Daily: 3D Printing Has Three Potential

On June 23, the article entitled "Three Potentials of 3D Printing" written by the commentator of the newspaper, Huiyi Murayama, was published. The content is as follows:

The book Maker by Chris Anderson, former editor in chief of American science and technology magazine Wired, was published, claiming that "the 3D printer revolution will take place", which caused a strong response. Now, 10 years have passed. The reaction of looking forward also appeared, and negative voices such as 3D "can only be used for trial production" and "can only be used as a personal hobby" rose, and the discussion on the table cooled rapidly in Japan.

However, during this period, due to technological progress and changes in economic and social conditions, the importance of (3D) has become more obvious. If Japan remains sluggish, it will miss all opportunities. The author believes that 3D printing has three potential.

Reconstruction of supply chain

The first is the reconstruction of the 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 to ensure parts.

Considering that inflation control requires a strong supply chain, governments of all countries will support enterprises engaged in equipment investment and skills training related to 3D printing.

According to Mark Forged, an emerging 3D printing enterprise in the United States, a German automobile manufacturer used 3D printing parts to maintain automobile production and got out of the predicament.

Tadao Nakayama, a professor at Nagaoka University of Technology and Science, said: "Increasing procurement sources 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 accessories stagnated and the products were in short supply. "First, 3D print out the temporary accessories and make them into solid state relays before shipment. Then, wait until the formal accessories are started to exchange the entire solid state relay." Zhongshan believes that such flexibility is very important.

Change the face of the factory

The second point worth paying attention to in 3D printing is the innovation of the factory. In May, BMW Group of Germany 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 use of 3D printing, which has a high affinity with artificial intelligence (AI) and sensor technology, is a breakthrough to boldly re-examine the overall production engineering. It can be said that this is an example that brings inspiration to many manufacturing industries.

Instead of aggregating multiple components into one, 3D printing can be made into parts with target shapes at one time. If you have a printer on hand, you don't need to rely too much on external procurement to reduce the logistics that will emit greenhouse gases. In addition, it helps to protect the rights of factory workers.

"Can the manufacturing industry always adopt the crowd strategy? Advanced companies are considering automation to eliminate a large number of assembly operations (as heavy labor). 3D printers are very useful," said Akira Akira, manager of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting The awareness of protecting workers is relatively strong in Europe, and we may think that this wave will sooner or later affect the whole world.

ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) management needs bring light to 3D printing and gradually change the face of the factory.

Stimulate more innovation

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

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

The scheme proposer is a young engineer who is familiar with 3D printing. PepsiCo has decided to equip more than 30 factories with 3D printers. Manufacturing concepts that are not subject to precedent work.

The space industry is one of the main battlefields for 3D printer enterprises to compete in technology. It is a kind of wisdom contest to produce rocket supplies and other products with unprecedented shapes. In the future, the market of "just because 3D printing can make things" will appear, and the era will come when creators will 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 a careful observation will show that new shoots are emerging.

Core production technology

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

At Changgang University of Technology and Science, the training of "AM (additive manufacturing) talents" has begun. In addition to 3D printers, there are also scanners and robots in the campus laboratory. "We hope to cultivate talents who can master various technologies from design to manufacturing and quality assurance." Zhongshan believed that this was an attempt to determine whether Japanese manufacturing could 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 believe that "this is a gap technology that cannot be used for formal business" and neglect the preparation, you will definitely regret it in the future.

Illustration: A company in Wuhan realized printing a pair of external fixed supports in more than 10 minutes (Visual China)