Re-designing manufacturing with 3d Printing

Written by: Chris Mackie – The Pro Forum Community of Practice

3d printing or additive manufacturing (on-demand manufacturing) is the process of manufacturing by laying materials on the same spot repeatedly to build an item.

Items printed can range from medical devices to machine parts, submarines to houses depending on the construction materials and the printer. Traditional manufacturing is a mass production concept with huge overhead costs in terms of time and money for testing new ideas and prototypes. If a product is not quite right a whole production run can be wasted resulting in financial and reputational losses for the company.

Materials that are not usually paired together such as fungal materials and recycled plastics, can be used to create complex structures like buildings.

In the future it is highly possible that 3D printing will overtake traditional manufacturing at some point, due to manufacturing speed and waste minimisation (among other advantages). Traditional career opportunities (bricklayers, welders and other professions) will also be threatened as these will no longer be required or will change to support and maintenance roles.

Government departments will need to invest in this technology as it disrupts traditional manufacturing processes with the ability to make items on demand or enable rapid testing of prototypes. Without this investment and understanding Australia will lag behind other nations in this key technology. Traditional government procurement is where the government buys what it needs from industry, however this could be challenged if organisations move to a self-sustaining model where manufacturing is conducted in house.

The Australian government is starting to experiment with 3d printing and companies such as Spee3d are offering printers that can give the Australian Defence Force or remote Australian towns manufacturing capabilities. This remote printing ability removes substantial costs or vulnerabilities in transporting critical items long distances. As technology improves these printers will improve their capabilities over time.

Items can be produced from a scan of an actual item or designed using supportive software. 3d printing technology has the proven ability of taking a virtual item and manufacturing it on a printer thousands of kilometres away. This was a technology demonstration conducted by Made in Space and NASA when a tool was created on the International Space Station for the first time in 2014.

Of interest, the role of designers and designs, will increase in importance as printers take over from other manufacturing processes, decreasing the amount of human interaction during the generation process.

Forward-focused organisations can achieve self-sustainability in manufacturing by investing in the necessary printers and creating career opportunities for hobbyists.

Trade routes and supply chain structures will change with finished products unlikely to be moved as they are today. Raw materials required for the printing processes will move along trade routes and designs will be exchanged via the internet challenging existing internet infrastructure.

Nano scale printing will improve allowing for the creation of nano machinery and/or the installation of nano features into the generation of a product. The concept of large-scale production at the nano scale opens truly massive opportunities and challenges as science fiction concepts like nanobots become achievable.

As with all technology there will be downsides, the decentralisation of manufacturing will represent a challenge as criminals with printers will be able to manufacture sophisticated weapons and devices that society wants regulated. The traditional concept of intellectual property will face ongoing challenges, as determining the origin of designs will become increasingly difficult.

So, whilst 3d printing gives organisations and individuals a decentralised manufacturing capacity to produce sophisticated items, it will change supply chains, procurement and production methods within Australia and the world.

Government and public service employees must recognise these changes and help navigate the transition as traditional industries and career paths decline. By doing so, the government can better understand these changes and offer hope to Australians who may be adversely impacted.