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Mainstreaming of Additive Manufacturing: An Ecosystem Perspective

This week’s busy and informative Science in the Age of Experience event, held in Boston, highlighted the 3DEXPERIENCE of organizer Dassault Systèmes‘ partners and customers as 3D technologies make more integrated platform thinking possible. Starting off the event, co-located with the 3DEXPERIENCE Forum, was Monday’s Additive Manufacturing Symposium, which brought together experts across a variety of disciplines and focuses working with industrial 3D printing technologies.

Subham Sett, Director, Additive Manufacturing & Materials, was one of the driving forces behind the Symposium experience as he was for last year’s, and it was a pleasure to speak with him again as we sat down to discuss the merits of such gatherings as well as the direction of the industry.

“When we started planning for the event, last year we looked at everything from conceiving the product to making it. We had a vision for material, design, manufacturing, and marketplace, but we weren’t in a place to say everything is out there to see, or it wasn’t widespread. A year later, we’re there,” he told me of the coming together of this resource and the progress made in just one year in the industry.

“We can see that in the tracks; there’s a growing ecosystem, and users, with thought leaders willing to come and speak of their own experiences. We heard from Airbus and the journey they started in this direction. A nice thing from the Airbus keynote was to see everything start with design on the project [Sjoerd Van der Veen] was talking about, which was under way I want to say two years ago. At our users’ conference in 2015, Airbus challenged us to see what Dassault can do end to end… It’s been great to see not onlyt that, but to hear from Boeing too. These challenges from the biggest names in aerospace, and how we talk about going from concept to production.”

Subham Sett, far right, kept the 3D printing panel conversation going as the moderator

Given the breadth of industries putting Dassault Systèmes’ portfolio of services to use, taking ideas through to production requires a strong look at design. By incorporating 3D printing more significantly into the workflow, design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) figures more strongly into consideration, particularly when looking toward the rising need for functional parts.

“Design is the first step, looking at lightweighting, at topology optimization. For the industry to grow and become mainstream, these parts have to be in production in the field. Our focus is printable,” Sett said.

“What’s really driving this shift toward performance in additive is material. Additive is science; we’re bringing in the physics to make it functional.”

The sessions, including the breakout tracks, were designed to bring a variety of perspectives to showcase the importance of these sciences in industrial 3D printing. Sett underscored that Dassault Systèmes is focusing on developing simulation from a material perspective and a process perspective, in a material- and process-agnostic way. It is, as he calls it, any material, any machine. This approach allows users to meet their needs without needing to turn to new software packages; “All of it can be done by a very simple customization process,” Sett noted.

By leveraging experience gained across platforms such as CATIA over the last two decades-plus, the Dassault Systèmes team has been developing their additive manufacturing applications by “using the same digital thread, parametric geometry,” and having been exposed to users’ applications ranging from functional design to shape compensation. Compensating for distortion ahead of a print job allows for the part to come out right the first time, thanks to simulation.

“We are at a point in additive manufactuing where it’s still not mainstream, and there’s a lot to figure out. Technologies are changing at such a rapid pace it almost feels like the latest and greatest for technology is in the additive space. There is not enough being done yet to address how the end user approaches it, though. I feel that’s a shared responsibility for the ecosystem, whether software like us or OEMs, to come together to design programs, whether graduate or undergraduate level programs, to train more,” Sett said, pointing to the critical consideration of workforce education and training.

“With Dassault Systèmes we’ve started the journey already; you can see that in the [co-located student] hackathon, they have access to our whole software suite, working in one environment through the cloud. They can be productive, they can communicate with the machine. This is a bridge between the digital world and the real world. More needs to be done at the curriculum level, and we’re talking with several universities to add to the curriculum. A lot more needs to be done.”

Keeping on this train of thought, we touched on the need for training and certification in the industry as well. The current workforce requires more training to be ready to bring these new technologies on-site — and they need the reassurance that it will be worth it. Certification of parts for end use is a major focus in particularly the highly-regulated aerospace and medical sectors, and will have a cumulative effect of highlighting the quality and consistency with which additive manufacturing can produce parts for industry.

“Where we are seeing a lot of interest for functional parts is in aerospace and defense, but also in life sciences. Not just for customized tools, either; this is an area users and cusotmers are encouraging us to push. Life sciences are seeing more focus in materials qualification and process certification. These industries are leading the charge for usable parts. Hopefully others will follow suit,” he said.

For additive manufacturing to truly become mainstream, Sett pointed out, functional parts need to come into existence.

“Part of that picture is getting the whole supply chain on a certification track. It’s a shared responsibility to move the industry along,” he said.

