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FEATURE


3D PRINTING/ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING


scalaBlE am EcosystEm


Building a sEamlEss,


Mathieu Pérennou, global business


development director for Additive Manufacturing Solutions at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, examines how digital platforms are revolutionising how teams collaborate,


making 3D printing more accessible and applicable across even more industries


O


n the verge of widespread adoption, Additive manufacturing (AM) has already proven its usefulness in producing high-


quality parts for crucial applications across a broad range of industries. While the demand is there, manufacturers must first address pressing concerns around productivity, materials development and quality control, as well as operational and organisational challenges. Agnostic and collaborative platforms are now


emerging as a new approach to tackling these issues by connecting people, machines and data across the various stages of the manufacturing process – from product design through process development all the way to manufacturability testing and problem mitigation.


lEvEraging dEsign frEEdom A major challenge lies in acquiring the skills to design for AM. This skillset is not yet widely developed and, without it, manufacturers will not be able to design and manufacture


using AM at any useful scale. Additive manufacturing provides designers


with unparalleled design freedom – because it differs greatly from typical manufacturing procedures, it enables designers to create complex shapes and geometries that were previously impossible to manufacture. However, not every shape can be 3D printed, and a lack of understanding of AM can lead to designs that are not well-suited for AM, or parts that fail to meet quality and performance requirements. Different printing technologies have varying


functional limitations, which demand different criteria for product design. The 'trial and error' process is time-intensive and can result in needless waste from prototyping. To ensure that designs are manufacturable, product design engineers need to address additive manufacturing constraints as early as possible in the design process. In most cases, and due to the relative novelty of


AM, product designers do not have the necessary expertise to properly assess the manufacturability of a product and thus need to rely on the AM expertise of a manufacturing department or specialist bureau. Because product design and


process development are typically siloed activities – one being owned by product development and engineering teams, and the latter being owned by manufacturing – there is usually only a basic exchange between specialists in these departments. No matter the good intentions, in an age when teams are rarely under the same roof, they speak a different language and use different digital tools.


4 DESIGN SOLUTIONS FEBRUARY 2024 2 Connecting the different software stakeholders


use can facilitate the sharing of data along the product design and associated manufacturing process development chain. Additionally, shared tools such as 3D whiteboard visualisations now support project reviews at any time, and further enable real-time collaboration between the different project stakeholders to work through problems holistically. Ensuring the data consistency and the


continuity of the digital thread also makes it possible to automate the execution of repetitive aspects of a workflow, such as running AM simulations or analysing quality data. Empowering project teams with real-time collaboration and automating repetitive tasks are vital to minimise design and lead times. This is why Hexagon has pioneered a new


type of platform called Nexus, and applied it to help OEMs to transform Design for AM.


Ensuring quality of printEd parts


Assessing the quality of printed parts is an important next step in the adoption of AM in regulated industries where safety and compliance are concerned. This new breed of cloud-based platforms facilitate collaboration among material scientists, manufacturing and process teams, and designers, to develop and qualify new materials for 3D printing and ensure consistency and quality control in material properties. Additionally, such platforms help apply the data


acquired during quality inspection to enrich engineering simulations used during the design phase. 3D printing can fundamentally change the mechanical properties of a part from the design intent, and real world feedback


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