Although 3D Printing currently produces only a few parts in the automotive, aerospace and medical industries, impending economic changes and technological ones. This thesis focuses on the use of 3D printing in the automotive, aerospace and medical industries. I will conclude the section with an explanation of why analyzing the automotive, aerospace and medical industries can effectively analyze 3D printing as a manufacturing technique.
Current Uses of 3D Printing
In addition to its common applications in these industries, 3D printing is transforming short-run and mass production. In 2014, the company Not Impossible Labs designed and started 3D printed prosthetic limbs at a fraction of the traditional cost. Other creative uses for 3D printing include prosthetic limbs for animals, custom chocolate bars, jewelry, and even replacement tissue for damaged internal organs.
Advantages of 3D Printing
Industry Choice
Underlying Economic Theory
Key Assumptions
The third assumption allows 3D printing to be used in any application where alternative manufacturing techniques are currently used. The fourth assumption allows me to isolate machine costs and material costs in my analysis. This allows me to effectively eliminate this factor, allowing an easier derivation for the cost function.
The Production Function
However, in this assignment, based on the previous combination of assumptions and models developed later, I will assume that the productivity factors are equal to 1, which means that there are constant returns to variable input. Finally, in this thesis all the presented examples take into account short-term economic constraints, which allows this equation to represent a production function. To calculate the input demand from the production function, I solve the production function for xmat, which identifies xmat as a function of production and the B coefficient.
Total Cost Function
In each industry analysis, a currently used production technique for a product within that industry will be analyzed. The average cost function, which measures the cost per unit of output, is derived from the total cost function.
An Example
26" Nylon Plastic/poly Board Plastic Sheet/hdpe Block - Buy Nylon Plastic, Poly Board Plastic Sheet, Hdpe Block Product on Alibaba.com." www.alibaba.com. As the graph shows, the two production methods are represented by total cost functions that diverge widely. From then on, the average cost per unit is lower for milling than for 3D printing.
If he made more than 6,961 hats, his total cost would be minimized by the milling machine.
The Automotive Industry
The History of Automotive Manufacturing
The Second World War pushed the car industry even further – from 1945 to 1980, car production increased tenfold30, with great growth both inside and outside the United States. Today, the automotive industry represents more than a quarter of all US retail sales by revenue. With the advancements that happen every day in the automotive industry, 3D printing can become an important production technique within the industry.
Automotive Production in the United States
As of the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, the United States is the second largest automaker, producing nearly 6 million units in the quarter33. Vehicles produced by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Nissan accounted for 77.7% of total US car sales in the first two fiscal quarters of 201435.
Current Uses of 3D Printing in the Automotive Industry
According to SmarTech, in Phase 1, automakers use low volume and basic design prototypes, often from a single printer. Phase 2, which usually follows as a transition from Phase 1 to Phase 3, involves the use of multiple 3D printers across engineering teams to encourage creativity or produce multiple iterations of a single prototype quickly before finalizing the design. Additionally, when companies are in this adoption phase, 3D printers begin to extend beyond design engineering to cross-organizational engineering groups.
According to SmarTech, most major automakers are currently at this stage of 3D printing adoption. In Phase 4, companies integrate 3D printers and 3D printed products into their production lines, either as tools or in the direct production of end-use parts38. In the past year, about 5% of the race car was 3D printed, including the dashboard, the brake duct and dent.
Although Stakka had previously only used 3D printing for prototyping, the company's engineers adjusted their approach and adopted the technology. While we probably underutilized [3D Printing] in this car, in the future you will see cars with a much higher percentage of it.” Dan Walmsley reckons Strakka will use 3D printed parts for 80% of the vehicle in the next five to ten years41. In 2010, Ford avoided a costly, four-month delay in the launch of the Ford Explorer by using 3D Printing to diagnose and fix a brake noise.
While this is not necessarily ambitious, engineers are beginning to accept 3D Printing as a legitimate manufacturing technique, which should lead to widespread adoption.
Potential Uses of 3D Printing in the Automotive Industry
Cost Analysis of 3D Printing in Automotive Manufacturing
I will use the cost function and average cost function to analyze engine block production techniques. The intersection of the cost functions and the intersection of the average cost functions reveal the decision points. As shown in Figure 3.2 and Figure 3.3, the cost functions intersect shortly after the nineteenth unit.
There are several technological improvements in 3D printing material that would change the slope of the cost function for manufacturing using 3D Printing. For every percentage decrease in the price of 3D Printing material, the slope of the cost function would decrease by one percent. For example, if 3D printing material became 25% cheaper, the slope of the cost function would also decrease by 25% and shift the intersection of the cost functions slightly more than the thirty-third unit.
Ultimately, if we want 3D printing to be strictly preferred over sand casting, material costs must be reduced by 60%. Reexamining assumption (2) enables the final discussion from the previous section: although input prices, including the raw materials for 3D printing, are fixed, this is a short-term perspective. The space in a factory required to set up a sand casting line is many times larger than the space required for a 3D printing operation.
As it is, with assumptions (1-5) in place, 3D Printing would have lower costs for the first nineteen units of production.
