"3D Printing is creating a massive impact on the "Global Supply Chain, Airbus is already talking about printing entire airplanes with large scale 3D printers"
3D printing technology consolidates the number of processes required for manufacturing.This will have a significant impact on global supply chains, decreasing complexities, saving on production costs, enhancing lead times and improving time-to-market.
I am going to explain the importance of this technology by giving an example I came across in my life. My brother(own anna - not some random cousin) works as the Head of Continuous Improvement Manager at Adient - FIAT Chrysler Business Unit in Sycamore, Illinois. His company manufactures the seats for this car(Jeep Cherokee) fixes them to the car frame and transports them to next assembly unit. We all know the severity of COVID - 19 in the United States Of America initially and my brother's company were asked to help the doctors of their state by supplying face shields to them. Adient laid this responsibility over my brother. So amidst the pandemic and lock down he had to find way to get these shields done.
Then came "3D printing" to the rescue. His manufacturing unit already has one 3D printer installed which is used to create prototype parts for the assembly line, because some times it takes very long for the metal parts to reach them. So using the design given by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and software "Autodesk Inventor", the 3D printer printed them out. Each shield would take 30 mins for it to print and they managed to make 800 of those and supplied them to the hospital.
The technology of 3D printing may sound like science fiction but it is almost 40 years old and it was like a wonder to watch in its infancy and adolescence age. Now it has reached its prime age and is creating a huge impact in many industries like manufacturing, aerospace, medical, construction, automobile and even FOOD industry as well, where innovative restaurants use "food 3D printers" to create modern delicacies. The global 3D printing market is expected to reach $41587.1Bn by 2027!
It is true that 3-D printing technology is increasing and extended to larger industry for mass customization and producing in larger quantities.This could help in reducing the waiting time as mentioned in the post regarding the production of shield. Still there is question of cost focused on such technology ( initial and maintenance cost) and the knowledge related to the operations and handling the software ( the right human capital). During this pandemic situation, it did help in field of medicine, developing hand sanitizer holder in large quantity and further more. So this pandemic could be a reason that the usage of 3-D printing technology going to increase and breakthrough on global supply chain disruption.
ReplyDeleteInteresting read. 3D is the miracle technology we need at this point of time. Making complex items is not a problem because of 3D conisdering we dont even require tools !!
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