ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING HAS FINALLY COME OF AGE

In 1987, the first form of Additive Manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, was commercialized and brought to market. The technology was slow to catch on because support elements such as materials, software, robotics, and a little thing called the internet, weren’t fully realized. This forced most manufacturers to limit AM to strictly prototyping applications. Today is a different story.

With patents expiring and IP barriers tumbling down, new entrants into the industry are causing an explosion of popularity with 3D printing machines. As new possibilities and opportunities are sought and realized, 3D printers are being made to print a larger range of materials, faster and more reliably. This, in turn, is persuading industrial manufacturers, from aerospace to education, to bring this revolutionary technology into their product development processes.

THE FUTURE OF 3D PRINTING MOVING BEYOND PROTOTYPING

The Future of 3D Printing 1

RETHINKING TRADITIONAL MANUFACTURING The key to understanding the value of 3D printing is to think of it as not just another manufacturing tool, but a way to bring greater value to an entire business. As industries begin to adopt AM, key elements of traditional manufacturing are being transformed – beginning with the basics of how parts are designed.

Prototyping 24.5%

Product Development 16.1%

Innovation (create new items that are impossible using traditional methods) 16.1%

Improved or expanded product line 4.5%

New revenue sources 4.8%

Develop customized/ personalized products 8.0%

Increased efficiency 9.6%

Improving supply chain sourcing 3.4%

Cost reduction 9.4%

Improving supply chain logistics 3.1%

Transformed customer experience/service 4.2%

Other 1.3%

While prototyping is still the biggest reason manufacturers are pursuing 3D technology, product development and innovation are both quickly growing.

Source: Gartner (November 2014), Wohlers 2016

The Future of 3D Printing 2

REDUCED LEAD TIMES The ability to print on demand with AM reduces the need to stock physical inventory. This allows companies to respond to requests for new or specialty parts as they receive them, instead of being forced to anticipate future demand for weeks, months, or years at a time.

INCREASED PART DESIGN FLEXIBILITY Standard or conventional manufacturing techniques, like injection

molding, are limited in terms of the spectrum of shapes they can create. This greatly reduces their versatility. AM removes

these barriers, making shapes once only possible in nature or the imagination more viable.

As complex shapes become easier to produce, so do complex assemblies. The time, costs, and effort required to optimize parts containing numerous components or different materials, including metals, can be significantly reduced. As multi-material 3D printing continues to

develop, new blends and unexplored material mash-ups will become ever more accessible.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Hydrogen oxygen injector was originally comprised of more than 150 parts and required months to manufacture. With 3D printing technology, the assembly has been reduced to just two printed metal parts and can be built in 10 days.

AM Potential Time Saving Benefits to Manufacturing Process

CUSTOMIZEDDESIGN

DESIGNVALIDATION

DESIGN TOOLING DESIGN

TIME SAVINGS

WITHOUTAM

WITHAM

DESIGNVALIDATION

BUILDPREPARATION

3D PRINT WHERE NEEDED ON DEMAND

POST PROCESS

POST PROCESS/ASSEMBLY

TOOLMANUFACTURING

CENTRALIZEDPARTMANUFACTURING

DISTRIBUTIONTOOLINGVALIDATION

The Future of 3D Printing 3

A NEW TYPE OF EXPERTISE The biggest change? Traditional manufacturing expertise does not

apply to the new rules of AM. Although it offers significantly more design freedom, 3D printing comes with a new

set of design constraints and, arguably, more complex considerations must be made before manufacturing additively. What orientation should the parts be built in? How important is surface finish? Are there any functional or aesthetic features on the part that should be free

of support structures? The machines themselves are no more intelligent but the process is much more complex,

so designers, operators and the software will have more to decide.

WHAT ARE INDUSTRY INSIDERS SAYING? SOLIDWORKS® Product Portfolio Manager Mark Ruston sat down with two industry leaders to discuss how they see the role of 3D printing evolving.

Adrian Lannin is the Executive Director of the 3MF Consortium and Group Program Manager at Microsoft, where he manages the 3D Printing team.

Mark: How important will 3D printing/AM be over the next 3 years?

Adrian: AM is already delivering significant benefits in certain industries. Over the next three years I expect other industries to see this success and begin to adopt AM as well. The aircraft industry is a great example where this is a clear value proposition for AM, with its ability to create parts that are stronger and lighter than parts made using traditional manufacturing. Other industries that can benefit from this value will take note. I expect that we’ll see the automotive industry doing even more with AM. One of the major challenges that will need to be addressed is the ability to do AM at volume. There are so many opportunities to use AM in high tech devices, for example, but today it’s hard for AM to scale to the required volume.

Mark: What the biggest benefit/where is the greatest value of using AM?

Adrian: AM’s greatest value varies depending on the industry. The ability to create highly customized or individualized products delivers great value where items are designed for individuals, such as unique jewellery, or hearing aid shells and other medical uses. The ability to create parts that are lighter than parts made using traditional manufacturing techniques is incredibly valuable to the aircraft industry. In short, you could say that AM’s greatest value is in its flexibility. It is a tool that helps provide solutions that, in many cases, we couldn’t produce before.

Mark: What do you see as the biggest barrier to wider adoption of AM?

Adrian: I see a few challenges on the horizon for AM but there are two I’d like to highlight. First, too many AM workflows are still using out-of-date inadequate file formats and therefore, not utilizing the full potential of AM. Adoption of a file format such as 3MF will help to drive market growth, improve an organization’s operational efficiency, and unlock the potential of AM. The second barrier is a lack of manufacturing engineers who understand AM, so that they can design parts that take full advantage of the benefits of AM.

Using Selective Laser Melting, an AM technique, Robot Bike Co. created custom geometry frames and innovative joint interfaces for their lightweight, carbon fiber bike frames.

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Our 3DEXPERIENCE® platform powers our brand applications, serving 12 industries, and provides a rich portfolio of industry solution experiences. Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE® Company, provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systèmes’ collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. The group brings value to over 210,000 customers of all sizes in all industries in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com.

WORKING TOWARDS THE NEXT-GENERATION OF PRODUCT DESIGN Fast and seamless 3D printing begins with solid 3D designs. And this is where SOLIDWORKS comes in, as it encompasses a complete suite of design solutions that make it quick and easy to prepare designs for print.

EXPLORE MORE.

Greg Paulsen is the Director of Project Engineering Group at Xometry, a CNC and 3D printing on-demand service provider.

Mark: Do you see future 3D printers as a tool to add to your manufacturing process or a machine that replaces the current process?

Greg: It (3D printing) brings a whole new dynamic to the manufacturing floor. If anything, 3D printing opens opportunity to manufacturing options that did not exist before the technology. Ultimately, if you design a part for CNC, you will eventually manufacture in CNC (even if you prototype in 3D printing). If you design for 3D printing, you probably didn’t have CNC in mind from the get go.

Mark: What industry sector will see the most benefit from 3D printing?

Greg: Custom electronic devices and IoT are huge contenders. All sectors find 3D printing helpful but this industry tends to have a need for high-value, low-volume, custom parts that additive manufacturing can easily deliver. Note that aerospace/medical can also fit that bill.

Mark: Do you see 3D printing driving the future of how objects are designed with regards to both mechanical aspects and ergonomics?

Greg: Yes — but with the caveat that advanced software will help take the guesswork out of the design process. SOLIDWORKS is making some great steps in this direction.