Autodesk researcher Andreas Bastian used advanced generative design to make a new type of lightweight airplane seat that could make huge savings on fuel and money if applied in future aircraft. Due to complex geometry, the seat was made on Cronus 3D printer with 5 printheads and then cast in metal.
Project description:
The structure was 56% lighter than the conventional aluminum seats. With 30% calculated to be purely down to the generative design. Autodesk believes these weight savings could rapidly reduce fuel emissions and thus drastically save costs. Calculating the projected cost savings, the team evaluated the weight savings into fuel savings.
By doing so, the project cites an estimate of $200 million USD in possible reductions over the lifetime of a fleet of 100 aircraft. Additionally, the team calculates fuel emission savings that could compare to removing 80,000 cars off the road for a year.
What if you could carry your 3d printer with you as a small bag? What if 3d printers were everywhere? Researchers at HPI explored this possibility with actual hacked 3d printers and 3d printing pens to test the implications on everyday life. It would basically give you magic power to repair and replace everything on the spot with incredibly low cost. Sure, we are not there yet, but technologies and concepts are slowly converging to this point.
Here is a detailed talk by Thijs Roumen about the entire concept, the research conducted and the results:
Here is a video focused on the mobile printing process:
They used modified M3D machine which was cut down to more compact size of 9cm in hignt, equipped with a UDOO control PC computer, shoulder strap and a battery. I expect that someone will make simillar open sourced machine soon.
CloudDDM is a company that operates like most 3D printing services where you can order parts through a web interface, but they're able to produce any part at high volumes and speed. They've recently opened a 3D printing factory inside UPS international hub in Louisville USA with one hundred 3D printers and plans to increase to a thousand. The machines run 24/7 and all the logistics are handled by UPS. They print in several materials like: ABS, Polycarbonate (PC), Polycarbonate-ABS (PC-ABS) and ULTEM 1010 with several color options.
CloudDDM 3D printers. DDM stands for "Direct Digital Manufacturing". Image source: CNN
Now the truly amazing (or frightening) thing about this factory is that it is highly automatized and operated by only THREE WORKERS! 3 people! 3! One per eight hour shift! Is this a new trend? Factories without ANY workers?
Lots of 3d printers and robots producing and only a few people designing and carrying furniture. They look out of place and almost like decoration. I'll write about future of design work in future post about this topic ... but don't think machines can not design stuff also ...
Materialise has a 3D printing "factory" facilities with what looks like more people working:
But this is not a pure "factory" but more diverse design and production center with design, product development and engineering personnel. Another point is that they probably displace many "traditional" workers as they use cutting edge technology and logistics. Maybe even several orders of magnitude more then they employ. If you look closely you will find that even some of the workplaces showed in this video could be automated now or replaced by machines in couple of years.
Are we seeing a start of 3D printing factories replacing industrial workers? In the '90ties during the first dot-com bubble people predicted that the postal services will disappear because of email communication but they were wrong since they took over the much increased package shipments due to rise of e-commerce. Could this happen again with increased volume of 3D printed products? Probably not.
Why?
Because the whole transport logistic sector is getting automatized! Deimler just presented their autonomous truck and the state of Nevada is supporting it with new autonomous vehicle legislation. Even the company said it will take some 10 years to have fully autonomous trucks on the roads with major regulatory obstacles but they are moving in that direction with most of the other tech companies like Tesla and Google. Do keep in mind that "truck driver" is most common profession in the USA with more than 9 million employed in the trucking industry or 1 in every 13 employed Americans.
Is this onset of technological unemployment unfolding in real life?Technological unemployment (or desourcing) is defined as a process of unemployment being caused mainly by technological advances. It is a controversial theory that has yet to be confirmed or disproved.
In 2014 Pew Research surveyed 1,896 technology professionals and economists and found a split in opinions: 48 percent of them believed that new technologies would displace more jobs than they would create by the year 2025, while 52 percent maintained that they would not. The implications of it being a reality would have HUGE societal impact on a global scale. What jobs are future proof?
Future will be interesting. Stay smart and think about all the possible scenarios!
As I live in a country with very high unemployment I have very personal interest in this topic and I think it is very important to investigate it and stay informed about it.
