BUS108 Informatics: Analysis of 3D Printing in Manufacturing Processes

This report provides an in-depth analysis of 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, and its increasing importance in various industries such as engineering, medicine, and chemistry. It details the layer-by-layer process of 3D printing and its significant role in rapid prototyping, highlighting ...Read More

BUS108
Introduction to Informatics
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Running head: INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATICS

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INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATICS
Executive Summary
The purpose of the report is to analyse and understand the process and importance of 3D
printing in manufacturing and its value in different industries such as engineering industry,
medical industry, and chemical industry. The report gives an overview of the process of 3D
printing that is also termed as additive manufacturing. The report highlights the use of 3D
printing and its importance in prototyping. The increasing popularity of 3D printing is gradually
making the process of traditional manufacturing obsolete. The report discusses various reasons
of increasing use of 3D printing. 3D printing is however, suitable for low volume of production
as manufacturing of high volume by the process of layer-to-layer addition becomes difficult.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.............................................................................................................1
Table of Figures...................................................................................................................3
1.0. Introduction...................................................................................................................4
2.0. 3D printing as Additive Manufacturing........................................................................4
3.0. 3D printing in high and low volumes of production.....................................................5
4.0. 3D Printing is most valuable in certain situations........................................................6
5.0. The Forecast..................................................................................................................7
6.0. 3D printing behind traditional manufacturing being Obsolete.....................................8
7.0. Conclusion....................................................................................................................9
8.0. Recommendations.......................................................................................................10
9.0. References...................................................................................................................11

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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Representing the growth of market size in Additive Manufacturing...................7
Figure 2: Representing the use of 3D printing in different business sector.........................8

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1.0. Introduction
The concept of 3D printing has currently being considered as a spark to a new revolution
in industry. The main purpose of the report is to understand these concepts. It is also known as
additive manufacturing. The technology of 3D printing allows to develop customized products in
a very less cost. Therefore, additive manufacturing technology has a profound effect at both form
and industry level. One of the major benefits of additive manufacturing is that, it utilizes direct
digital manufacturing process by directly transforming a 3D data its corresponding physical parts
(Weller, et al., 2015). Furthermore, it enables to produce functionally integrated parts in a single
production step. The report evaluates the different aspects of 3D printing and the reason why 3D
printing is also referred to as additive manufacturing or AM. The report also discusses whether
3D printing is suitable for high or low volumes of production. 3D printing is most valuable in
certain situations, which are discussed in the report (Campbell, et al., 2011). 3D printing has
almost turned the traditional manufacturing obsolete. The report discusses the reason for the
same.
2.0. 3D printing as Additive Manufacturing
3D printing is more appropriately called additive manufacturing because of its working
process. In 3D printing, the three-dimensional objects are developed by adding layer upon layer
of materials or mould that is being used to develop the object. This mould can be made up of
plastic, concrete and even metal. The process of additive manufacturing includes a computer, a
3D modelling software and printing equipment. This printing equipment takes the data input
from the modelling software and lays down successive layer of moulding materials in order to
fabricate the 3D object. The 3D printing or additive manufacturing is most significantly used in

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form of rapid prototyping. It finds its usage in designing products of aircrafts, dental restoration,
automobiles and in medical implants as well.
Additive manufacturing deals with designing a component by depositing materials in
layers. The process of adding materials layer by layer in 3D printing is a professional production
technique that largely differs from the traditional or convectional process. Hence, the entire
process is appropriately known as additive manufacturing (Chua & Leong, 2014). It enables to
give shape and structure to a customized design by adding a range of different components one
layer after another. The technology of 3D printing helps in developing highly complex
structures, which are light and stable. This is one of the major advantages of 3D printing.
The process of 3D printing or additive manufacturing includes application of a thin layer
of powder material to a building platform, the platform is lowered by addition of the different
layers of materials, that are fused together to develop a 3D structure. Since the working process
includes development of a structure by adding subsequent layers of materials, it is also known as
additive manufacturing.
3.0. 3D printing in high and low volumes of production
3D printing presently is used for low volume of production. However, it has a huge
potential for high volume production as well. 3D printing was originally designed targeting rapid
prototyping. However, this technology is not only used for developing prototypes but also used
for developing actual products. The traditional printing process such as injection moulding is
most widely used in large-scale manufacturing process. On the other hand, the technology of 3D
printing is more cost effective for low volume of production (Weller, et al., 2015). The engineers
and designers for conceptualizing a design and testing its feasibility generally use the 3D

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printing. This is because if a small manufacture is considered, one f the most expensive part of
developing a product is tooling. The technology of 3D printing reduces these extra costs by
developing a prototype in much lower cost, thereby facilitating the low volume production in a
lesser budget. The use of 3D printing is significant in developing precise micro parts for different
industrial usage (Mueller, 2012). However, the machines of additive manufacturing or 3D
printing might take a longer time in processing and manufacturing a part of high volume
production, as it requires a component to be assembled by one layer at a time. Therefore, it can
be deduced that 3D printing is more suited for low volumes of production as it considerably
saves a lot of the time and money (Kietzmann, et al., 2015). However, with the recent
advancement in the field of 3D printing and additive manufacturing, it would be possible to
implement the process of 3D printing in large volume of production in recent future.
4.0. 3D Printing is most valuable in certain situations
3D printing is widely used in various sectors such as education, industry, architecture and
construction. However, it is most valuable for its application in healthcare. The process of 3D
printing helps in creating different medical devices, dental and prosthesis, which provides
comfortable solution to the patients in need.
The 3D printing has varied application in chemical industry as well. It helps in
enlargement of molecular structures and mechanical parts that can be used for laboratory tooling.
3D printing has made it possible to capture the exact look and structure of a molecular structure,
which was otherwise not possible (Suchubert , et al., 2014).
Furthermore, 3D printing is cap able of printing different integral parts of machines that
are otherwise very complex to design (Gibson, et al., 2014).

