Reinventing Manufacturing

Major Drivers of Change
Technological Advances
Manufacturing technology is testing and reshaping
the traditional processes of reductive manufacturing,
multi-component assembly, and manual labor in favor
of more efficient and high-performing processes
based on additive manufacturing and increasingly
smart, flexible automation.
Additive Manufacturing
With more than thirty years of technological development,
additive manufacturing, also referred to as 3D
printing, has quietly promised to revolutionize manufacturing;
only recently, however, has this formerly
underground fervor gained mainstream media attention.
Despite the tendency for enthusiasm about its potential
to get ahead of its practical applications, additive
manufacturing is already providing traditionally highcost
regions with an opportunity to regain manufacturing
competitiveness.
Today, production level applications of 3D printing are
primarily attractive for low-volume, high-cost products
or highly customized applications such as medical
devices and aerospace and defense parts. This early
adoption, however, is driving technology, infrastructure,
and cost improvements that are making additive manufacturing
increasingly competitive for larger batch sizes
and broader applications. The technology also enables
design-to-buy product development by allowing an unprecedented
level of product personalization. As investments
and advancements continue, financial markets are
responding: stock valuations in the sector are growing,
private equity is increasingly moving money into 3D
printing companies, and M&A activity is picking up.
While this momentum is likely to create a tipping
point in the next few years, the definitive answer to
the question “How can I use additive manufacturing
to create a competitive advantage for my company?”
still remains elusive for most executives. Manufacturing
leaders must continue to monitor advances in the field,
particularly as three advantaged characteristics become
more prominent: unconstrained design, variable cost
manufacturing, and end user value creation.
Unconstrained Design
Four applications will allow the full potential of additive
manufacturing to come to life.
Prototype Iteration: With additive manufacturing,
not only can prototypes be made with limited
machine downtime, but production tooling itself can
be 3D printed and can be more readily adapted to
the evolving iterations of prototypes.
Customization: By dramatically reducing the timelines
needed for customization, additive manufacturing
will allow potentially unlimited ways for innovative
companies to create customer-specific products in lot
sizes as small as one.
Design Extension: Value-added design features that
are too costly to implement with current production
methods, such as internal webbing for dramatically
improved strength-to-weight ratio, become not only
possible, but prolific (see Figure 7).
New Algorithms: Algorithms that seek to
improve customer experience and product value
will emerge as advanced computing companies
develop programs that generate designs based on
functional requirements.
Figure 7: Design Extension for Improved
Strength-to-Weight Ratio
Images courtesy of Autodesk
In collaboration with Autodesk, architect David
Benjamin started with a simple solid chair (left), applied
design software to reduce weight (center), and then fed
the design constraints (e.g., the weight the chair must
bear) into a 3D design system capable of evaluating an
infinite number of ways to build the same product. The
result (right) was a stronger seat weighing 70% less than
the solid chair.
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