How 3D Printing Will Drive Your Supply Chain
Aspirational visits to disappointing evening classes, damp garden centres – the word ceramic does not, perhaps, immediately conjure up high-tech thoughts.
Ceramics are nonetheless used in a huge range of advanced applications. Generally defined as non-metallic and inorganic materials, they stop spacecraft from disintegrating and burning across the sky as they re-enter the atmosphere, replace ageing and damaged bones and one variant protects soldiers in bulletproof vests.
Singapore 3D printing service bureau Spare Parts 3D has joined a DNV GL Joint Industry Project (JIP) for additive manufacturing.
Together, Spare Parts 3D and the global quality assurance and risk assessment company will work on standard procedure for integrating 3D printing within marine, offshore, oil and gas industries.
“We see a fantastic opportunity in collaborating with DNV GL on this JIP to communalize and frontload the qualification & certification efforts and to build a Marine and O&G industry standard,” comments Paul Guillaumot, CEO of Spare Parts 3D.
From spare parts for the automotive sector to aircraft components and consumer goods, 3D printing technology can be produced quickly and inexpensively, with the added benefit that items can be more easily personalised.
German chemical giant BASF is among those taking significant strides in additive manufacturing and is collaborating with a growing network of organisations in an effort to take the applications of 3D printing beyond the prototype phase.
3D design and printing technology has advanced at an alarming rate. We can now print complex objects from different materials, in different colors, in rapid time — even in the comfort of our own homes.
Then there’s the varied commercial applications for 3D printing (3DP). One survey of US manufacturers found that two out of three companies are already adopting 3DP in some way. Some of these companies include General Electric, Nike, Airbus, Amazon, Hasbro, Hershey’s, Boeing, and Ford. And we hear countless stories of 3D-printed houses, cars, aircraft components, musical instruments, shoes, robots, and body parts, just to give a few examples.
At inception in the early 1980s, 3D printing appeared futuristic, but it has evolved since then. Today, it has gone mainstream and, gaining application in various industries.
According to this PWC survey, about 51% of industrial manufacturers in America are already using 3D printing in various ways compared to 35% two years back.
Along with prototyping and even some end use parts, employing additive technology on the factory floor allows engineers and technicians to manifest tools, jigs, and replacement parts with drastically shorter lead time. So if something breaks, all you need to is send the digital file of what you need to the machine and get printing. Below is a look at how 3D printers can be applied in maintenance management.
Stratasys announced that GKN Aerospace is improving production times and removing design constraints for multiple tooling applications since integrating additive manufacturing at its Filton manufacturing site in the UK.
Time cut from several weeks to a few hours using Stratasys Production 3D Printer: GKN Aerospace is producing complex tools that were uneconomical or impossible to make without additive manufacturing.
GKN serves over 90 percent of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers with aerostructures, engine systems and technologies.
According to , the company decided to invest in the Stratasys F900 Production 3D Printer in a bid to cut lead times for production-line tools, and to create complex parts, impossible to make with traditional manufacturing methods.
Industrial 3D printing is also referred as additive printing technology that enables manufacturers to develop objects using a digital file and variety of printing materials. Global market for 3D printing material include polymers, metals and ceramics. In addition, industrial 3D printing offers a wide array of applications in various industries.
The Industrial 3D Printing market is expected to exceed more than US$ 7 Billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 27% in the given forecast period.
The scope of the report includes a detailed study of Industrial 3D Printing market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.
3D design and printing technology has advanced at an alarming rate. We can now print complex objects from different materials, in different colors, in rapid time — even in the comfort of our own homes.
Then there’s the varied commercial applications for 3D printing (3DP). One survey of US manufacturers found that two out of three companies are already adopting 3DP in some way. Some of these companies include General Electric, Nike, Airbus, Amazon, Hasbro, Hershey’s, Boeing, and Ford. And we hear countless stories of 3D-printed houses, cars, aircraft components, musical instruments, shoes, robots, and body parts, just to give a few examples.
IMTS 2018 set all time records for attendance and exhibit space. At this years event it was evident that additive manufacturing is increasingly finding application within the wider manufacturing universe.
Peter R. Eelman, Vice President, VP of organizers AMT describes AM as “one of the most revolutionary technologies ever brought to IMTS” with an “unprecedented degree of collaboration among exhibitors to develop additive manufacturing, automation and connected systems.”
Siemens Mobility GmbH, part of Siemens AG, has opened its first digital rail maintenance centre, eliminating the need for inventory of selected spare parts.
The Siemens Mobility RRX Rail Service Center located in Dortmund-Eving, Germany, houses a Stratasys Fortus 450mc Production 3D printer which is being used produce replacement parts and tooling on-demand. Siemens Mobility has reduced the manufacturing time of select parts by up to 95%.
The RRX Rail Service Center is expecting around a hundred trains to enter the depot every month. Michael Kuczmik, Head of Additive Manufacturing, Siemens Mobility GmbH, Customer Service says 3D printing will play an integral role in optimising “spare parts for longer life cycles, at reduced cost and in shorter timeframes than ever before.”