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Therefore, it can be said that, 3D printing is valuable in structuring and manufacturing
some vital components in much lower cost and time.
5.0. The Forecast
With the increasing popularity of 3D printing, it is estimated that 3D printing market is
expected to garner almost $8.6 billion by the year 2020. Asia-Pacific region is seen to be the
fastest growing market of 3D printing as the technology has a varied usage in different sectors
such as healthcare, automobile and consumer industry. In the year 2010, the Ganter report
identified the process of 3D printing as a transformational technology in the hype cycle in
technology trigger phase (Campbell, et al., 2011).

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Figure 1: Representing the growth of market size in Additive Manufacturing
(Source: (Wong & Hernandez, 2012)
The technology of 3D printing is expected to reach a take-off point within the next
decade. 3D printing revolution is occurring across the world and it is focused on reducing the
cost and complexity of the generating 3D models.
Figure 2: Representing the use of 3D printing in different business sector
(Source: (Wong & Hernandez, 2012)
Therefore, this technology will continue to advance and is expected to gain broader
acceptance and use in different industries. This will further help in improving the quality and of
the products designed with the help of 3D printing process.
6.0. 3D printing behind traditional manufacturing being Obsolete

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The process of additive manufacturing is designed is such a way that it makes
prototyping and manufacturing easier. Therefore, this technology has been in focus of
discussions in manufacturing industry (Vaezi, et al., 2013). 3D printing is a process that makes
use of special equipments in assembling and object layer by layer. This provides an unique
advantage of this product over traditional manufacturing.
3D printing has been successful in taking the place of traditional manufacturing to a large
extent as it offers numerous advantages over the process of traditional manufacturing. For
example, if a prototype that is built with the help of traditional manufacturing process needs
rework it becomes very difficult to implement the same apart from a huge amount of additional
cost expense (Lipson & Kurman, 2013). On the other hand, in case of 3D printing, if a prototype
needs a rework, the new design can be easily programmed into the 3D printer and can be
redesigned relatively faster.
Another most significant advantage of 3D printing over traditional manufacturing is that,
it prevents wastage and is resource efficient. Only the material that passes through the extruder
of 3D printer is used unlike the injection moulds that require extra materials for filling the mould
(Berman, 2012). However, the scrap materials of the injection moulds are recycled but the
process consumes a lot of time and requires extra labour as well. The traditional manufacturing
process generally requires a large number of workers while that of additive manufacturing or 3D
printing requires only the necessary raw materials and blueprint to produce the same (Ventola,
2014). However, the process of 3D printing is not suitable for large-scale production.
7.0. Conclusion

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Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be deduced that 3D printing or additive
manufacturing is a leading technology that is expected to gain a wider popularity and acceptance
in recent future. The process of 3D printing is also called additive manufacturing as a component
is developed by adding layer upon layer in this process. The process of 3D printing makes the
process of prototyping easy and cost effective. It finds its usage in development of complex
structures as well. It has an extensive usage in engineering and medical industry. The increasing
popularity of 3D printing is bound to make the traditional manufacturing obsolete. However, 3D
printing is not suitable for large volume of production.
8.0. Recommendations
1. 3D printing can gain much wider acceptance with technical advancement enabling its
usage in large volume of production as well.
2. The 3D printing technology should increase the range of materials it incorporates in
printing process.

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9.0. References
Berman, B., 2012. 3-D printing: The new industrial revolution. Business horizons. Business
horizons, Volume 55(2), pp. 155-162.
Campbell, T., Williams, C., Ivanova, O. & Garrett, B., 2011. Could 3D printing change the
world. Technologies, Potential, and implications of Additive manufacturing. Atlantic Council,
Washinton,DC.
Chua, C. & Leong, K., 2014. 3D PRINTING AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING: Principles
and Applications (with Companion Media Pack) of Rapid Prototyping.. s.l.:World Scientific
Publishing Co Inc..
Gibson, I., Rosen, D. & Stucker, B., 2014. Additive manufacturing technologies: 3D printing,
rapid prototyping, and direct digital manufacturing.. s.l.:Springer..
Kietzmann, J., Pitt, L. & Berthon, P., 2015. Disruptions, decisions, and destinations: Enter the
age of 3-D printing and additive manufacturing.. Business Horizons,, 52(2), pp. 209-215.
Lipson, H. & Kurman, M., 2013. . Fabricated: The new world of 3D printing. s.l.:John Wiley &
Sons.
Mueller, B., 2012. Additive manufacturing technologies–Rapid prototyping to direct digital
manufacturing. Assembly Automation, , 32(2).
Suchubert , C., Van Langeveld, M. & Donoso, L., 2014. Innovations in 3D printing: a 3D
overview from optics to organs. British journal of ophthalmalogy, Volume 98(2), pp. 159-61.

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Vaezi, M., Seitz, H. & Yang, S., 2013. . A review on 3D micro-additive manufacturing
technologies. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology,, pp. 1721-
175467(5-8).
Ventola, C., 2014. Medical appliations or 3D printing: current and projected uses. Pharmacy and
Theraeurics. Volume 39(10), p. 704.
Weller, C., Keeer, R. & Piller, F., 2015. Economic implications of 3D prnting: market structure
models in light of additive manufacturing revisited. International journal of production
economics,164, pp. 43-56.
Wong, K. & Hernandez, A., 2012. A review of additive manufacturing.. ISRN Mechanical
Engineering, 2012..