Treating additive manufacturing like any other process

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The so-called 3D printing hype bubble is said to have finally burst and the excitement surrounding the idea of the general populous being able to manufacture anything from phone cases to footwear in their own home is ebbing away. What has been left behind seems to be what will ensure the technology's place on the supply chain.

EuroMold in Frankfurt has branded itself the leading platform for additive manufacturing in mainland Europe and the atmosphere in 2014 is quite different to that of 12 months ago, with nifty desktop systems designed for the consumer and prosumer making way for displays of where additive manufacturing can benefit big industry.

One company that has the measure of 3D printing and its place in mainstream manufacturing is Proto Labs and EPPM sat down with Managing Director John Tumelty and Country Manager Thomas Langensiepen to get their opinion of where additive manufacturing fits.

"We want to see ourselves right at the concept stage, all the way to low-to-mid volume production, providing a suite of services to our customers. So if it's a plastic part, the natural flow would be an additive-based concept model, a handful of machined parts that consistently demonstrate a manufacturing method, finally to low-volume injection moulding," said Tumelty. "We will happily mould part one, right up to part 10,000 but when we get up into the millions of units we want to be handing production over to a dedicated volume supplier. And we're happy to take up production at end of life phase as well, for instance if you don't want to be laying down a new tool to run the final 50 parts."

"We can do all of this very fast," added Langensiepen, "in as little as a day across all of those different processes. We can have an additive part finished in as little as a day, the same goes for a moulded part, allowing us to play both in the prototype space when they need the whole thing to get to market, but also if they have a 'line down' situation or disruption within the supply chain, we can step in very quickly."

And there is the convenience of what Proto Labs has to offer to consider as well, as Tumelty explained, there is a massive subset of products that are not high-volume entities, so if the requirement was never going to exceed a couple of thousand units per annum then why hassle with engaging a trade moulder or starting the long process of approaching separate toolmakers?

Embracing change

Besides the service Proto Labs offer - additive manufacturing, injection moulding and machining almost on demand - appearing outwardly extremely impressive and attractive to companies with significant time and cost restraints, the business works in what are historically very conservative fields. Tumelty, however, believes big industry such as automotive is coming around to this broader way of thinking.

"[Industry] recognises its need to embrace change and if I talk to a C-level executive about our value propositions, that we take time and cost out of the process and we take inventory out of your warehouse..."

"... We take risk out..." added Langensiepen.

"...They kind of look partially dumbfounded," continued Tumelty. "But then they realise, this is a huge advantage to them."

He explained that his own background is in automotive and when he first left university, the new engine development programme used to be a seven-year cycle, when now big car manufacturers are trying to get their new vehicle development cycle down to inside the 20-30 month window.

"The whole industry has accelerated and they do this by embracing change and by recognising there are technologies out there that enable them to iterate their development process much more quickly. It started out in the late '80s or '90s with finite element analysis software - that was the beginning of CAD and computer-aided testing. We've then gone into 3D printing, which gives the ability to have the parts in your hand but you still need to know that it functions. So we come in and make you a moulded part you can put through a crash test and actually get a genuine set of parts which means when you come to cut your tool to make a million switches or whatever, you know the design of the part is sound."

Langensiepen added: "Even when industrial customers are conservative, the value proposition really addresses their fears. But even then, you can additively manufacture or machine a part and these will only be proxies to the moulded part. They won't have the same functional characteristics of the moulded part."

He noted that the design for an injection-moulded part will differ from those of a machined or additively manufactured part and that each process has its own constraints, which is another area where Proto Labs adds value by offering an online assessment of a CAD file, identifying flaws where the design could fail if produced by injection moulding, machining or additive manufacturing.

How disruptive is 3D printing really?

"The important thing to remember is that 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, or whatever you want to call it, has constraints just like injection moulding and machining. It's not quite 'I've thought about it therefore I can have it' and because it's quite slow on a unit basis, then you actually have restrictions on how much it can disrupt the current manufacturing methodologies?" said Tumelty.

"It's a new weapon in the arsenal of the product developer business or the product manufacturer and needs to be included in the choice spectrum. If you look around the show you see people talking about 3D printed dental inserts and hearing aids. Great applications. Those are a good fit not because 3D printing is a panacea of manufacturing, but because they are unique components."

"3D printing is really cool," he added, "it fits a place in our customers' needs but let's not try and pretend that it's something that it isn't."

Langensiepen added that a large part of Proto Labs' mission is to be consultative with its customers so they can be guided through these various processes, informed of each process's constraints, the cost and time involved for that particular application and geometry.

"We will happily make our customers a part by whichever method our customer wants us to use," said Tumelty, "but I think we can uniquely operate in the space and help guide those customers to maybe making a more educated decision.

"Just because it's new, doesn’t mean it's better. And just because it’s traditional, doesn’t mean it’s slow."

Where it fits, where it sits

Additive manufacturing is complementary to traditional processes, Langensiepen stated, with the vast majority of customers coming to Proto Labs having already utilised 3D printing at concept stage.

"They clearly understand it's complementary and when to use it. Therefore, it was natural for us to add it to our portfolio and engage in our customers earlier in the development cycle and offering them a more comprehensive suite of solutions," he added. "I think it fits in really well and over time as technology improves and costs come down, we'll see it used more."

Tumelty chimed with his colleague's "agnostic" viewpoint. "From my perspective," he said, "I think every few months, additive has wheeled out the latest story as to what it's going to revolutionise. Only a few years ago, it was about democratising additive manufacturing. Everybody's going to have one of these in their bedroom. That bubble kind of burst. I think as it matures, it's learning where it sits in its niche and that niche is likely to be at concept stage for the vast majority of applications and from a manufacturing standpoint, it's going to be for unique, person-specific parts like hearing aids.

"It has to be treated like any other manufacturing process. You can turn it, press it, mill it, cast it - do whatever you want - and additive is another one of those. Put it on the list, look at the price and see if it makes economic sense."

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