods for real-time sensing, modeling, and closed-loop control of additive manufacturing parameters to ensure part quality, consistency, and process efficiency. This includes thermal management, atmospheric regulation, and precise material deposition.
Techniques for building three-dimensional metal objects layer-by-layer using metal powders, including powder bed fusion, binder jetting, and directed energy deposition. This theme encompasses process mechanics, equipment design, and operational control for AM systems.
Integration of additive manufacturing with subtractive manufacturing (e.g., machining, cutting) or other traditional processes within a single system or workflow to create parts with improved features, surface finish, or material properties, or to enable new manufacturing paradigms.
Methods and equipment for continuously shaping plastic materials by forcing them through a die, often involving screw extruders, heating elements, and downstream calibration.
Processes involving the application of heat and pressure to shape thermoplastic or elastomeric materials, often using molds or presses, to achieve specific forms or material properties.
Techniques and equipment for transforming raw food materials into finished products, focusing on efficiency, quality, texture modification, or specific physical alterations like extrusion, drying, or selective material removal.
Techniques and systems utilizing laser beams for precise material modification, including cutting, cladding, ablation, and surface treatment, often for joining, shaping, or removing material.
Techniques for combining multiple materials or layers, often with specialized surface treatments, coatings, or assembly methods, to create functional or aesthetically enhanced plastic articles, including consumer goods and encapsulated electronics.
Methods and compositions for developing new protein sources (e.g., microbial, plant-based blends) or utilizing controlled fermentation processes to create novel food products, improve nutritional profiles, or enhance specific characteristics like texture or flavor.
Systems and methods for accurately measuring and compensating for position, orientation, and movement errors in mechanical systems, often for manufacturing, robotics, or optical alignment.
Systems and methods for precisely controlling welding parameters such as power, speed, oscillation, and material feed to optimize weld quality, consistency, and efficiency, often involving automated or semi-automated processes.
Integrated systems that combine multiple types of measurements (e.g., dimensional, thermal, strain, flow) to monitor and control industrial processes, structural integrity, or product quality.
Production of materials where properties vary continuously or discontinuously through the volume, often achieved by combining different powders or applying specialized coatings like thermal sprays to enhance surface hardness, wear resistance, or thermal properties.
Development and processing of metal powders with specific magnetic properties, including soft magnetic alloys, permanent magnet materials, and insulated powders for electronic components, often involving precise control of particle size, morphology, and composition.
Patents
Showing 1-5 of 5
Welding Process Control