Meet ChatETS
A generative AI engineering assistant powered by 40+ years of distilled plastics engineering principles. Ask it anything about design, materials, processing, or failure modes — and get answers grounded in real-world expertise.
Try ChatETS Free →No login required. Start asking questions immediately.
What Is ChatETS?
ChatETS is a RAG-based (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) AI assistant that draws on ETS's proprietary knowledge base — decades of engineering principles, material data, design rules, and failure analysis distilled into an intelligent conversational interface.
Design Guidance
Get instant feedback on wall thickness, draft angles, rib design, snap-fit geometry, and other DFM fundamentals. ChatETS applies the same principles taught in ETS seminars for over four decades.
Material Selection
Ask about polymer properties, material trade-offs, and application suitability. ChatETS helps you navigate the complex landscape of engineering resins, from commodity to high-performance.
Process Troubleshooting
Describe a defect — warpage, sink marks, short shots, jetting — and ChatETS walks you through probable root causes and corrective actions based on real-world pattern recognition.
How It Works
Ask Your Question
Type any plastics engineering question in natural language. No specialized syntax or keywords required.
AI Retrieves Context
ChatETS searches ETS's curated knowledge base of engineering principles, design rules, and material data to find relevant expertise.
Get Grounded Answers
Receive responses anchored in 40+ years of distilled engineering experience — not generic internet content.
Not Just Another Chatbot
Generic AI gives generic answers. ChatETS is built on domain-specific expertise.
Generic AI (ChatGPT, etc.)
- Trained on internet content of varying quality
- No understanding of manufacturing constraints
- Often confidently wrong about DFM specifics
- Can't distinguish theoretical vs. production-proven
- No awareness of material-process interactions
ChatETS
- Powered by curated, expert-validated knowledge
- Understands real-world manufacturing trade-offs
- Answers grounded in decades of failure data
- Distinguishes textbook theory from shop-floor reality
- Knows how materials actually behave in production
What You Can Ask
"What wall thickness should I use for ABS?"
Get material-specific recommendations with reasoning, not just a number from a table.
"Why is my part warping after ejection?"
ChatETS walks through differential cooling, packing, gate location, and fiber orientation as potential causes.
"PEEK vs PEI for a battery housing?"
Compare high-performance polymers across thermal, mechanical, processability, and cost dimensions.
"How do I design a cantilever snap-fit?"
Get the engineering principles, proportions, and material-specific strain limits that make snap-fits work.
"What causes sink marks near ribs?"
Understand the relationship between rib-to-wall ratios, packing pressure, and material shrinkage.
"Help me pick a resin for outdoor UV exposure."
Navigate UV stabilization options, material degradation mechanisms, and cost-effective solutions.
Beyond Q&A — Engineering Tools Inside the Chat
ChatETS isn't just conversational AI. When you ask for a calculation, simulation, or compliance check, it invokes real engineering tools and returns structured, verifiable results.
Ask
General Q&A
Research
Deep multi-step research
Design
Component sizing & design rules
Materials
Selection & analysis
Analysis
Calculators & FEA
Manufacturing
DFM, process, quoting
Orchestrate
Multi-agent workflows
Reason
Step-by-step math
Engineering Tool Invocation
Run real analysis in-chat instead of getting an estimate.
- FEA simulation — static, modal, thermal, buckling
- UAP physics validation of 3D geometry
- DFM analysis for molding, CNC, FDM, SLA
- Manufacturing quotes & order placement
Engineering Calculators (API)
Deterministic math, not estimation — via the Applied Physics Engine.
- Snap-fit, beam deflection, stress intensity
- Fatigue life, contact stress, living hinge
- Thermal expansion, creep, chemical compatibility
PPAP & Compliance
Get compliance work done inside the conversation.
- 18-element PPAP submission packages
- Rules-driven completeness & compliance checks
- AI-generated analysis reports with PDF export
Knowledge Base & RAG
Answers grounded in your documents with verifiable citations.
- Upload PDF, DOCX, PPTX, CSV — auto-chunked & embedded
- Hybrid semantic + keyword search for maximum recall
- Cite document + page + relevance score on every answer
- RAG diagnostics & per-document statistics
Materials Intelligence
A searchable engineering materials catalog with AI understanding.
- Searchable material database with mechanical/thermal data
- Material comparison & temperature-dependent analysis
- RAG-powered semantic material search
Team, Security & Governance
Built for engineering teams and regulated enterprises.
- Multi-tenant organizations with role-based access
- SSO (Google, Azure AD, Okta, SAML2) + two-factor auth
- Full audit trail and per-org data isolation
- GDPR data export & deletion
Deploy on Your Terms
ChatETS runs as a shared SaaS (try it free now) or fully self-hosted with your own local AI models — no external API calls required when you choose on-premise inference.
SaaS / Cloud
Fastest path — try it free at chat.ets-corp.com, no account needed.
Self-Hosted
On-premise or air-gapped with local inference (LM Studio / Ollama).
API & Webhooks
Full REST API, Swagger docs, partner program, OIDC identity provider.
Embedded in ETS Build
Runs inline across the ETS Build workspace with page-aware context.
Start Getting Expert Answers Now
ChatETS is free to use. No account required. Just ask your question and get engineering guidance backed by 40+ years of expertise.