[Image: Dassault Systèmes]

Part of that shared responsibility also means building up a better experience for users. One challenge many potential users are facing, and one directly impacting Dassault Systèmes, comes in the form of software. Some users have reported as many as 10 different software programs coming into play. “Engineers, designers, simulation analysts, and manufacturers are not just looking at software that looks integrated on the surface,” Sett pointed out, but require actual integration in real-world conditions.

“There’s are productivity loss issues that come with learning multiple software packages. Clearly there’s recognition of this in the additive manufacturing industry as it’s maturing. Being able to connect all this in a digital thread that takes it all the way through machines is necessary,” he said. “There’s a need for hardware and software guys to come together to complete the user experience — not just the user experience, but the whole journey… From the Dassault Systèmes side, we want to bridge that gap from concept to production so we can focus more on production.”

Ultimately, he told me, the message he’s looking to get out there is that, “We want to make additive real for the enterprise.”

An entire ecosystem is necessary for industrial 3D printing to truly take its place as part of the mainstream manufacturing industry, with all aspects connecting much more seamlessly than they are now.

Discuss Dassault Systèmes, industry challenges, and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

[All photos: Sarah Goehrke]

 

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Expert Discussion Looks to the Future of 3D Printing, Supply Chain, Democratization

During the Additive Manufacturing Symposium at this week’s Science in the Age of Experience held in Boston, Dassault Systèmes brought together a well-curated group of industry experts to share a depth of experience and insights. With plenary session and breakout presentations targeting both broad and deep dives into applications and real-world adoption, attendees were treated to discussions focusing on progress and challenges as well as application-specific issues in industrial 3D printing.

L-R: Eduardo Barocio, Thomas Marchand, Andy Kalambi, John Laureto, Shawn Ehrstein, SeanMcCluskey

A panel discussion closed out the engaging Additive Manufacturing Symposium plenary session, featuring a conversation moderated by Dassault Systèmes’ Subham Sett with

Sett began the chat by asking where 3D printing is going, turning first to Kalambi for the manufacturer’s perspective.

“The first way is the easiest: take what you’re doing in subtractive and design it for additive; that’s the low-hanging fruit. The real value is in what we’re hearing in this conference: reduce complexity, change the supply chain. How do you print the parts as close as possible to the point of consumption? We’re looking at a digital supply chain, and taking additive into that, driving business model innovation,” Kalambi said, highlighting the new partnership between Rize and Azoth for indirect supply focus. “That’s where the biggest value is.”

There is great value in bringing additive manufacturing into business strategies, but barriers to adoption remain. Sett asked McCluskey for his perspective regarding these. Tracing back to a “small history lesson” in mistrust in the industry following high-profile acquisitions and failures to deliver, McCluskey noted that there are “still remnants of mistrust today” that are negatively impacting potential adoption.

“The single biggest gap, the shortcoming that will interfere with getting to these goals is that information and innovation happening is isolated; because of that mistrust, it’s being hoarded,” he explained. “We need to bridge those gaps, to bring innovation to the public space to work on the same problems with the same information. Hoarding information — and I’m using hoarding as a negative, though it’s not necessarily; look at IP — but good or bad, it’s slowing us down.”

Another barrier, Ehrstein added, comes in the form of regulation. Particularly for highly regulated industries such as aerospace and medical, parts qualification is a major hurdle to overcome.

“Getting the FAA to accept 3D printed parts on a critical structure is important. We saw Airbus, and obviously we use these parts; people want to use these parts even more. Getting those processes developed is a barrier,” he said. “In addition, we’re facing supply chain issues. If it starts getting bigger, who’s going to be out there supplying? If it starts getting bigger, will we have the supply chain to do it? And where is the workforce coming from? Where are the people who know how to design for these processes, to run the machines?”

Also highly sensitive to qualification and regulation is the medical sector, as Marchand weighed in.

“Certification is important. Looking at ISO standards, at reaching consistent quality, it’s pretty challenging,” he said. “Certifications in the medical space are as complicated as the aviation market.”

Sett kept the conversation moving amidst attendees

In addition to these barriers, discussion touched on simulation as a driver for evolution of technology and for eventual certification, as Barocio noted, in many respects representing a journey that has just started. Continuing to look forward, Sett asked about new technologies, and Kalambi touched on 3D printing as a platform with three “stacks”: hardware, software, and materials.

“For hardware, we see more and more hybridization will happen. Singular technologies are not solving all the big problems; hybridization will be the only way to solve some of these problems,” Kalambi said. “In software, there is a need for us to move forward, to digitally connect. Looking at materials, in polymers alone there are 60,000 plastics in the world. Focus has to be about innovating on the material, to mimic as wide a spectrum as possible to address possible use cases. Innovation is happening at each of these three levels.”

