What is 3D Printing Technology?
In the provided case scenario, the author has been asked to analyze if incorporating the 3D printing technology in the business process of the company will be advantageous or not. The mentioned organization is associated with producing computers and printers for various business and is running in Victoria for over 10 years now.
The company is planning to expand its services to businesses that are present in Australia as well as United States. The main aim of the company is to expand its business in the cheapest way possible without the need to create additional infrastructures. The company is concerned about the security and authentication problem that the company may face due to the new technology.
The report provides information if the new incorporated technology will allow the company to expand in an elegant way.
The aim of the report is:-
- To gather information about 3D printing technology
- To evaluate the uses of the technology in various industries
- To check the implication of the technology in various industries and how it will be implemented
- To discuss the pros and cons of the new technology with respect to the mentioned scenario
- To check the proper recommendations for the issues
The purpose of the report is to provide the Austrian manufacturing companies with relevant information about incorporating 3D printing technologies in their manufacturing process.
3D printing technology is the manufacturing process by which a structure is created with the help of layering 3D parts one by one with the help of a CAD design data. With the help of a printer and computer, the technology allows a designer to create meaningful and efficient designs into its physical form. With the help of a CAD software, the design is analysed by the printer.
The software then processes the design from the CAD file and converts it to standard tessellation language fie or STL FILE. The STL file transforms the design into triangulated and vertical shapes. The STL file allows the printer to read thousands of layers of the design. The single layer 2D designs are read by the printer and added on top of another to create a 3D structure (Coward, 2015). Before the printing process. Every 3D printing technology incorporates the slicing process. The designing of the layers depends on the technology, desired resolution, project timeline and material. The thinner the layers are, the more detailed the structure becomes.
In 3d printing technology, several developments have occurred over the years. Speed printing is one development. The 3D printing technology uses the layering technology to print their designs.
The CEO of Carbon3D wanted to change the entire process of tedious and slow technology into a revolutionary polymer designing. Monolithic designs are created from a pool of polymer in this new technology (De Wolf, Croes & Beyne, 2018). The technology is incredibly efficient as has the capability to print at 100 times the speed of conventional 3d printing.
Advancements in 3D Printing Technology
The second development in this field revolves around the 3D printed vaccines that were introduced in 2017. A single vaccine has the capability to offer multiple vaccinations. The researchers in StampEd Assembly of polymer Layers used SEAL technology to create a number of vaccines in a micro particle that was created using 3D printing technology. It has an added benefit of biologically degrading at a particular rate.
SOLS organization makes 3d printed shoes and orthotics with the help of 3D printing technology. The technology is utilized as per the customer’s individual requests (Alifui-Segbaya et al., 2017). With the help of new mobile applications, customer will be able to order their customized shoes online.
The Dragonfly 2020 is a 3d printer that is offered by a company known as the Nano Dimension. By using nanotech inks, the company is focused on using this technology in manufacturing processes. The company is primarily focused on small scale organisations that require circuitry designing (Gordon, 2015). The company creates professionally layered circuit boards which saves a lot of time for the designers.
The airline company, Boeing has efficiently used the 3D printing technology. With the help of 20000 3D printers, the company has created military as well as commercial planes. The technology has provided over 30 parts for the new 787 Dreamliner airplane (Horne & Hausman, 2017). For creating air ducts, doors and hinges, this technology is utilized. Boeing has invested in aerospace and utilizes the Stratasys 3D printers.
For creating ophthalmic lenses, this technology is used in medical scenarios by the organization, Luxexcel. Luxexcel is also invested in coated, occupational lenses and passive foils (Lee et al. 2014).
Another company known as FicTiV has changed the entire concept of 3D printing technology by offering its printing services to other companies with a delivery time of 24 hours. The manufacturing process has to be chosen by the client and the CAD file needs to be uploaded. The company has a previous history of working who other renowned companies such as Williams-Sonoma, Whistle and Synapse.
The use of 3D printing technology in the manufacturing process of companies is extensive. With the help of 3D sand printer, it is used to make casting moulds in transportation businesses. It takes normally more than six months to make a single mould but with the help of the new technology the same mould can be created in less than a week. Fir developmental purpose, it is used to make prototypes.
Applications of 3D Printing Technology
The cost of making turbine blades with the help of 3D technology can cut down its cost of manufacturing by 50% (Coward, 2015). With the help of 3d printing, the manufacturing industries can make heat exchangers, housing compressor with temperature sensor, ATP engines and Dishwater components.
