Implementing 3D Printing In XYZ Pvt. – A Strategic Report

Company Overview

Plan the strategic report to implement 3D printing in XYZ Pvt.

Company Overview

XYZ Pvt. Ltd. Is a manufacturing company. It was established in 2008 in suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. The Company is dealing with computer and peripheral devices for both retail and corporate clients. XYZ Pvt. Ltd is looking forward to expand its business in coming 5 years in other states of Australia. The executive management team is planning to implement 3D printing technology for this expansion.  The management team has decided to prepare the strategic report for the same and also want some innovative ideas to overcome the issues related with 3D printing technology. This report is based on this objective.

Objective and Purpose

3-D printing is a process which is used to join material under the control of computer system to manufacture three dimensional objects. The material is joined with the help of powder granules or liquid molecules. It is useful in context of rapid prototyping prior initiating manufacturing phase. The objects which can be created using this technique can be of any shape. Some of the important terms which are related to 3-D printing technology are: 3D model and Additive manufacturing file (AMF) and computer aided design (CAD). This process uses binder material on a powder bed with the help of head of inkjet printer in sequence of layers. It is an innovative and revolutionary concept which is beneficial to every type of industry including Medical, automobile, information technology and many more. The main advantage of 3D printing technology is that objects can be tested as per the given design and expected functionality before starting its manufacturing on real material. It saves cost and efforts in production of costly products. As the output is prototype, it is fully functional and can be visualize for completeness, as per specifications of engineering for its correctness and design integrity (hubs, 2016). The main concept behind it is deconstruct the geometry of expected object into distinct layers, and then start building it layer wise (Kuhn, 2016). It slowly builds the object in 3D form. The process can be said distinctively additive in nature. The primary principle of 3D printing is stereo-lithography which was patented by Charles Hull in year 1984 as “A system for generating three-dimensional objects by making a cross-sectional pattern of the object to be formed”.

Components of 3D printer

In the 3D printing technology, special type pf printer is used which is called as 3D printer, which produces the output in form of a digital file (Smith, 2017). The main components of 3D printer are explained as (Rai, 2016):

Component	Use
Tray (Print Bed)	This area is a flat surface which is used to develop layers in 3D printing. It must keep hot during the process of layering to avoid warping. PEI 3M tape is the best option as it can work on all common material, no need of any type of solvent or glue and has a better lifespan compared to other options but it is expensive.
Extruder	This part is used to feed the filament. It can found in two varieties: Direct Bowden
Hot end	It is the source of heat which contains a temperature sensor and tip of extrusion.
Filament	It is the main input material which can be 1.75 to 3 mm in diameter. 1.75mm is more common. It works like nozzle of inkjet printer and emits the melted material.
Nozzle	The tip of the Hot end which emits the melted plastic. It can be replaceable. The size of the nozzle may vary in between the range of 0.25 mm to 0.75mm. The smaller size of nozzle can be used for more accurate and minute printing. It gives smoother finishing.
Heated bed	It is used for varied temperature extrusion filaments. It can be used for almost type of printing. The main function of heated bed is to keep plastic heated at the time of printing and provides better adhesive in between the layers.
Cooling fan	It is used to improve the controlling power of printers. As per the position of cooling fan, it can be used near the hot end area or at the top of the nozzle.
LCD display	It is used to display the output without requiring the computer system. For the memory slot it needed SD card. It stores various instructions and the computer’s memory can be used for other operations.
Material	The selection of accurate material is very important. It can be high detail Resin, SLS Nylon, plastic, Simulated ABS and many more.

Objective and Purpose

Principal of 3D printing

3D printing works on the main principle of “stereo lithography”, and it was invented by Charles Hull in 1984 as a system for generating three-dimensional objects that create a 3D view with the help of a cross-sectional pattern of the object that is to be formed (Mkhemer, 2015). This clearly states that any object that needs to be converted in a 3D image is first divided into layers and then each of the layer is accordingly printed layer by layer with respect to the coordinates on top of one another.

