When we think about 3D printing and additive manufacturing (AM), there’s plenty of “geek talk for even the nerdiest of engineers around topology optimization, powder bed fusion, laser sintering, isotropics, and the latest composite materials,” according to QAD Director of Industrial and High Tech, Glenn Graney in a recent article in ERP News. “The bottom line is that AM is just cool.”
We’ve been hearing about the promise of 3D printing ever since Chuck Hull built the first 3D printer, the SLA-1, in 1987 using technology he called stereolithography. The very first object he 3D-printed was a small, black eye-wash cup. The promise of 3D printing has come to fruition in the last 20 years as countless industries and manufacturers have adopted 3D design technologies and additive manufacturing processes.
Real-life Additive Manufacturing Installation Examples
Examples of some intriguing additive manufacturing installations include:
- In 2019, the U.S. Army opened The Center of Excellence for Advanced and Additive Manufacturing at the Rock Island Arsenal – Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (RIA-JMTC) in Illinois. The Center is designed to operationalize “additive and advanced manufacturing across the materiel enterprise to improve equipment readiness and Warfighter capabilities at the tactical level.”
- Using 3D printing, researchers from the University of Stuttgart built a three-lens camera that fits onto the end of an optical fiber the width of two hairs – it fits easily inside a standard syringe needle, an advance for healthcare imaging.
- Some manufacturers in the oil and gas industry use additive manufacturing to create spare parts on site, test new product designs and produce complex prototypes.
An article from PWC entitled, 3D Printing Comes of Age in U.S. Industrial Manufacturing suggests that about two thirds of U.S. manufacturers are adopting additive manufacturing technologies, and about half of them are using it for prototyping and final product production. Fewer manufacturers are in the “experimenting” stage with additive manufacturing.
In the PWC article, manufacturers surveyed indicated that supply chain disruption, threats to intellectual property protections and quality issues were the top challenges when adopting additive manufacturing technologies.
Many of QAD’s customers have growing additive manufacturing programs in the industrial, automotive and life sciences vertical industries. QAD Adaptive ERP provides answers to the questions raised by unique additive manufacturing processes.
How QAD Adaptive ERP Supports Additive Manufacturing
Glenn writes about the potentially disruptive and revolutionary nature of additive manufacturing and how it requires a flexible ERP solution. QAD Adaptive ERP is adaptable and scalable to resolve issues manufacturers might face with additive manufacturing techniques, including:
- AM part routings that require printing and post-processing steps affecting capacity planning and scheduling, especially with AM’s processing time requirements.
- Raw material preparation management and tracking the taxing of traditional inventory management systems when the powder used in AM is considered neither scrap nor consumed as just one example of AM’s unique backflushing requirements.
- As third-party contractors create AM prototypes and then approved production parts, integrated supply chain management and communication are essential.
- AM traceability and data collection stretching already overwhelmed manufacturing, quality and product inspections scenarios.
Because of its flexibility and adaptability, QAD Adaptive ERP helps manufacturers leverage industry disruptors like additive manufacturing technologies. It delivers the agility manufacturers require to stay competitive as they adopt more advanced production techniques. The QAD Enterprise Platform allows users to extend, modify and add capabilities, data and processes, while simplifying the adoption of new technologies, such as additive manufacturing.
Read more about additive manufacturing in Glenn’s full article in ERP News.