3d printing technology has been used in medical industries to make printed bone structures. The technology has been used immensely in prosthetics, hearing aids and foetuses. In the future, the technology can be used to facilitate stem cell research.
Nowadays, even stethoscopes can be made by using this technology (King & Kelly, 2017). According to the patient’s requirements, cells as well as specific drugs can be bio printed. The technology also has a huge application in dentistry.
In the business operation of the organization, the 3D printing technology which is used by Nano Dimensions can be utilized. Nano Dimensions use special Nano inks to make circuit board prototypes. The deposition material used by the printer uses an inkjet like material. To create the PCB boards, a curing system that is heat based is used. Developing and manufacturing PCBs is very expensive.
If the companies can invest in this technology, it can save money and time (Lipson, 2014). As individual printers will be located in the company, the transportation charges of the final products will be saved as well. The circuit prototyping process is conducted by insulating a dielectric material first and putting a silver based Nano ink on top of the board.
The second application of the 3D based technology which the company can benefit from is due to the efficiency of the technology. The organization can cut back on the costs of developing printers and computers by allowing the team to rethink their geometry and make standardized boards. They will also be able to change the form and factor of the boards for experimental purposes.
Another application of the technology for the mentioned organization is the ability to create small scale models and prototypes. For putting the hardware in different models of the product, continuous innovation is necessary.
The technology can be used by manufacturers for researching prototype model which suits specific customer needs. Outsourcing the research process is negated due to this technology where the researchers and developers can work side by side to improve the final model.
The advantages of using this technology in the manufacturing process of the organization cannot be ignored.
The new technology will allow the organisation to design products quickly, customize hem, reduce then overall cots and test products efficiently. For developing various electronic parts in the organization, this technology can come handy.
Secondly, the technology can be used by the mentioned organization to engage in one step manufacturing process which is incidentally cheaper than the conventional methods. This will allow the organisation to negate its dependability on other manufacturing processes as the designing can be done in a single step now (Sheshadri & Shirwaiker, 2015).
Thirdly, the ease of access of the mentioned technology will enable the organisation to manufacture printers and computers efficiently. Moreover, 3D printing requires a small number of staff to maintain unlike the conventional methods of manufacturing where a huge workforce is required to look after every manufacturing level.
Benefits of Incorporating 3D Printing Technology in Manufacturing Process
Also, the learning curve of accessing the 3D printers is very low compared to other technologies which is why the sale of 3D printers have increased since 2011 (O’Neill & Williams, 2018).
Another advantage of using this technology for making printers and computers is the minimum generation of wastage which is not possible with conventional methods of manufacturing.
This will allow the mentioned organisation to generate less carbon footprint and contribute positively to the environment increasing the sustainability of the organization.
The first disadvantage is that the process of 3D printing eliminates a number of traditional manufacturing processes which has slowed down other technological innovations such as rapid prototyping and tool development (Lipson, 2014).
The second disadvantage of the technology is that it might be not suitable for certain product development environment.
As the societal, economic and political impacts of the technology are still being researched, the impact that the technology can have is still undetermined (Otfinoski, 2016). Utilizing this technology without proper assessment can lead to indirect effects such as hazardous complications and wastage of important resources.
The third disadvantage of the technology is its high energy consumption. Instead of melting the metal with traditional heat and lasers, some 3D printing technology use over 100 times the energy used for creating injection moulding.
If the electronics are in a small batch, then utilizing this technology is feasible (Moon et al. 2014). For large batches such as for the mentioned organization along with the high energy consumption, this technology is not feasible.
The fourth disadvantage of the technology is its utilization cost. The basic investment for this technology for any organization is over millions of dollars which is feasible in the long run but it is difficult to justify as a lot of resources need to be deployed for its maintenance and arranging the raw materials (Perritano, 2017).
The ethical point of 3D application in this scenario is that the funding that any project gets for R&D purposes. The funding is generally given by a third party who rarely has a knowledge about the project that they are funding. This raises an ethical question about how can one judge which project needs funding over another and how it is justified which project is more significant than the other.
The social aspect of using this technology is the loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector. Since the 3D printing technology eliminates a lot of subtractive manufacturing resulting in the reduction of the labor costs, it poses a huge social risk due to rise in unemployment which can affect a huge number of people financially (Gebler, Uiterkamp & Visser, 2014).
