The age of the ‘Industrial Internet’ has arrived and to be successful, companies will need to change the way they do business in the future.
Manufacturing on Demand -- 3-D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
Stereo lithography and 3-D printing have made significant movement from prototype to volume production in the past couple of years.
The process of making a 3-D computer aided design (CAD) into a physical and fully operational product is a technology that can significantly change the way products are manufactured. For example, low volume aircraft turbine parts made from Inconel alloys tend to be dimensionally more accurate than traditionally machined parts.
Another prime example is medical prosthetics, which can be needed at a remote hospital where logistical constraints make the shipping of parts too difficult or costly.
Finally, consider parts for a machine that may no longer be in production; the cost to traditionally re-tool such a part is not economically feasible. These are all examples of where ‘production additive manufacturing’ can add substantial value to the market.
When evaluating manufacturing on demand, there are several factors to consider in order to properly utilize the technology:
The first is the intellectual property and design of your product, which becomes much more important. It must be controlled and protected, especially if end- users are permitted to fabricate parts on their own.
Enforcing the proper design controls is equally important when streamlining the development to production process. Less people and time will be required from initial design to production. Fewer steps can impact the internal review process; meaning that design errors which were once monitored by staff might go unaccounted for in the future. Controlled and systematic design and reviews must be in place.
Quality control regulations are especially needed for field production. The responsibility of design and specification extends to the actual part being produced in the field.
Lastly, a sound methodology is needed to manage the digital rights of the intellectual property. This includes control over accounting, sales production and all the metrics and data needed for business decision-making.
With knowledge of these challenges, a manufacturer looking to adopt this technology will discover that each of these points can be addressed. The ability to integrate CAD from production manufacturing flows is available -- as are design review and workflow, ranging to control product and design accuracy. Digital rights management for field-produced parts is available, as is the ability to collect the needed analytical data.
If a manufacturer makes an informed decision to embrace technology with a progressive, flexible architecture, that manufacturer is prepared to attain success.
For more next-gen manufacturing trends, see part two of the series.
Warren Smith is a senior industry consultant and business strategy architect for the automotive and aftermarket industries at Infor.
