printers. What’s more, this category is no longer limited to mate- rial extrusion “FDM clones.” Several new low-cost photopolymer- based systems have followed Formlabs’ Form 1 into the market. The final foundation patent on laser sintering owned by the University of Texas at Austin will expire in June 2014. Similar to the expiration of FDM and stereolithography patents, this will likely result in another wave of 3D printers using the laser sintering process to make durable plastic parts. However, the process requires the management of fine powders and a precisely heated build chamber—challenges that may deter some startup developers from producing new laser sintering machines.


Where It’s All Going


In 2003, the use of AM for part pro- duction was a mere 3.9% of the indus- try’s total product and service revenues, according to our research. This important segment of the market has since grown to become nearly nine times larger. The pro- duction of parts by AM for final products is growing rapidly because the technol- ogy offers unique capabilities to reduce weight, consolidate many parts into one, and improve part usability and perfor- mance. When parts are designed—or redesigned—to take advantage of these unique capabilities, AM becomes a can- didate for production applications—even for relatively high production volumes, although it depends greatly on the size, type, and finish requirements of the part. The aerospace, medical, and dental industries were the first to take advan- tage of these unique capabilities, primar- ily because low production volumes of high-value parts make AM economically feasible. Final part production with AM is growing beyond this group of bespoke and low-volume industries, and will continue to expand into other industries for new, unanticipated applications. The


cost of materials, coupled with the size and speed of machines, will be among the primary drivers in the foreseeable future. The transition from prototyping to series production presents many challenges, especially in the highly regulated aerospace


You Can’t Improve ShopFloorConnect®


What You Don’t Measure Automates OEE Data


Collection from Any Machine.


ShopFloorConnect software is used by the discrete manufacturing, packaging, and food-and-beverage industries to automatically calculate OEE and show the downtime reasons from stamping presses, press-brakes, laser cutting machines, turret presses, machining centers, automated saws, welders, injection molders, paint lines, packaging and other machines. It is a turn-key solution that provides timely accurate data to improve your operation. ShopFloorConnect is scalable and flexible, and can be quickly implemented into any discrete manufacturing environment. It comes factory-configured to communicate directly over your LAN with the ShopFloorConnect Machine Interface (SMI). ShopFloorConnect provides a powerful report-generator as well as a browser-based viewer that displays machine status in real time.


For additional information about ShopFloorConnect, call us at 800-586-8324 (US and Canada), 978-268-2700, or visit us at www.ShopFloorConnect.com


©2014 Wintriss Controls – All Rights Reserved


June 2014 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 67


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200