3D Printing Has Three Potential

According to the report of cninfo.com on August 25, the Japanese economic news published an article entitled "three potentials of 3D printing" written by the commentator Huiyi Murayama on June 23. The content is as follows:

Chris Anderson, the former editor in chief of wired, a US science and technology magazine, published his book maker, which declared that "the 3D printer revolution is about to take place", triggering strong repercussions. Now, 10 years have passed. The reaction of anticipation is also evident. Negative voices such as "only for trial production" and "only for personal hobbies" are rising, and the discussion on the table is rapidly cooling down in Japan.

However, during this period, due to technological progress and changes in economic and social conditions, the importance of (3D) became more obvious. If Japan still lags behind, it will miss every opportunity. The author believes that 3D printing has three potentials.

Reconstruction of supply chain

The first is the reconstruction of supply chain. Against the background of the spread of COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, supply chains around the world have been cut off, and many enterprises have fallen into chaos. More and more people believe that 3D printing is a powerful option as a means of ensuring parts.

Considering that curbing inflation requires a strong supply chain, governments of all countries will support enterprises that invest in equipment and train skills related to 3D printing.

According to mark forged, an emerging 3D printing enterprise in the United States, a German automobile manufacturer has walked out of the dilemma by using 3D printed parts to maintain automobile production.

Nakayama Nakayama, a professor at Nagaoka University of technology and science, said: "increasing the source of procurement will lead to higher costs, which requires a completely different approach. 3D printing will become the key."

There is an electronic part called "solid state relay". The supply of necessary plastic parts has stagnated, falling into a state of product shortage. "First, 3D print out temporary accessories, make solid-state relays, and then ship them. After that, wait until you start with regular accessories, and exchange the whole solid-state relay." Zhongshan believes that this flexibility is very important.

Change the face of the factory

The second point that deserves attention in 3D printing is the innovation of the factory. In May, the German BMW Group announced that it had successfully created a fully automatic production line for 3D printed auto parts. 3D printing is not omnipotent and must coexist with traditional production methods. However, the adoption of 3D printing, which has a high affinity with artificial intelligence (AI) and sensing technology, is a breakthrough to boldly re-examine the overall production engineering. This can be said to be an example of inspiration to many manufacturing industries.

Instead of gathering a plurality of constituent parts into one, 3D printing can make a part with a target shape at one time. If you have a printer on hand, you don't need to rely too much on external procurement, so you can reduce the logistics that will emit greenhouse gases. In addition, it helps protect the rights of factory workers.

"Can the manufacturing industry always adopt the strategy of" sea of people "? Advanced companies are considering automation to eliminate a large number of assembly operations (as heavy labor). 3D printers are very useful," said Yang Tai Akalu, manager of PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting The consciousness of protecting workers is stronger in Europe. We can think that this wave will spread to the whole world sooner or later.

ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) management requirements bring light to 3D printing and gradually change the appearance of factories.

Stimulate more innovation

The third potential of 3D printing is the openness of human creativity. Shay terem, CEO of markforge, pointed out that a new generation (people) that can be called "3D printer natives" is gradually rising.

One example is the frito lay company, which is famous for its potato chips. The molds used in the company's production line were once ordered from outside and processed by cutting, but now they are 3D printed in the company. The manufacturing time was shortened from two weeks to one day, and the cost was reduced from $550 to $12.

The scheme proposer is a young engineer familiar with 3D printing. PepsiCo has decided to equip more than 30 factories with 3D printers. The manufacturing concept that is not bound by precedent works.

The space industry is one of the main battlefields for 3D printer enterprises to carry out technological competition. It is a contest of wisdom to produce rocket supplies and other parts with unprecedented shapes. In the future, the market for "things that can only be made by 3D printing" will appear, and the era will come when creators give full play to their perceptual and aesthetic advantages.

It is undeniable that Japan started a little later than Europe and the United States, but careful observation will reveal that new buds are sprouting.

Core production technology

The author visited the plant of Seiko Epson in yanjiri City, Nagano Prefecture, and found that the 3D printer that the company seeks to commercialize in 2023 is undergoing trial operation. Conventional materials used for injection molding and the like can be used, and the goal is to produce parts of final products such as automobiles and office equipment. The author recently learned that Toyota Motor Company has introduced HP's printer in order to make effective use of it in the final product.

At Nagaoka University of technology and science, the training of "am (additive manufacturing) talents" has begun. In addition to 3D printers, there are scanners and robots in the campus laboratory. "We hope to train talents who can master various technologies from design to manufacturing and quality assurance." Zhongshan believes that this is an attempt to determine whether the Japanese manufacturing industry can survive.

Although 3D printing is still in the process of development, it must be positioned as the core technology of the digital production line. If you think that you insist on "this is a (market) gap technology that can not be used for formal business" and neglect the preparation work, you will certainly regret it in the future.