Manufacturing sees new revolution triggered by 3D printers

A third Industrial Revolution has started - and it's in the form of additive manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, builds products up layer by layer using plastics, ceramics or metals. The technology has been around since the 1980s, and a broad range of industries are beginning to capitalize on it, from defense and aerospace to automotive and medical.

Rockwell Collins, the University of Iowa and even M.C. Ginsberg Objects of Art in Iowa City use 3D printers, though the machines can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars depending on their size. And that price tag doesn't include supplies and materials.

But the medical world, for example, already is seeing the advantages of 3D printers to build knees and hips, said Scott Deutsch, the manager of communications and special programs for the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII).

Headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio, NAMII is a public-private partnership that works to transition additive manufacturing technology to the mainstream U.S. manufacturing sector. It's funded through several federal agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.

And 3D printers would allow some manufacturers to reduce their parts count, build more complex shapes and parts on demand, and see less material waste as it builds up rather than cuts away and removes material to create a part. Yet some companies are hesitant to use the technology, Deutsch said.

“Some fear (the technology) will take away jobs,” he said. “Industry support will help accelerate it to mainstream, but there are still challenges involved.”

Fear that new technology will kill jobs is not new, nor is it always unjustified. Between 1980 to 2005, more than 4.5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost either overseas or to new technology that increased automation, according to the Brookings Institute. That's 24 percent of the country's manufacturing employment.

A National Association of Manufacturers spokesman said the organization didn't have specific figures on the effects automation alone has had on jobs.

A separate report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review shows that while productivity has reached record levels, there is a falling median income and fewer jobs.

Rather than fearing a new technology, companies should be open-minded and invest in it, said Jared Christensen, who is working on a patent for 3D printing and is quality manager for Hollidaysburg, Pa.-based McLanahan Corp., which manufacturers rock crushing equipment and has facilities in Cedar Rapids.

Manufacturers once were afraid of computer numerical control (CNC) machining, which uses computers to control tools, he added.

“People were skeptical of the machines, and no one took it seriously," Christensen recalled. "They said it was too expensive.

"But now everyone has one."

Building beyond traditional means

But even with the skeptics, sales of 3D printers and related services are rising - up 29 percent from last year and hitting $2.2 billion in 2012, according to Fort Collins, Colo.-based Wohlers Associates, a consulting group, and as reported in a  Bloomberg News article. Wohlers Associates said sales will continue to climb as manufacturers buy industrial-grade systems able to produce metal parts.

“In the next 10 years … there will be more materials, printers and materials will be  at a lower cost and the speed will increase,” NAMII's Deutsch said.

“Advancements will come fast,” Christensen agreed. “I'd guess that in about five years, (additive manufacturing) will become pretty standard.”

There numerous benefits for companies to incorporate 3D printers into their manufacturing process - the machines cut down on time as well as materials and workers needed, Christensen said. They also can eliminate the need for welding or the use of fasteners such as nuts or bolts.

“You don't have to make machines on different tables, with one person working on one thing. You cut down on labor cost,” he said.

Christensen said that right now the printers are a good fit for the types of rock-crushing equipment his company produces, which are low-volume and large, as 3D printers have a long, slow cycle time and aren't as accurate as they'd need to be to build smaller equipment.

The 3Dprinters also are useful when it comes to building difficult shapes, such as spirals and helixes.

“You can make things you could never make by traditional means,” said Deutsch. “If you can design it, you can print a version of it.”

And manufacturers can use them to make prototypes, specialty tools and  replacement parts, which is how Kirkwood Community College's Industrial Technologies program uses its machine.

Kristie McKibben, a computer-aided design and mechanical engineering technology instructor, said students will use the 3D printer mainly to make prototypes and models before building the object in the school's CNC shop.

“They're great for tooling and forging,” she said, explaining that students can check fits, tolerances and appearance. They then can make revisions to the part before tooling is purchased or parts are manufactured, which in turn cuts down on errors.

Overcoming limitations 

“They're also good for inventors,” she said. “People with ideas can make something and then go and show someone.”

McKibben said Kirkwood doesn't use the printer for any other manufacturing purposes now, but may have to shift its instruction as manufacturers continue to incorporate the technology.

“If the industry is going that way, we need to keep up with it,” she said.

But 3D printers certainly have limitations, in size - parts and objects must fit inside the printer's chamber - as well ascost and production time. Three-D printers are far from being used for mass production, but giants such as General Electric and Maryland-based Lockheed Martin are investing millions of dollars into advancing the technology.

GE even plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to build more than 85,000 fuel nozzles for its newest jet engine, according to Bloomberg News. The company has to evolve the printers from equipment used to fashion plastic prototypes into equipment sturdy enough for assembly-line production.

Big companies "wouldn't being doing that if it wasn't profitable,” McLanahan's Christensen said.

“In the U.S., our competitive advantage has to be automation," he added. "We can recapture work that went overseas through innovation."