A system to facilitate creation of an industrial asset item , comprising: an industrial asset item definition data store containing at least one electronic record defining the industrial asset item ; and an automated support structure creation platform, coupled to the industrial asset item definition data store, that executes an optimization process, and is characterized by : a communication port adapted to receive the at least one electronic record defining the industrial asset item , and a support structure optimization computer processor coupled to the communication port and adapted to automatically create support structure geometry data associated with an additive printing process for the industrial asset item , wherein said creation is performed via an iterative loop between a build process simulation engine and a topology optimization engine; wherein the build process simulation engine is configured to simulate a build process associated with the additive printing process to correlate displacement values with surface areas of the industrial asset item and establish distortion constraints; wherein the topology optimization engine minimizes an amount of material associated with at least one support structure while satisfying the distortion constraints. an industrial asset item definition data store containing at least one electronic record defining the industrial asset item ; and an automated support structure creation platform, coupled to the industrial asset item definition data store, that executes an optimization process, and is characterized by : a communication port adapted to receive the at least one electronic record defining the industrial asset item , and a support structure optimization computer processor coupled to the communication port and adapted to automatically create support structure geometry data associated with an additive printing process for the industrial asset item , wherein said creation is performed via an iterative loop between a build process simulation engine and a topology optimization engine; wherein the build process simulation engine is configured to simulate a build process associated with the additive printing process to correlate displacement values with surface areas of the industrial asset item and establish distortion constraints; wherein the topology optimization engine minimizes an amount of material associated with at least one support structure while satisfying the distortion constraints. a communication port adapted to receive the at least one electronic record defining the industrial asset item , and a support structure optimization computer processor coupled to the communication port and adapted to automatically create support structure geometry data associated with an additive printing process for the industrial asset item , wherein said creation is performed via an iterative loop between a build process simulation engine and a topology optimization engine; wherein the build process simulation engine is configured to simulate a build process associated with the additive printing process to correlate displacement values with surface areas of the industrial asset item and establish distortion constraints; wherein the topology optimization engine minimizes an amount of material associated with at least one support structure while satisfying the distortion constraints. <EOS>