Manufacturing Competitiveness Depends on Technology
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently looked at how three U.S. manufacturers — Ford, GE and Mattel — are using 3D printing to cut costs and production times during the prototyping phase.
3D printing also goes by the name additive manufacturing, because objects manufactured using this process are built one successive layer of material at a time. the technology is allowing manufacturers to get products to their customers more quickly.
Ford uses the technology to print cylinder heads, brake rotors and rear axels for test vehicles, saving an average of one month of production time. Ford sees a future where customers will be able to print their own replacement parts
GE is experimenting with 3D printing to produce a medical device, the ultrasound probe, that could help cut the costs of manufacturing certain parts by 30%
Mattel engineers use 3D printers to create parts of virtually every type of toy that it manufactures, including popular brands such as Barbie, Max Steel, Hot Wheels cars and Monster High dolls.
3D printing was recently mentioned in another WSJ article on What’s Hot in Manufacturing Technology discussing the areas of technology that President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership identified as playing a crucial role in determining manufacturing competitiveness — technology it believes should be the focus of national research and development efforts. That list includes:
–Sensing, measurement and process control
–Materials design, synthesis and processing
–Digital manufacturing technologies
–Sustainable manufacturing
–Nanomanufacturing
–Flexible electronics manufacturing
–Biomanufacturing
–Additive manufacturing
–Industrial robotics
–Advanced forming and joining technologies
Do you see these technologies impacting your company?
