Member Article

Black Pepper wins 3D printing retail project

Black Pepper Software Ltd has today announced it has won a contract to develop the software for a cutting-edge 3D printing retail project, enabling consumers to design and print their own loom-band jewellery.

The development project gives Black Country Atelier (BCA) a commercial opportunity to grow and develop the role of 3D printing and laser cutting within the mainstream retail environment using mobile technology. The BCA Digital Maker allows consumers to design their own loom-band jewellery and print the items in a high street retailer

The announcement follows predictions that 2015 will be the year 3D printing comes to fruition. Gartner cites the technology as one to watch, “Worldwide shipments of 3D printers are expected to grow 98 percent in 2015, followed by a doubling of unit shipments in 2016.”

John Cooke, managing director of Black Pepper Software, says, “We’re delighted to be a part of this innovative project. 3D printing will continue moving into the mainstream this year and the new project from Black Country Atelier will be at the forefront of this growth”.

Mitesh Patel, BCA’s chief creative officer, adds, “The progress and feedback of the new project has been fantastic. We received great feedback from our events and we’re now making strategic developments to bring the app to the masses”.

The BCA Digital Maker was built using Agile Software Development. BCA tasked Black Pepper with the goal of delivering the prototype Digital Maker within a very short time frame. The team was challenged to develop an app that BCA could demonstrate at a trade show taking place just one week after the project had begun.

Using agile methodology, the project was broken down into segments, known as iterations and each segment was prioritised. Due to the incredibly tight time scales, iterations of the project were carried out every few hours to ensure the program was on track to deliver in the short time frame.

This rate of development was extremely fast, as the average iteration is normally two weeks rather than hours. Hourly iterations ensured there was constant dialog between Black Pepper and BCA to guarantee constant feedback and eradicate any wasted time.

John adds, “In my experience, to build the system in five days from inception to live is a great achievement and is very rare in this industry and for a project this complex. The agile approach helped make incredibly quick decisions, aided communication with BCA and kept the development on track”.

The new technology is currently in its final stages of development and will be launched this year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Black Pepper Software .