 Process of 3D printing begins with the 3D printing model. This model is being generated using any machine with the help of Computer Aided Design software or via any of the 3D scanner. A real object that is to be represented in a 3D design with the help of any software to get a 3D model can only be within the bounds of the printer’s capabilities (WALKER, 2013). Many of these aspects can be customized by the user like, layer thickness, outer finishing, edge ratios, temperature etc. Once a STL file is being made by the software, then only it can be printed for further display. The printer then convert the file into layer by layer proportion as we have obtained while designing it in the software. The machine then converts it into plastic layout. It is not necessary that the material is always plastic, but it depends on the proportions of the real object. If the proportions are not that complicated then it could be made of paper, liquid or even with powder (CRAWFORD, 2011). The layers are made up of internal fusion and once they are connected they take the final shape.

Applications of 3D printing

In today’s modern world 3D printing has become a very significant way to do a research or a study over any object or over any working system, as it helps the user to build up an exact prototype, with same dimension ratios and it works and behaves in the same way as the real object does (Council, 2018). This ensures that the model that is being made can be implemented in the real scenarios or not.

Use of 3D printing has gone to a whole new level now, some examples can be stated as-

Industrial applications

It is one of the most popular application of 3D printing. In this category this technology is being used for clothing and fashion designing. Nike is using this technique for developing the prototypes for its products like shoes, dresses and other sports products. In manufacturing of art and jewelry products, it is also being used. It is also used for customizing the gift products and also in manufacturing of toys and dolls.

Components of 3D Printer

Manufacturing Applications-

3D printing makes it cheaper and reliable to create individual objects, as it would be produced in bulk after a point of time if the design is passed or assured to be reliable. Thus the study has to be accurate at its best, because after the batch production any misconduct or mismatch with the requirements will lead to a great loss of money and time as well (Siddharth Bhandari, 2014). That’s why 3D printing provides the best way to predict the requirements before the objects are manufactured as it gives a much more accurate study in every situation.

Medical Applications

Many complicated surgeries are being conducted only after the 3D study of the whole situation that how things will be managed and operated at a certain point of time, as there won’t be any second chance. This also helps in manufacturing the unique devices that only matches with rare illness or disability of a particular patient. It helps in generating replicas of organs that can be attached to the nervous system, so that the patient can attain the functionality of that organ up to a certain extent (LORIA, 2014).

Scientists have tried to create replica of ears, kidney and even for blood vessels. 3D printers can also be used to create the printing of limbs for the disabled people. The only challenge that the scientists are looking for is to create a replica of a proper beating human heart that works the same as the natural one works, no matter what changes in the surroundings are made.

Automotive Industry

In automobile industry first of all this technology was used by Swedish company Koenigsegg in manufacturing One:1 supercar in 2014. Many of the parts of this car were manufactured on the basis of this technology in very limited time. Urbee is also mounted on 3D technology. Its windows and bodywork were printed using this technology.

Space products Industry

In September 2014 by joint efforts of NASA and Made in Space Inc. the 3D printer was designed which was able operate in zero gravity. SpaceX also delivered the 3D printer to ISS in December 2014. In Space product’s manufacturing applications this technology is able to print the tools in limited time period.

On the basis of above section of 3D printing applications, we can assure that it will proved a very useful technology for XYZ Pvt. Ltd. As per the requirements of company we can recommend following applications to improve the business quality and efficiency of organizations. These applications can be used to boost the speed of manufacturing of its product to satisfy the increasing demand of its retail and corporate customers.

Principal of 3D Printing

It involves developing models of computer parts in 3D form. It can be altered by adjusting parameters.

It uses the design prepared by CAD and manufactured in controlled fashion. These systems are related with CNC or DNC systems. Both CAD and CAM use computerized methods for design and manufacturing computer parts using geometrical data.

Using this application the computer peripherals can be developed in bulk in limited period of time. Once the design of parts are approved it can be saved for future use. In these applications sample prototypes can be created simply and can be approved from client.

There are a number of advantages of 3D printing, as it has made it very easy and simple for many of the industries, either they are manufacturing industries or medical Hospitals (Pirjan, 2015). Some of its advantages are listed below-

• Even the complex or difficult designs are generated easily, as compared to other traditional ways. Though the 3D printers require the same efforts but it helps in attaining best accuracy among all the techniques(Yakos, 2014).