Necessary Changes for Increased Use of 3D Printing
The Aerospace Industry
The History of the Aerospace Industry
The Aerospace Industry in the United States
3D Printers in The Aerospace Industry
In this position, the industry is poised to achieve many new achievements, including dramatically increased fuel efficiency and successful space exploration. In the aerospace industry, GE became one of the first major companies to enter the first phase of 3D printing. The first time GE publicly announced its experiments with additive technology was in 2008, in a short podcast about their production60.
Most aerospace manufacturers have already transitioned to Phase 3 or Phase 4 by this stage of adoption. In aerospace manufacturing, many firms entered this stage of adoption around 2012, leading to the early transition to Phase 4. In Phase 4, companies integrate 3D printers and 3D printed products into their production lines, either as tools or directly.
Because 3D printed parts are most cost-effective in low-volume manufacturing environments, the aerospace industry is driving the adoption of 3D printers. GE has brought 3D printing to the forefront of the aerospace industry by opening an additive mass production facility to produce 3D printed fuel nozzles for LEAP jet engines. Rolls-Royce, which will compete with GE, announced in February 2015 that it would test in flight what it claims is the largest 3D-printed aerospace component to date – the titanium structure inside the Trent XWB-9762 engine.
With these advancements and similar innovations from competing firms, 3D Printing is set to achieve exponential growth in the coming years.
Potential Uses for 3D Printing in the Aerospace Industry
According to technology consulting firm ICF International, 3D printed parts will generate nearly $2 billion in revenue within the next decade65.
Cost Analysis for 3D Printing in the Aerospace Industry
To create these eighteen parts, the injection molding process requires a unique mold for each part, a jet melter and injection pumps. 3D printing reduces weight by 25%, eliminates the need for sub-assembly work and allows the part to have a more complicated internal geometry72. The intersection of the cost functions and the intersection of the average cost functions reveal interesting points.
After this unit, the injection molding process, using the previously mentioned inputs, is cheaper than 3D printing. If a manufacturer can only choose one production technique and the manufacturer plans to produce more than 36,607 units, the manufacturer must invest in an injection molding line. Along the same lines of error, GE could probably buy raw 3D printing materials in bulk for significantly cheaper than a regular consumer could.
The next possible (but less likely) explanation depends on the first assumption; there may be a non-financial gain to be made from using 3D printing in manufacturing – perhaps GE benefits from their market viewing the product as "innovative" or "futuristic," both common adjectives associated with 3D to print. Another possible explanation is the abandonment of the third assumption: mechanical benefits are realized through the use of a 3D printed product. As previously mentioned, the 3D printed fuel nozzle has a more complicated internal geometry and weighs less, both of which could increase customer value.
However, with the assumptions mentioned and the variables previously defined, 3D printing will only have a lower cost for the first 36,607 units of output.
Necessary Changes to Expand Aerospace 3D Printing
This map is already two years old - as mentioned earlier, some are parts of aircraft engines and commercial aircraft. With imminent advances in materials and manufacturing speeds, 3D printing will spread even further throughout the aerospace industry and become an integral part of manufacturing production. Based on the potential for cost savings, most aerospace manufacturers should be using 3D printing for production parts in the next decade.
The Medical Industry
The Medical Manufacturing Industry
Uses of 3D Printers in the Medical Industry
Many hospitals are using 3D printed models of patient-specific organs to practice complex surgeries, drastically increasing surgery success rates. Renato Archer technology, the team created 3D models of the boy's tumor and managed, after several practice runs, to successfully remove the tumor85. Jonathan Butcher of Cornell University 3D printed a heart valve using a two-syringe machine, which will soon be tested in sheep.
Another Cornell researcher, Lawrence Bonassar, used 3D printing to create intervertebral discs that treat major spinal conditions. 85 "3DP Lowers Barriers to Complex Operations - 3D Printing Industry." 3D Printing Industry Widespread use of 3D printed models continues to lower the barriers to complex surgery. Poverty-stricken areas of the world are using 3D-printed medical devices in surgeries because of their cheap production and ease of access.
Their first product, 3D-printed umbilical cord clamps, has helped many families in the impoverished country89. Three teams of doctors – in China, the Netherlands and Slovakia – have replaced sections of skulls with 3D-printed replicas to repair bone and brain damage. Although the discussed applications of 3D Printing include the medical industry, this thesis describes only a few of the uses.
92 "Organovo Delivers Its 3D Printed Livers - The 3D Printing Industry." 3D printing industry ExVive3D liver model Organovo delivers its 3D printed liver annotations.
Cost Analysis of 3D Printers in the Medical Industry
The Future of 3D Printing in the Medical Industry
Conclusion
34;MakerBot Used in Bone Cancer Research - 3D Printing Industry." 3D Printing Industry Ordinary Replicator 2X Used to 3D Print Bone Cancer Treatments. 34;Nylon Plastic/poly Board Plastic Sheet/hdpe Block - Buy Nylon Plastic,Poly Board Plastic Sheet , Hdpe block product on Alibaba.com." www.alibaba.com. 34;Organovo Delivers Its 3D Printed Livers - 3D Printing Industry." 3D Printing Industry The ExVive3D Liver Model Organovo Delivers Its 3D Printed Livers Comments.