In the face of this “boatload of new technology coming out,” Sett asked, is the workforce keeping up? How can it? What steps ahead are necessary?

Workforce is certainly a critical issue facing the growing additive manufacturing industry, as companies and professional organizations are well aware. Education and training are imperative to upskill the workforce and prepare the next generation of engineers and designers, along with every other personnel aspect of manufacturing, for these new technologies.

“Workforce is an issue throughout engineering anyway,” Ehrstein remarked, “and on top of that with the oncoming technology of additive manufacturing as it keeps advancing faster than software can keep up with, than people can keep up with, workforce will remain an issue.

“We’re not the only school focusing on workforce; high schools are focusing on additive and growing up with additive. Everyone’s aware of additive manufacturing coming up. I have students whose first thought is, ‘I can just go print it,’ and that’s something I had to get used to thinking and other engineers had to get used to thinking. The problem is, with new technologies coming out every day, with new companies coming out with new technologies: what is the student actually learning?”

He continued, noting that the specifics of what can be done on each machine vary between technologies and between different system models. In order to meet the needs of the industry, he said, we need to find out what the industry is doing on these machines, which poses an ongoing challenge. Progams are in place, including at the WSU-affiliated NIAR, and these are constantly evolving.

All of the changes in the shape of industry impact the broader supply chain as well, Sett noted, moving the conversation forward. The main issue here, McCluskey said, comes in terms of volume. With advanced technologies come advanced materials; McCluskey used the example of polypropylene, which is commercially available at about 71 cents per pound. In contrast, he pointed to the equivalent supply of resin for a Carbon system at “more like $71 per pound,” adding that it wasn’t a perfect compoarison, but helps to get the point across. There are not, he summed up, enough tier one suppliers to supply all these materials right now.

Kalambi discussing supply chain strategy during Rize’s press conference with new partner Azoth

Kalambi additionally pointed to the supply chain issue of building in trust. While many companies are increasingly focusing on blockchain and other advanced solutions for ensuring that IP remains secure, there is certainly much more work to be done in this area. The fast-moving industrial 3D printing market requires more solutions, and needs them soon.

“Today has had a lot of bubble-popping moments,” McCluskey said. “Here’s topology optimization; it’s great, but let’s pop that bubble. A lot of these issues aren’t new — look at anisotropy. It’s the same issues. They take time, absolutely… and it’s the same problem we’ve had forever. We need to address this on a much faster time scale for this process. We have the tools to address them, it just takes time.”

To wrap up the conversation, Sett turned to a much-used term being bandied about in 3D printing: democratization.

3D printing is frequently said to be democratizing manufacturing, putting manufacturing capabilities in the hands of a broader potential user base and enabling more in terms of agility. He turned to each panelist to ask for their final thoughts on this topic. McCluskey began, looking at the issue philosophically.

“Did the internet democratize data, or did it make it harder to find the information we need?” he asked. “You can put 3D printers in everyone’s garage, but the limiting factor is still the democratization of information and how to use it. For me, the journey has been about finding the right balance — yes, there are all these holy grail things additive manufacturing offers… We need to look how to address it in the short- mid- and long-term.”

Ehrstein continued, touching on a popular misconception lingering around 3D printing.

“There’s a lot of thinking out there that you just set out your machine and press print, and boom. There are a lot of processes, there are a lot of machines, and it takes someone a year of experience before they can legitimately create consistently good parts on that machine. You have to make the investment on training, the investment on time and experience. If you’re a small company thinking about going additive, before you make that investment into these machines that can go into a million-plus dollars, I personally think you’re better off using the supply network out there first. See how the parts work, how much the parts work, before you make that investment,” he said. “There’s the thinking that when I have that machine I can just have him print that part out over there, and the truth is if you’re not running those machines every day, it takes some time before you get to that point.”

Laureto discussing powder bed metal technology during a manufacturing breakout session

Laureto picked up from there, noting that at Renishaw, they constantly deal with the cost of entry as a barrier to adoption. This is of course not limited only to initial investment, but to continuing costs of operation.

“Economic analysis is needed,” he reaffirmed. “Do all that work up front. Try to work with everyone to find that type of solution. Because not only do you buy that machine, you fill it with $60,000 worth of titanium monthly.”

Another barrier stands in the way of the typical requirements for industrial machinery, including safety equipment, proper ventilation, and the necessary physical footprint. Kalambi addressed this issue from the perspective of an industrial desktop 3D printer manufacturer known for its ease of use and environmental friendliness.

