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From “Made in China” to “Made in the Cloud”
By Mitch Free, CEO, CloudDDM A
dditive manufacturing, com- monly referred to as 3D print- ing, has moved beyond being
simply a great technology for rapidly producing prototypes; it has now be- come a viable manufacturing option. Additive manufacturing is impacting supply chains in the way companies design and bring products to market. While much of the hype has been re- lated to 3D printers for the home, the real value of this technology may lie in the industrial commercial sector. We use the term additive manu-
facturing because the technology al- lows adding plastic or metal, layer by layer, in precise patterns to “grow” a physical part or assembly. This is op- posed to traditional subtractive man- ufacturing where a block of material at the beginning of production is cut away precisely to end up as a desired
part. The mature technology of sub- tractive manufacturing, commonly called CNC machining, is currently faster and more precise than additive manufacturing. However, additive manufacturing can produce parts that cannot be made by subtractive manufacturing. For example, in sub- tractive manufacturing only straight holes can be drilled, but with an ad- ditive process holes can be made to snake through a part. There are also many cases where both additive and subtractive manufacturing are used together to make a product. Not until recently has additive
manufacturing become a suitable op- tion for creating end-use parts by overcoming the challenges of speed and scale. Traditionally, it took too long to produce additively manufac- tured parts and few companies had
the capacity to produce them in sig- nificant quantities. Manufacturers are now trying new methods of de- ploying automated additive manu- facturing cells connected to the cloud. CloudDDM has taken this a step further by locating its manufac- turing facility inside the UPS hub in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is able to combine production au- tomation with the logistics capabili- ties of UPS to deliver printed parts to customers at exceptional speed.
Uploading 3D CAD Files The process is simple; cus-
tomers upload 3D computer aided de- sign (CAD) files to the CloudDDM website and receive instant pricing. Once they place an order, a printer begins producing the parts immedi- ately without human involvement. Production companies view
speed as the most important factor. When a company launches a product, it is already far along in developing its next generation. Rather than leaving a product on the market un- til the price point erodes due to mar- ket saturation, companies continual- ly introduce new versions allowing them to maintain profit margins and sell to the same customers who bought previous versions. Speed and flexibility are critical, especially as a company and its competitors con- stantly try to “one up” each other. Comparatively, speed and flexibility can be lost when products are pro- duced in China by traditional means. Product companies are taking
advantage of the elastic manufactur- ing cloud and are developing services such as facilitating Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS), similar to the way cloud-based computing services facili- tated Software as a Service (SaaS) to and revolutionize an industry. One of the may ways product
companies are using cloud-based ad- ditive manufacturing is by taking ad- vantage of the instantaneous com- munication of the web to receive pro- totype parts as fast as the next morn- ing after they are ordered. This can save designers time of 3 to 7 days per iteration. If a typical design cycle consists of 5 iterations, this works out to getting products to market as much as a month sooner.
Benefits of the Cloud Additive manufacturing is use-
ful for creating test prototypes quick- ly. Companies have used A/B testing on the web to try different concepts and gauge market reaction. Do they prefer A or B? Companies now have the ability with additive manufactur-
ing to produce versions of a product, typically with varying form factors, to determine which the market prefers before investing in tooling and molds. Additive manufacturing also
makes low-volume products viable, without the previous economic risk. Traditional molds and tooling are ex-
As producers reengineer supply chains to remain
competitive, it is clear that the most important move is toward speed, flexibility and risk mitigation.
pensive, have long lead times, and lock companies into a design, thereby eliminating the ability to experi- ment. Producers now have the ability to manufacture in lockstep with cus- tomer orders while maintaining the flexibility to change a design from one part to the next with a simple modification to the input file.
Moldmakers Still in Business For mass production, it will still
make the most economic sense to use traditional manufacturing processes such as injection molding. However, it can take 3 to 4 months to have molds made which stalls a product on its way to market. Companies are now using additive manufacturing to make parts until molds are ready, thus giving them a head start over the competition. Additive manufacturing can
produce parts that are not possible by any other means of production. Companies are leveraging this capa- bility to impress customers with de- sign capabilities they have not seen before. Some are even redesigning complex and costly parts to be pro- duced more economically by additive technology. As producers reengineer supply
chains to remain competitive, it is clear that the most important move is toward speed, flexibility and risk mitigation. When companies keep fresh mixes of products, they earn premium prices and do not have to rely on cheap labor overseas to bol- ster profits. This is an exciting time for American manufacturers and is ushering in a new wave of wealth creation that once again comes from
making things. Contact: CloudDDM, 2379 John
Glenn Drive, Suite 105, Atlanta, GA 30341 % 888-773-3446 E-mail:
info@cloudddm.com Web:
www.cloudddm.com r
December, 2015
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