Impact of 3D Printing on Industries

This assignment examines the profound impact of 3D printing technology on diverse industries. It delves into the economic consequences of additive manufacturing, including its potential to reshape market structures and influence consumer behavior. The assignment also explores the technological advancements driving 3D printing, its applications in various sectors, and its implications for intellectual property rights.

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Most of the breakthroughs in the world have taken decades of time, from the
initial invention to the full-swing applications, in the mainstream. Eventually, the
same is the picture for the 3D printing technology. The widely and deeply
discussed 3D printing technology has been penetrating in the technical aspects,
however, it needs much exploration and policy definition, for the adoption of the
technology in the mainstream and day to day usage, with availability to the
common man. The technology is a double edged sword and has its own pros and
cons. The technology of 3D printing is no exception to this fact, as the technology
is associated with numerous benefits as well as threats, when considered to use for
dangerous applications.

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
Contents
PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES...........................................................4
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................4
ASSUMPTIONS..................................................................................................................5
EVIDANCES.......................................................................................................................6
CURRENT SITUATION.....................................................................................................6
SIX SIGMA AND DMAIC.................................................................................................7
DMAIC........................................................................................................................................7
ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM..................................................................................7
PLAN TO REDUCE ROOT CAUSE................................................................................11
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PLAN........................................................................12
RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
3D printing, which is also called as additive manufacturing has been
promoted as new industrial revolution spark. The technology allows making the
products in customized ways, with no additional penalty of cost, enabling the
integrated functional design and complex production, in just a single process,
reducing the overall assembly work. The technology has been in applications, since
1980 (Campbell et al., 2011). There has been enormous literature available for the
3D printing and additive manufacturing technology, in technical aspects, rather
than in political and economic dimensions and aspects.
3D PRINTING AS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
Additive manufacturing is an extension or advancement of technology of
Flexible Manufacturing system. FMS is a conventional technology, which has the
features of producing varied and different products or outcomes, with fair amount
of flexibility, by using the same input. And as an advancement of the technology of
FMS, which still provides flexible and varied outcomes, additive technology
provides, increased flexibility, compared to the conventional FMS. The advanced
manufacturing technology refers to the process of making the objects, by joining
the input materials, from the data of 3 dimensional model, stacking layers upon
layers (Campbell et al., 2011). This technology hence is referred as 3 dimensional
printing, which prints the shapes and designs, layer upon other layers, showing
emboss, as the third dimension. So, the traditional 2 dimensional printing, which

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
prints in height and width, the third dimension, is also added, as thickness,
eventually, transforming the conventional picture kind of printing to literally, a
physical part for an object. So, 3D printing or Additive Manufacturing is an
emerging technologies group that makes bottom-up creation of objects, through
addition of a layer of one cross-section for material, at a time.
Figure: Process of Additive Manufacturing of 3D Printing of Object
FOR VOLUMES OF PRODUCTION
The technology of 3D printing is adding the layers upon layers, by increased
or extended flexibility of the conventional printing and flexible manufacturing
systems. Since, additive and 3D technology does not need the cost for assembling,
however, additional cost is involved in terms of individualization, capital and
flexibility cost, thereby increasing the overall marginal cost (Atzeni & Salmi,
2012).
Though there is a little research done in economical aspects of real time
usage and adoption of 3D printing technology, the present applications of AM
technology, in certain industries, such as airlines, shoe industry, to use in lower
volumes.

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
VALUABLE FOR SITUATIONS...
The additive manufacturing technology has been adopted for certain
industries, such as shoe, airline industries, the applications and real time usage is
limited to only niche markets, limiting to small scale production.
So, adoption of the 3D printing technology can be affordable for the
applications, such as in design in various industries, such as bio-engineering,
aerospace, automotive, etc. (Weller et al., 2015) The objectives in these
applications are to create prototypes of the new products for the purpose of
validation. If the designed product is found invalid, the waste would be only 3D
printing, rather than the original product, reducing the waste of raw material to
create.
Eventually, 3D printing can be valuable for the following applications
(Campbell et al., 2011).
1. Custom Orthodontics
Orthodontic products can be customized for fabrication of molds, from the
data of 3D scan from the dental impressions of the patient, made from
stereorlithography. Braces are then created with polymer casting.
2. Custom Hearing Aids
Hearing aids can be customized according to the specific patients, by
fabricating through laser sintering applications. The impressions are taken
from 3D scans, for the ear canal and 3D printing is done to ensure that the
product is suitable for the ears of the patient and hidden, when viewed
externally.
Other important situations that are appropriate for the 3D printing
technology are, printing prototypes of automobile components, aircraft
components, direct metal advanced manufacturing, desktop-scale 3D printing,