Do you think your job could be done by a machine or software? Share your opinions in comment section
Update (07.02.2016.):
Siemens opened first European 3d printing factory in Sweden. The €21.4 million facility, located in Siemen’s industrial plant in Finspång, Sweden will have 20 employees and multiple industrial grade metal 3d printers. The factory will produce prototypes, end-product parts and replacement parts for repair focused on gas turbines. Thorbjorn Fors, global business director for Distributed Generation at Siemens, said of the facility:
“With this investment, we can develop new and improved components and repairs, for example burner tips to serve our industrial gas turbine SGT-800, significantly faster. Using this innovative approach, we will shorten repair times from months to weeks. It is an important step in our ability to respond to the needs of our customers.”
As we see there are more 3d printing factories being build with very small number of workers. This is also a start of the change in the Europe.
Siemens 3d printing factory in Sweden. Looks very clean. And empty of people.
Update (15.04.2016.):
There are more 3D printing factories and production / prototyping centers being opened all over the world:
Airbus opened one in the Ludwig Bolköw Campus near Munich.
From the source:
The Aerospace Factory, as the new 3D printing center at the facility is being called, will be based out of the Ludwig Bolköw Campus, an industry and university collaborative venture located on-site. The location will be used to research the 3D printing of endparts for use in aerospace through work performed by a number of important players including: Airbus Safran Launchers; metal 3D printer manufacturer EOS; engine maker MTU Aero Engines; the Technical University of Munich and its Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management; Airbus Group Innovations; the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology (EZRT); Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (IABG); Airbus subsidiary APWorks; virtual prototyping firm the ESI Group; and the Airbus Endowed Chair for Integrative Simulation and Engineering of Materials and Processes (ISEMP) of the University of Bremen.
GE opened 200 M USD advanced manufacturing centre in Pune, India.
From the source:
In 2015, GE unveiled its $200 million, Multi-Modal advanced manufacturing facility in Chakan, Pune, part of the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Dubbed a “brilliant factory” by its creators, the facility was established to produce jet engine parts, locomotive components, wind turbines, and a host of other additively and traditionally manufactured components for a number of GE companies. The facility now employs around 1,500 workers, responsible for operating 3D printers and other machinery. "The idea is to service a multitude of businesses—from oil and gas, to aviation, transportation, and distributed power—all under the same roof," said GE's Amit Kumar, overseer of the Multi-Modal facility, via TechRepublic.
The Multi-Modal facility provides GE with several advantages. By bringing a number of interconnected operations under one roof, the company will allegedly save up to ten times as much money than if it had established individual facilities for separate business lines. The facility is also helping to bring plastic and metal additive manufacturing technology to its India operations, an advancement which offers the company huge flexibility and cost-saving potential.
Eventually, the Pune facility will produce critical end-use components such as the jet engine fuel nozzle, but it will first service a more urgent need: 3D printing replacement parts for broken machinery—parts that would otherwise have to be made in bulk and stored, or sourced from an external supplier. Replacement parts, especially for older appliances, can be incredibly difficult to source when those appliances are discontinued or simply made in small quantities. 3D printing these replacement parts is much faster than producing them using traditional manufacturing techniques, with previous timescales of three to five months reduced to around one week when additive manufacturing is implemented
GE Oil & Gas is opening new 3D printing factory line with advanced robotics in Talamona, Italy. It is investing some 10 million USD in new production lines to 3D print burners for gas turbine combustion chambers and other advanced components such as nozzles. These new advanced manufacturing lines establishes this site as a center of excellence for the oil and gas industry. It also used advanced production software to manage the factory.
“The use of automated production and new techniques like additive manufacturing allow us to develop parts and products more efficiently, precisely and cost-effectively, accelerating the speed at which we can bring product to market,” said Davide Marrani, general manager for manufacturing for GE Oil & Gas’ Turbomachinery Solutions business line.
“The opportunities for the application of additive manufacturing and 3D printing in the oil and gas industry are only just starting to be explored, and it will require an ongoing rethink of component design and production approach,” said Massimiliano Cecconi, GE Oil & Gas Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Executive.
