Integrating additive manufacturing into mainstream production

Integrating additive manufacturing into mainstream production

“The need for middle layer intelligence”

Dr Philip ReevesManaging Director – Econolyst Ltd

Presentation contents

• Background to Econolyst• Where is the service activity within RM• Why ‘intelligence’ is critical to RM success• The three emerging RM business models• How different intelligence supports different business

models• How knowledge and intelligence leads to business and

software tool development

Background• Econolyst is an East Midlands based technology consultancy formed in

2003

• Our background is to provide forecasting and market intelligence to the public sector on the impact of emerging manufacturing technologies in the supply chain

• We have produced a series of reports for regional government on:– The impact of emergent manufacturing technologies on supply chains– The impact of emergent technologies on skills and culture– The need for capital investment and business support to stimulate

technology uptake within the manufacturing supply chain

• Over the past 12 months this activity has progressively focused on additive manufacturing technologies

How have we been supporting our RM interests?

• Econolyst has been involved in a number of academic and industrial research projects investigating the management, implementation, design and materials issues surrounding RM

• We are retained by the Rapid Manufacturing Consortium at Loughborough University to undertake their business development,dissemination and web development activities

• We have developed and are delivering an RM master class for businesses, the public sector and RTO’s across Europe

• We are leading the supply chain and process validation work package of the DTI funded DAMASCUS project

• We have developed RM-Xchange, an RM business methodology and supply chain management toolkit

Why is econolyst interested in the service side of RM

• Manufacturing activity in the West is progressively being focused on value added ‘service’ activities coupled with technology

• There is a lots of work going on (and investment) in RM processes and materials

• However, little is being done on the management and implementation of the technology into business

• The flexibility of the technology makes the implementation possibilities very broad.

• There is significant opportunity to develop ‘service based products’ within the emerging RM supply chain

What is our strategy for RM

“To use ‘middle layer intelligence’ to develop

business, training & software tools to support the emerging

RM industry”

What is ‘middle layer intelligence’

• The enabling intelligence that is needed by both buyers and suppliers to ensure supply chains can operate efficiently and effectively

• Supply chain intelligence is the coupling of:– Technical knowledge– Business knowledge

• Without prior knowledge we have no intelligence!• Without research and application we cannot accrue

knowledge• Our aim is to gather intelligence and to stimulate and

influence the creation of new knowledge within RM

So why do I drive a Honda not a Ferrari!

There is very little ‘real’, scientific, tangible,

believable, credible, accessible intelligence

on Rapid Manufacturing.

We are lead to believe so much about RM• It eliminates the need for tooling• Reduced capital investment• Reduced lead times• Less waste material• Design freedoms• Mass personalisation• Economic batches of one• The benefits of functionally graded materials• Reduced inventory• Simplified supply chains• Flexible machine tools with multiple applications• Economic manufacture of topologically optimised components• More cost effective than injection moulding, casting, CNC machining

for an increasing number of components• Potential technology to lead a manufacturing renaissance in high wage

economies

So why have we not thrown down our moulds and cutters and bought dark glasses?

• RM as a philosophy is confusing• RM is sold as the ‘holy grail’ – maybe it isn’t!• To stimulate the implementation of RM across its potential user base,

we need to focus on developing business and process intelligence, not just new ALM processes and materials for existing application.

• There are literally 1000’s of applications for current RM processes (RP+) today, but they just aren’t happening! - WHY

The RM supply chain is far deeper than the RP supply chain

Concept design

Product design

Assembly and integration

Customer distribution

After sales service

Prototyping

Pre-production

Production

Part supply & logistics

RP supply chain

RM supply chain

Life cycle engineering


Concept design

Product design



After sales service

Prototyping

Pre-production

Production


RP supply chain

RM supply chain

RP Intelligence we have



Concept design

Product design



After sales service


Prototyping

Pre-production

Production


RP supply chain

RM supply chainRM IntelligenceWe need

The only similarity between RP and RM is the methodology of building parts

So where is the ‘intelligence’ problem!

• Universities, vendors and RTO’s takes ownership of knowledge generation

• However, no one is taking ownership of knowledge gathering and intelligence brokering

• Our approach has been to ‘decompose’ RM and focus on the intelligence needed in different RM business models and the resulting supply chains.

What do we believe are the different emerging RM business models!

Customisation & personalization

Low volume / high value manufacture

Design optimisation / function for ALM

1 2 3

Images courtesy of:Accufusion

ArcamBoeing

Loughborough University

Siemens

How do these business models effect the supply chain

1 2 3Customisation & personalization


Design optimisation for ALM

Enabling Disruptive Enabling & Disruptive

New supply chains needed

Integration into existing supply chain

Hybrid supply chain needed

Process & materials economics

Consumer demand and market pressure

Engineering demand & product function

Supply chain model

Supply chain requirement

Key business driver

In the business model not the RM

By the flexibility of the technology

By the function of additive manufacture

Value added

So what tools or intelligence do these supply chains need?