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
FORECAST BY RESEARCH AND INVESTMENT FIRMS
1. Barak Obama, the US President has forecasted the technology of 3D printing
to have the potential to revolutionalize the ways of making, everything,
almost (Weller et al., 2015). Garner, an Industry Analyst, however, has
expressed his opinion that the technology of 3D printing as a peak of inflated
expectation, indicating the levels of immaturity so far, for this technology,
and takes time for satisfying the forecasted high level expectations. The
technology usage by the industries is likely to mainstream level adaption, to
materialize from 2016 to 2020.
2. According to Terry Wohlers, the end products will have accounted the AM
production output to 80%, by the year 2019 (Anderson, 2012). recent
Economists focused the need of policy world, through ‘Print me a
Stradivarius’ cover story (Wohlers, 2009)
3. Ganter report, had identified the 3D printing technology as transformation,
in the Hype cycle technology trigger phase.
4. 3D printing technology is foreseen as to have similar implications of the
convergence of digitized media players and digitized music and internet, but
unexpected and dramatic consequences, for the copyrights of music. So, in
the future, 3D printing is also expected to have the implications experienced
like for design right, artistic copyright, patents and trademarks, but to have
in different and varied legal framework (Bradshaw, et al., 2010),
5. The professionals from the research of additive manufacturing argue that it
is going to be emerging towards ‘slop of enlightenment’ from a ‘trough of
disillusionment’, which are their significant and recent advances in the AM
technology.

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
However, many of the industry experts predict that the maturity levels of
additive manufacturing and so 3D printing technology, is going to penetrate in the
industrial applications (Berman, 2012). Though many of the people have
forecasted and predicted the future of the 3D printing in different dimensions, there
are no proven estimates for the prospect for the additive manufacturing could be
foreseen.
So,
OBSOLETING TRADITIONAL MANUFACTURING... AND AFFECT
After the 3D printing and additive manufacturing gets widespread in the
mainstream among the various industries, the traditional manufacturing processes
are going to be obsolete. Here, the distinction between the advanced manufacturing
and traditional manufacturing is the degree of flexibility. The traditional
manufacturing methods are more focused on the large scale and mass production,
where all the applications are not directly suitable and at least minor percentage of
the applications have to get adjusted to the products manufactured, rather than
having the freedom of suitable and apt products for their unique applications
(ASTM, 2012). So, additive manufacturing, being more flexible compared to the
traditional manufacturing, it is going to obsolete the traditional manufacturing
technologies that have less flexible and less tailored capability for the end-users.
The traditional manufacturing poses many limitations on the designers and
engineers, for designing any kind of products, since they need associated machine
tools, molding and stamping. However, these traditional manufacturing are going
to be obsolete, since additive manufacturing technology is going to offer incredible
and almost unlimited flexibility to the designers and engineers in designing and
getting samples of various products, limiting to their imagination (Brecher, 2012).
Traditional manufacturing gives least and almost no chance to update, after

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
finalizing the prototype, but additive manufacturing and 3D printing allows the
designers and engineers to print the ideas, instantly, for the product viability
assessment and incorporate changes in the design, allowing constant tailoring and
updating of products. Traditional manufacturing is considered as subtractive
manufacturing, as it tends to waste the resources, compared to the zero waste
additive manufacturing technology.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
3D printing technology is also called as additive manufacturing technology.
The key benefit of the additive manufacturing and so 3D technology is the
flexibility and increased levels of resources, compared to the traditional
manufacturing technology. The 3D printing technology is much beneficial than the
conventional FMS, which is less flexible. So far the adoption and implementation
levels of the 3D printing technology is limited to prototype design and print, as it
offers great flexibility to the designers and engineers. The engineers and designers
would have their ideas to have no boundaries and sky is the limitation for their
imagination for the design and prototype fo the new products. Presently, the 3D
printing technology has been in usage in lower volumes, however, expected to be
used in higher levels. So far, the industrial applications of the 3D printing
technology are limited to prototype design and laboratory applications. According
to the researchers and economists, the 3D printing technology has a enormous
future potential and it is going to be a double edged sword that have beneficial
applications and possibly, dangerous consequences.

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
REFERENCES
Anderson, C. 2012. “Makers: The New Industrial Revolution”. Random House,
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ASTM International. 2012. “ASTM F2792 - 12a: Standard Terminology for
Additive Manufacturing Technologies”. ASTM International.
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usable Metal Parts”. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing
Technology, 62(9-12), 1147–1155.
Berman, B. 2012. “3-D Printing: The New Industrial Revolution”. Business
Horizons, 55(2), 155–162.
Bradshaw, et al., 2010, “The intellectual property implications of low-cost 3D
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Manufacturing, Atlantic Council, Washington, DC.
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M., & Bernard, A. 2013. “Product variety management”. CIRP Annals -
Manufacturing Technology, 62(2), 629–652.

INTRODUCTION INFORMATICS
Franke, N., & Schreier, M. 2010. “Why Customers Value Self-Designed Products:
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Franke, N., Schreier, M., & Kaiser, U. 2010.” The “I Designed It Myself” Effect in
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Indianapolis, IN: John Wiley & Sons
N.d. 2011. “Print me a Stradivarius” The Economist.
Weller, C., Kleer, R. and Piller, F.T., 2015. “Economic implications of 3D printing:
Market structure models in light of additive manufacturing
revisited”. International Journal of Production Economics, 164, pp.43-56.
Wohlers, T. 2009. “Wohlers Report 2009”.