As factories as growing so is the software ecosystem that connects them B2B and B2C. Fast Radius has developed "virtual inventory" software for their 3d printing factory. It enables companies to deliver parts "on demand" and "just in time". Rick Smith from Fast Radius said:
“On average, the rule of thumb for the cost of holding physical inventory is about 25 percent the cost of the part per year,” he explained. “There is a significant cost in terms of cost of capital, warehousing space, security and damage. The other major problem with physical inventory is that you’ve got to produce in large volumes to get the unit costs low. This works great when you’re producing iPhones and you know you’re going to sell 10 million of them. But, when all of a sudden you’ve got an essential part and you know you’re only going to need 15 of them per year—maybe it’s a critical part to a machine in a manufacturing operation that doesn’t break very often, but is extremely important when it does break—then it doesn’t make sense to go through the setup and all of the costs related to doing a larger-scale production.”
The centralized manufacturing model of the 20th century may not be done away with soon, but the shift is already under way. To introduce its 3D printing services to potential OEMs, Fast Radius has partnered with about a dozen companies that are looking to make the shift to a virtual inventory. “To start,” Smith explained, “the companies that we’re working with are identifying 1,000 or 1,500 parts that are excellent candidates for on demand production. This may be a small percentage of their overall inventory, but as costs drop precipitously and quality continues to rise over time, these companies know that a larger and larger percentage of physical inventory will be moved to a virtual inventory model.”
3D Hubs, a local 3D printing service now accepts payments in bitcoin! This is a major step forward to truly decentralized manufacturing economy!
From their press release:
Amsterdam, March 9, 2015
Bitcoin gets physical with 3D Hubs
Bitcoin payment service provider BitPay, and 3D Hubs, the world’s largest network of 3D printers, have just announced a collaboration that will integrate bitcoin payments through Adyen into 3D Hubs’ network of over 13,000 privately owned 3D printers globally.
The partnership follows the recent news of Adyen’s integration of bitcoin. 3D Hubs, the Airbnb for 3D Printers, is on a mission to make 3D printing accessible to everyone by connecting all the world’s 3D printers. The 3D Hubs model decentralizes production and promotes sustainability by eliminating the need for longdistance shipping. Today, the 3D Hubs network is providing over one billion people with access to a 3D printer within 10 miles of their home. 3D printing began in the early 80s as a form of rapid prototyping.
The original 3D printer, invented by Chuck Hull, involved using UV beams to solidify layers of liquid photopolymer in a vat. Since then, 3D printing has rapidly evolved, and 3D printers can now create products in a whole range of materials including plastics, resins, metals, ceramics, and even food. In fact, you can now create just about anything you can dream of.
This partnership connects bitcoin a decentralized currency to 3D Hubs’ decentralized manufacturing network, further strengthening the global movement towards decentralized industry.
Red Pill Philosophy has an interesting opinion on this business move. The point is that the Home Depot is selling the technology which will drive it out of the business at the end. Maybe this is unrealistic, because Home Depot and other retailers are adaptable. But there will probably be some measurable impacts on this sector from home digital fabrication soon. Probably the companies that base they business model on overpriced plastic pieces will go have massive losses. Ant there are many of those companies.
Big USA players like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and GE are already heavily into additive manufacturing, and Chinese are already printing big parts of jet fighters. European main aircraft producer Airbus is also now promoting themselves and their technology 3d printing advancements.
Airbus is at the start of an innovation revolution using 3D printing technology. 3D plastic parts are already flying on a commercial A310 and an A350 XWB test aircraft. Metal parts for wing slats, a section of the tail wing and door hinges have also been made with 3D printing. In the coming years the technology will allow manufacturing costs to fall while lighter parts will mean less fuel burn for airlines.
Revolutionary machine or marketing hype? You decide ...
New 3D Systems Cube 3d printer is just presented by will.i.am under Ekocyle brand and it seems like it is using new type of a filament made from 25% PET or 3 recycled PET bottles called rPET.
Partnership with Coca Cola is involved in production of this machine, which makes sense, since Coca Cola is probably the biggest producer of PET bottles that are burden on environment and economy of waste management. It is better to make something out of those bottles then to just bury them in a landfill.