“That question is why we’re in business: to democratize, to take industrial additive manufacturing to where it has not been before. I have seen that this business has not scaled because of this question,” he said. “Working with masks and gloves limits who can go there, and this limits adoption. We have a machine that requires no venting, and can run safely on the floor here; we believe that it should be like what was mentioned here, pervasive enough that people can set up microfactories. This is where 3D printing has to go.”

Turning to the medical sector, we see that issues are a bit more specialized. Speaking to the life science point of view, Marchand noted that hospitals have a huge need, as 3D printing can be applied to synthetic organs, to prostheses, and more.

“Every hospital would like to have a 3D printing lab, and some do. The thing is, it’s painful to have a 3D printing lab. We know that because we have two, one in the US, and one in France,” he said. “We had to go to market this way, and had no one to help us this way, to manufacture up to standards all the time. We are seeing democratization of 3D printing in hospitals, but many machines right now are not very reliable, post-processing is a problem, and you need the right people. There are still many problems to tackle.”

Barocio had the final word in the discussion of democratization, and took the opportunity to offer some advice.

“My recommendation for the additive manufacturing journey is: simulation could be a heavy investment, and something in the long term will help to come up to speed faster, also lowering the costs of trials and errors,” he said. “I really recommend to use simulation, not only hardware.”

The overall tone of the discussion remained conversational, as these various perspectives came together to offer a quick picture of a fast-growing industry and technology still enduring its growing pains. The points raised offered plenty of food for thought — among many great minds in hardware, software, materials, and end-use applications set to continue driving advances apace.

Discuss Dassault Systèmes, industry challenges, and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

[All photos: Sarah Goehrke]

 

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Workforce is Key to the Development of Additive Manufacturing: Interview with Women in Manufacturing

Opening this week’s Additive Manufacturing Symposium at Science in the Age of Experience, Allison Grealis, Founding President of Women in Manufacturing, took attendees on a journey of discovery surrounding the workforce. As 3D printing integrates more into the broader manufacturing industry, with production capabilities increasing and on-site installations rising, a skills gap remains a significant challenge and barrier to faster and broader adoption. The workforce in manufacturing, both existing and future, is in focus for Women in Manufacturing and other industry organizations striving to focus on the human aspect of industry.

The skills gap is an issue in itself, and a particular piece of that puzzle comes in the form of diversity of workforce. The Additive Manufacturing Symposium’s morning plenary session kicked off with Grealis’ presentation, “The State of Women & Additive Manufacturing,” laying the foundation for an informative day of industry discussion. Organizations, she explained, are becoming ever more aware of the need for diversity and the tangible benefits of a workforce drawing from more diverse backgrounds, applicable to all levels from production line to C-suite. The latter of these sees a notable lack of diversity, wiith women representing a minority. She cited figures to note that while women make up 49% of the US labor force, they represent only 29% of the manufacturing workforce. These figures have been rising, but disparity remains, as reported in studies from McKinsey and, targeted to additive manufacturing, Alexander Daniels Global.

In her presentation, Grealis discussed actionable steps that organizations can take to ensure that they bring in a strong variety of personnel throughout operations, as well as actionable steps women can take in pursuing manufacturing careers.

Organizations can:

  • Be sure the women you work with have interesting and challenging work
  • Provide feedback and positive affirmation
  • Encourage educational and training initiatives
  • Provide opportunities for professional development
  • Identify and improve the visibility of leaders


Women in additive can:

  • Establish a relationship with a mentor / become a mentor
  • Be visible! Take opportunities to speak on behalf of the industry / share your story
  • Educate and encourage the next generation of talent
  • Rise the ranks by positioning yourself for success / pave the way for others
  • Meet and connect with other like-minded industry women

Later in the day, I appreciated the opportunity to sit down with Grealis and discuss more of the issues and solutions for workforce development in additive manufacturing — an immediate illustration of her last action point for women, as it happened.

“Workforce is the key issue we’re combating,” she told me.

“This is one of the things that’s been a core focus for the organization since we got started. The skills gap is a big focus. When we talk to most companies, they have a slew of positions they’re seeking to fill, and we believe our organization can be a resource to filling those gaps. There are new opportunities that technology and additive manufacturing represent to women and men alike. We have a focus on the public perception issue, trying to influence a more positive image of manufacturing; we focus on parents, educators, and career counselors as much as on students and budding professionals. We share new technology components that would entice new workers and help to dispel myths that would discourage them.”