• A single 3D printer can go for many shapes that are more versatile and multi-dimensional, where as other traditional manufacturing machines are not that adaptable when it comes to functionality.

• The objects produced by 3D printers are interlocked and no assemblies are needed after the manufacturing(Pearson, 2018). This gives better joints and has better strength to the object and is very cost effective. But the other traditional methods produce individual parts and then they are assembled later.

• The 3D printers are more efficient and helps in producing the object with the best use of resources as it leaves the least residual waste while generating a product in comparison with other traditional techniques.
• The printers are easy to operate and no specialized operating skills are required while its usage, as it creates everything automatically once the codes and dimensions are being entered(Long, 2018). Where as in traditional methods, skilled workers are required to execute the functions and for operations as well because they are more complicated.

• It is much more cost effective as it doesn’t involve so many steps as other traditional methods has, according to the study it has been proved that the minimum number of steps while generating an individual product leads to lowering the cost in the whole manufacturing.

Though the 3D printers have provided a number of ways to make the industrialization easier and simple, but on the other hand it has also made some adverse effects as well (KOWALSKI, 2015). Some of these cons are-

• Limited manufacturing job leads to a fast rate of unemployment, as the people who were earning a good amount being a labor have lost their jobs. Because the 3D printers don’t require so much of labor strength and only a single person can take care of the batch allotment. Every step is done with the help of machines(Associates, 2017).

• Limitations with respect to materials that are being used. As a 3D printer uses a single material throughout the whole manufacturing, it restricts the exact replica of those objects in which different materials are to be used(Li, 2017). In such cases either the modifications are required or multi printers are required, that leads to high cost while manufacturing.

• In many cases there are certain copyright issues, as the 3D printing allows the exact replicas of already printed items as well. These issues are almost impossible to stop or to be prevented.

• It is also initiating crime and violence up to some extent, as anyone can easily make a prototype of a gun or a knife for some criminal activity, as 3D designs of guns are no more a secret now(Rejeski, 2018).

• The cost of manufacturing majorly depends on the size of printer that is required to print the object. If the object is large in size though it is not that complicated but it will require a larger printer and this is will lead to higher cost as we have to switch for specialized appliances as well(Bray, 2007).

Conclusion

In this report we have analyzed the important concepts of 3D printing, its impact on various fields of science and technology. We have also discussed about the main components of 3D printer and the working process of 3D printing (susan, 2013). 3D printing is beneficial in prototyping which saves a huge amount of money of organizations. Some major impacts of this technology can be seen in medical science field. In recent years, we came to know about various scary type of diseases which are almost non curable or very expensive for normal citizen, such as body organ’s transplantation, bone cancer, tissue replacement etc. These all diseases can be easily cure with the help of 3D printing. This report has shaded some very interesting points of 3D printing technique. Although initially the prices were very predictive but in today’s era it became very simple, the company can start with the average price below $300 and after gaining the benefits it can be expanded on vast level.

The use of 3D printing to develop the printers and computers in XYZ Pvt. Ltd. is preferred. As the main concern of this report is to analyze the impact of 3D printing in the field of manufacturing of computer devices and to cope up with the increasing demand of products in the market. The company is looking forward for future expansion also, so it is recommended that 3D printing can be used for prototyping in manufacturing to save time and money. To develop the desired design of printer or any other computer peripheral device, a mold is required to shape the product. The molds are very specific and sometimes very costly. Making the prototype before the development of any product is a good approach to reduce the chances of any discrepancy in the designing. It eliminates the step of testing, as it directly prints the output on a surface in order to develop a product. The requirement of XYZ Pvt. Ltd. decides whether to use this technology or not, it depends on some other factors such as:

• The frequency of using 3D printing technology
• The application which will use it and make it more specific.
• The organization is ready for flexible investments
• The space for setup

So, it is also recommended that all the above factors must be properly planned before the adoption of new technology in manufacturing.

References

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