Disadvantages of Incorporating 3D Printing Technology in Manufacturing Process
The legal point of view of this application is copyright infringement. As 3d printing is done with a blueprint, it becomes increasingly difficult for the organization to check whether they are violating any other copyright laws (O’Neill & Williams, 2018). Violation of copyright laws can affect the manufacturing process of the company in the future.
The organization can use 3d printing technology as an additive technology to assist the traditional manufacturing processes of the company. This way the social aspect of the technology can be targeted to prevent the loss of jobs of individuals and retain the effective manufacturing of the organization.
The second recommendation is to check effectively whether the organization is not violating any copyright laws. In this way the legal aspect of the technology can be addressed. Making of more copyright violated laws can harm the future manufacturing process of the company.
The third recommendation is to find a raw material for the 3d manufacturing process that will be feasible for the company to manufacture in a large scale (Micallef, 2015). The organisation needs to put is resources in R&D to develop a material that is cheap and easily available.
Conclusion
To conclude the report, it can be stated that immense benefit can be enjoyed by the organization if 3D printing technology is adopted for its expansion schemes. As the 3d printing technology is still in its nascent stage, a lot of research needs to be done in this field to check whether implementation of the technology within the manufacturing processes of the company would be beneficial.
In the report, the potential advantages and the disadvantages of the project has been discussed. The pros and cons of the technology has been discussed and assessed. From a legal, social and ethical point of view, the technology has been discussed and evaluated. For addressing this particular issues, three recommendations has been proposed for the organization. The industries that are using the technology in Austria has been evaluated and assessed and the current uses of the technology in various fields has been discussed.
The CEO of the mentioned organization needs to understand that as the technology is relatively new, it can have some social and legal repercussions that might set back the company in its expansion process. The CEO needs to consider using the technology alongside the traditional processes for now and later use the technology as a whole when the doubts regarding the effectiveness of the technology has been cleared out. The organization needs to use this technology in some branches of the organization and discuss a risk management strategy just in case everything goes sideways.
References
Alifui-Segbaya, F., Varma, S., Lieschke, G., & George, R. (2017). Biocompatibility of Photopolymers in 3D Printing. 3D Printing And Additive Manufacturing, 4(4), 185-191. doi: 10.1089/3dp.2017.0064
Barnatt, C. (2014). 3D printing.
Coward, C. (2015). 3D printing.
De Wolf, I., Croes, K., & Beyne, E. (2018). Expected Failures in 3-D Technology and Related Failure Analysis Challenges. IEEE Transactions On Components, Packaging And Manufacturing Technology, 8(5), 711-718. doi: 10.1109/tcpmt.2018.2810321
Gebler, M., Uiterkamp, A. J. S., & Visser, C. (2014). A global sustainability perspective on 3D printing technologies. Energy Policy, 74, 158-167.
Gordon, R. (2015). Trends in Commercial 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing. 3D Printing And Additive Manufacturing, 2(2), 89-90. doi: 10.1089/3dp.2015.28999.rgo
Horne, R., & Hausman, K. (2017). 3D printing.
King, D., & Kelly, J. (2017). 3D printing projects.
Lee, V. K., Kim, D. Y., Ngo, H., Lee, Y., Seo, L., Yoo, S. S., … & Dai, G. (2014). Creating perfused functional vascular channels using 3D bio-printing technology. Biomaterials, 35(28), 8092-8102.
Lipson, H. (2014). Welcome to3DP. 3D Printing And Additive Manufacturing, 1(1), 1-1. doi: 10.1089/3dp.2013.1501
Micallef, J. (2015). Beginning Design for 3D Printing. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
Moon, S. K., Tan, Y. E., Hwang, J., & Yoon, Y. J. (2014). Application of 3D printing technology for designing light-weight unmanned aerial vehicle wing structures. International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology, 1(3), 223-228.
O’Neill, T., & Williams, J. (2018). 3D printing.
Otfinoski, S. (2016). 3D printing.
Perritano, J. (2017). 3D printing.
Sheshadri, P., & Shirwaiker, R. (2015). Characterization of Material–Process–Structure Interactions in the 3D Bioplotting of Polycaprolactone. 3D Printing And Additive Manufacturing, 2(1), 20-31. doi: 10.1089/3dp.2014.0025
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