Personally I don't like printers that work only with propitiatory filament cartridges that are usually more expensive then generic filament, but this model gives more incentive to buy for consumers who are motivated by environment protection. I understand that they want to sell their machines, but if you really want to improve environmental impact of Coca Cola why not sell the filament directly for lower prices? Also I couldn't find the prince of filament cartridge itself. One thing is sure: 3D System continues to lead in front of Makerbot-Stratasys who seem to stagnate.
Interesting development, video is only available on youtube with no information on 3d Systems pages. More to come soon ...
Update: Here is official 3D Systems press release:
As explained by 3DS’ Chief Creative Officer will.i.am, the goal of EKOCYCLE is to "partner with the most influential brands around the world and use technology, art, style and inspiration to change an entire culture. We will make it cool to recycle, and we will make it cool to make products using recycled materials. This is the beginning of a more sustainable 3D-printed lifestyle. Waste is only waste if we waste it.”
Each EKOCYCLE cartridge is made in part from post-consumer recycled 20oz PET plastic bottles. New to home 3D printing, rPET is a flexible filament material that retains full durability. Cartridges for the EKOCYCLE Cube are available in a curated color palette of red, black, white and natural.
The EKOCYCLE Cube 3D printer is a plug and play consumer 3D printer for everyday use, priced at $1,199, and will be available at 3DS’ online consumer hub Cubify™. EKOCYCLE Cube printers are expected to commence commercial shipments during the second half of 2014. To sign up for updates, please visit Cubify.
Setting a New Standard for How We Make: Each EKOCYCLE Cartridge turns the equivalent of 3 used bottles into your next wearable fashion, music accessory or desktop décor. Users will receive a free collection of 25 fashion, music and tech minded accessories, curated by will.i.am, to have fun 3D printing immediately.
Remade Print Experience: Prints in beautiful 70-micron high resolution at fast speeds and up to 6” cubed in size, with ultra-fine supports for complex prints and a choice of easy auto settings or advanced settings. Auto-leveling ensures quality printability every time.
Unlock the Limits of Style: EKOCYCLE Cube prints in simultaneous, dual color recycled plastic in a curated color palette of red, black, white and natural.
Instant Load Cartridge: Instant material loading is now easier than changing an ink cartridge. Moisture-lock cartridges ensure extended shelf life and total material usage, improving print quality and sustainability. The cartridges are easy to load and store while preserving the life and quality of the materials.
Convenience in the Palm of Your Hand: Enjoy the freedom of mobile printing direct from the Cubify app for iOS and Android. Find new things to print in the curated brand collections or browse the Design Feed for inspiration to add to your Shelf. Prep and print from your smartphone direct to the EKOCYCLE Cube.
Easy to Use, Sleek Design: Building on the iconic Cube, the EKOCYCLE Cube features a color touchscreen with an intuitive user interface and sleek LEDs highlighting prints in action, and is equipped with faster Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, an auto-leveling print pad and easy supports removal for complex prints.
will.i.am holds a PET bottle that is recycled to make filament which is used to print smartphone case
One thing is sure: there will be much more litigation in the future ...
From the video description:
Three dimensional printing turns bits into atoms. The technology is simply amazing. These machines draw on programming, art and engineering to enable people to design and build intricate, beautiful, functional jewelry, machine parts, toys and even shoes. In the commercial sector, 3D printing can revolutionize supply chains as well. As the public interest group Public Knowledge wrote once, "It will be awesome if they don't screw it up."
The age of publicly accessible 3D printers and printing services is finally here, but are our legal doctrines up to the task of protecting the public while not screwing up a fantastic new tool? Stanford Law Professors Mark Lemley and Nora Freeman Engstrom, the CEO of Shapeways, the founder of Printrbot, the president of Airwolf 3D, and CIS Director of Civil Liberties Jennifer Granick discuss the product liablity and intellectual property issues surrounding this innovation.
Panelists:
Mark Lemley - William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School
Nora Freeman Engstrom - Associate Professor of Law at Stanford Law School
Peter Weijmarshausen - CEO of Shapeways, 3D printing marketplace and community
Brook Drumm - Founder of Printrbot, a desktop 3D printer you can build in a couple hours
Erick Wolf - Intellectual Property Attorney and President of Airwolf 3D, an affordable, durable, and easy-to-use 3D printer
Moderator: Jennifer Granick - Director of Civil Liberties at Stanford CIS
May 16, 2013 Stanford Law School Hosted by the Stanford Center for Internet and Society
Ultra fast, with full customization of each piece by continuous additive manufacturing on industrial scale. 3D Systems shows their vision in this video with Project Ara being the real-world example of this technology in application.