Initiatives surrounding workforce development represent a critical focus, Grealis underscored, with education and training imperative to the growth of a more advanced manufacturing sector. Encouraging the growth of women in the industry is a widespread effort, with many companies having created women’s affinity groups. Some of these, though, are groups in name alone, she said, and Women in Manufacturing is “working to create real vehicles to provide women with resources — in their company, and resources outside their individual company.”

One of the organization’s efforts is its Leadership Lab for Women in Manufacturing, launched with Case Western Reserve University’s (CWRU) Weatherhead School of Management and the support of the Women in Manufacturing Education Foundation (WiMEF). This Leadership Lab was launched in response to companies’ feedback that they had rising leaders in their ranks who weren’t yet equipped with all they needed, Grealis said. That type of responsiveness to real-world needs is necessary for the growth of positive structural development and encouraging leadership from within. Grealis pointed to efforts fostering training for management aptitude needed for success in leading teams and leading functions of responsibility within their organizations.

“Virtual training and learning is very important to us; we want to greatly expand this in the next few years,” she added. “We want to get down into the ranks to more women in manufacturing, many of whom don’t have the travel budget to go to Boston or Indianapolis [where WiM hosts events], and provide resources in how to get more training than just opportunities on the shop floor.”

Providing solutions is integral to Women in Manufacturing’s work and interest, as the organization seeks to “be a key solution provider to find and train and retain talent.” Since 2012, they have offered a direct job board through which companies can directly post jobs and job seekers can see what’s available, including apprenticeships and training, she noted. Networking is also key to the efforts, and advanced networking groups enable a valuable human resources resource, as well as a group for owners and senior executives. Discussion of best practices, and of support and advice, enables a unique setting “that isn’t happening naturally” as these twice-yearly events provide a confidential setting to talk about business.

“With all these efforts, the hope is to grow that percentage that we talked about this morning — we want to see that 29% rise closer to 50%. We want to grow not only the hourly ranks or the management ranks, but also C-suite ranks. Often there it’s under 10%, or single-digit, which is pretty disappointing,” Grealis continued.

“If you look at Forbes’ ranks of top female executives, the key most powerful women in business, most are with manufacturing companies, which is exciting. Now, we need to see more of them, to duplicate that ten-fold and fill more boardrooms with women. Most of those women came through the ranks. Most came up through technical fields, engineering and the like, and rose to lead these companies forward.”

Forbes’ list showcases an impressive array indeed of strong women leading businesses, and includes powerhouse quotes from powerhouse women. The list cites an interview with the Wall Street Journal from Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors and named at number five on the Forbes list:

“Cultivating diversity isn’t about taking a gender count when you walk into a room. It’s about valuing all ideas and building teams with different backgrounds and experiences.”

Looking specifically at additive manufacturing and the revolution surrounding digitization and an increase in cloud and other virtual resources, I asked Grealis how she saw these new technologies reshaping manufacturing and impacting the workforce.

“There should be more opportunities now. It’s not a women’s issue; it’s a people issue,” she said.

“Virtual capabilities are making work more humane; we don’t want to make work life. Companies are becoming more virtual, more flexible, and this makes not only manufacturing more appealing to women, but to millennials, to more generations — it’s become an attractive piece of manufacturing. You can’t just stop the manufacturing line because people want to go home. Virtual offerings, smart machines, and flexible hours are making more possible.”

She pointed to the example of a plant manager she spoke with recently who has found herself in a more humane work environment due to the flexibility enabled by checking virtually on production, allowing her to work more appealing hours while still keeping tabs on the happenings on the line.

For her part, Grealis’ background, with her father working in manufacturing, provided early exposure to these environments and providing a foundation from which she could understand the unique needs in manufacturing.

“I liked the excitement piece that it wasn’t dull; it’s not a traditional office intern experience when helping with things. Early exposure made me more open and excited when I came to metal forming after college,” she said. “I’ve always been very passionate about women’s issues. I’ve had a core passion always about advocating, and even thought for a short minute I would be a criminal lawyer. It’s come full circle to create an organization illuminating a population in manufacturing not often seen or heard from. I worked for a trade association working with metal forming companies, and worked with women leaders in metal forming. I found their unique needs were no different than women in different parts of manufacturing. At the tim, there wasn’t a resource around these individuals, and so we decided to start a conference that became our full service organization. It’s great to help provide power and support to this amazing community.”

Women in Manufacturing will be hosting its summit October 3-5 in Indianapolis, including several plant tours and networking events, alongside gathered experts, workshops, and roundtables.

Discuss workforce, Women in Manufacturing, and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

[All photos: Sarah Goehrke]