What tools will companies need to manage an ‘RM customisation supply chain’

1• Companies will need tools to integrate the customer into the supply

chain (possible intermediaries at first, such as orthodontist, doctor, optician) but ultimately the consumer

• Companies will need the tools to control design intent, IP issues, quality, after sales issues, part failure, liability and warranty

• Companies will need the tools to undertake make or buy analysis and to develop cost effective RM part supply methodologies

• If companies decide to buy RM parts from third parties they will need to specify issues such as quality, material and process conformance and data control within the supply chain

• This area of RM could stimulate a whole new raft of unique businesses that are consumer - trend orientated. 95% business and marketing, 5% engineering. Tools need to be simple and accessible

What tools will companies need to manage an ‘RM high value supply chain’

2• RM part users will need to become ‘intelligent customers’ capable of

managing the RM procurement process • They will need tools to make fundamental engineering decisions on

RM material properties (mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, aesthetic, toxicity)

• They will need access to process information (build envelope, accuracy, repeatability, bed variance, speed)

• They will need tools to provide rapid cost comparisons between RM and traditional technologies

• They will need tools to assess ‘business confidence’ in potential suppliers

What tools will companies need to manage an ‘RM high value supply chain’

2• They will need tools to identify or mark unique RM parts and link

parts with associated documentation• They will need tools to conduct e-auctions and access under utilized

capacity on disparate build platforms (GRID-RM) • Companies that use RM for high value low volume applications will

need tools to rapidly deploy digital data and part specifications • After part generation RM users will need tools to associate and

archive digital data such as build log files, SPC data, materialconformance and machine calibration certificates

What tools will companies need to manage a ‘design optimised RM supply chain’

3

• Companies that design RM optimised products will need new CAD systems and design tools that integrate geometric and parametricdesign with FEA and CFD.

• Such tools will require an extended set of material properties data such as mechanical properties, density and surface finish that are all specific to RM processes

• Companies may need new post manufacture testing procedures and processes such as new forms of NDT or new processes for fluid and gas flow analysis

Do we have the intelligence to support these supply chains?

1 2 3Customisation & personalization


Design optimisation for ALM

What intelligence do we already have

• We have ‘basic’ process variance information from the system vendors

• We have ‘basic’ materials property information from the material developers and vendors

• Most of this intelligence is aligned to RP applications and not RM

• We are starting to see much ‘deeper RM ‘knowledge’ coming from the University sector such as Loughborough

Tools - RM Materials Properties by age degradation and temperature

Courtesy of:

Analysis of different mechanical properties

Courtesy of:

Comparison of RM and traditional Materials

Courtesy of:

Selection of materials based on desired mechanical properties and characteristics

Courtesy of:

RM Costing Modelling tools

Courtesy of:

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

No. Parts

Cos

t per

par

t (£)

Breakeven analysis tools

Laser Sintering

Injection Moulding

Courtesy of:

But we have a lot of missing information

But we can start to use the information that we already have today, if it is ordered?1 2

• We have been working on an RM supply chain methodology called RM-Xchange

• The concept of RM-Xchange is to support the interface between RM part users, part buyers and RM part suppliers

• Our intention is to develop RM-Xchange as a fully functional web-based supply chain management solution linking the emerging RM demand community with the emerging part supply community

• RM-Xchange adds value through supplier validation and part and data traceability

But who will need tools like RM-Xchange?

• Product designers and engineers need information at their ‘finger tips’ about RM materials and process capabilities

• Manufacturing engineers need to understand the process capabilities and constraints of RM technologies in order to integrate them into the supply chain

• Purchasing and procurement engineers need confidence in the capability of their supply chain

• Quality engineers need to ensure part traceability and conformance

What questions does RM-Xchange support?

• Product designers and engineers need information at their ‘finger tips’ about RM materials and process capabilities

• Manufacturing engineers need to understand the process capabilities and constraints of RM technologies in order to integrate them into the supply chain

• Purchasing and procurement engineers need confidence in the capability of their supply chain

• Quality engineers need to ensure part traceability and conformance

Example – Subcontract RM part supplier“assessing business confidence”

• Do they know how to control their machines (and post processes) to provide repeatability of supply

• Can they demonstrate material traceability and control• Can they demonstrate procedures for part traceability

and control• Can they demonstrate procedures for digital data control• Do they understand Total Quality Management and

business excellence (ISO9000:2000 BEM)• Do they provide inspection and quality assurance (SPC,

Batch sampling).• Do they have in-house access to calibrated metrology

equipment and the skills to use it

Example – Subcontract RM part supplier“assessing business confidence”

• Do they have experience of integrating part delivery into a manufacturing (JIT) supply chain (not just an RP supply chain)

• Are they financial stable and capable of entering into a supplier agreement

• Do they have a cost-down (Lean RM) strategy• Can they provide maintenance and calibration

certification for all there machines and metrology• Do they have well trained and capable staff

Summary

• RM as a manufacturing technology exists today!• However RM business models are only just developing• For wide scale take-up of RM we must focus of gathering

current knowledge and using this to provide intelligence to different RM supply chains

• We are starting to see the development of business tools to support the emerging RM industry, like RM-Xchange

• We need to influence future knowledge generation so it provides useful intelligence for businesses

Thank You - QuestionsDr Philip Reeves

Econolyst LtdThe Silversmiths

Crown YardWirksworth

Derbyshire, UKDE4 4ET

+44 1629 [email protected]

www.econolyst.co.uk www.rm-xchange.com

Integrating additive manufacturing into mainstream production

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