3D Systems alos claim that they have broken the "magic" barrier of 3d printing being faster then traditional injection molding:
Those are some major changes in industrial scale production!
I hate proprietary batteries, non-user replaceable batteries and non-standard power supplies. Companies just change battery design on each model and sell expensive external power accessories. It is a sort of planed obsolescence and a bad business practice.
Alex wanted to use his camera for timelapse photography but the battery couldn't last for two hours. Commercial power adapter was 30 euros so he designed and printed his own external power adapter that replaces the original battery. He published the design on Thingiverse. Problem solved for everyone with Canon Powershot SX200.
This approach could also be used to print battery adapters that use batteries of different formats. Some batteries and power supplies for older models are impossible to find and projects like this could bring some old hardware back to life or give more features to existing machines.
So, you have an expensive camera and a small plastic "thingy" on it brakes. Replacement part costs 143 $. What do you do? Answer is simple: you 3d print your own replacement part for 7 $.
Raster, the guy who did it, documented entire process on his blog:
3d printed replacement part for the cameras LCD arm
I recently had the opportunity to work with a great guy named Jose Delgado, Jr., a 53-year old who was born without most of his left hand. I made a 3D printed prosthetic hand for Jose and, after using it for a while, I asked him to give me some honest feedback about how it compares to his more expensive myoelectric prosthesis. This is obviously not an "apples to apples" comparison in terms of the devices, but the real value of a prosthesis comes from how useful it is on a day-to-day basis, and that is the focus of the comparison here.
This 3D printed prosthesis is a completely mechanical design. There are a series of non-flexible cords running along the underside of each finger, connecting to a "tensioning block" on the top rear of the device (the "gauntlet"). The tension is caused by bending the wrist downward. With the wrist in its natural resting position, the fingers are extended, with a natural inward curve. When the wrist is bent 20-30 degrees downward, the non-flexible cords are pulled, causing the fingers and thumb to bend inwards. A second series of flexible cords run along the tops of the fingers, causing the fingers to return automatically when tension is released.
3D printers are coming down in price rapidly. As of today, you can get a self-assembly kit starting at around a few hundred dollars, and a fully assembled "prosumer" level printer is going for around $1000-$2000. In other words, this kind of technology is becoming very accessible, and it's opening up some very exciting possibilities!
Sculpteo (3d printing service company) made a study which shows that using a 3d printing service is more cost effective then buying your own 3d printer.
Many people pointed at some obvious mistakes and shortcomings of this study:
Shipping cost is not included
It takes time to ship 3d printed object from Sculpteo which is not RAPID prototyping
There are many cheaper DIY 3d printers then the ones included in the study
I personally would add: WHERE IS THE FUN IN ORDERING SOMETHING FROM A COMPANY!?!?!? DO IT YOURSELF! it is rewording beyond money ... and you will learn new things ...
Learn why 3D printing is the superior manufacturing solution. Offering diverse, innovative products, less overall waste, localized production, and a new world of independent designers and brands, 3D printing challenges traditional manufacturing every step of the way. Susan Taing, founder and CEO of bhold, explains how 3D printing is paving the way for a bold new future of production possibilities.
Great post on BoingBoing illustrating disruptive potential to traditional supply chain by 3d printing technology. It is also a small case study how physical objects can behave as digital objects.
Basically, someone on internet said:
I need this plastic replacement part, but it is incredibly expensive!
Few hours later, complete stranger sent him .stl file to 3d print that part.
Truly revolutionary!
On separate note, there are two additional things to think about here:
if you run a company with business model based on sale of overpriced small plastic parts, maybe it is time to think it over
if you want to be a (rich) lawyer, you should start researching 3d printing
Medical prosthetic hand price compared to DIY 3d printed prosthetic hand. The price difference is enormous. There are many many reasons for this ... maybe I'll make some sort of analysis in the future ...
Update (21.4.2014.):
Here is a video comparison of DIY 3d printed hand and high tech prosthetic hand done by person born without hand after testing both:
