- Michelangelo said, "Every block
of stone has a statue inside of it,
and it's the task of the sculptor to discover it."
In other words, sculpture is about removing
or subtracting the extra material
from the stone and leaving in place
the bits that we want to keep.
A lot of today's manufacturing uses
that subtractive approach.
We make a part by drilling holes,
cutting out shapes and grinding away material.
These techniques create a lot of waste in the form
of sawdust, filings and scrap.
But additive manufacturing,
or 3D printing is a radically different approach.
With 3D printing,
you make a part
by adding material exactly where you want it,
which means there's no waste or scrap.
There are several different types
of 3D printing, and which technology we choose depends
on a number of factors, including the cost,
the size and the shape of the object we want to make,
and the materials we need to make it from.
But here are four things that make all
of these additive manufacturing processes
really interesting for supply chains.
First, you can design complex shapes
that couldn't be made
using traditional manufacturing techniques.
This opens up opportunities
to make parts that are stronger, lighter,
and that work better.
Second, 3D printing makes it easy to customize each part
to meet the exact needs of a specific customer.
This is called mass customization.
Third, we can 3D print parts on demand when
and where we need them, rather than holding inventory.
And we can place 3D printers anywhere in the world,
which gives us a lot
of flexibility in terms of supply chain design.
And finally, 3D printing speeds up product development
by making it easy to create prototypes that can be evaluated
for fit and function.
Now that we've talked about why 3D printing might be useful,
let's look at a few things to keep in mind
as we imagine the possibilities
for 3D printing in the future.
From a financial perspective,
we need to evaluate 3D printing
using a total supply chain cost approach.
While it may have a higher manufacturing cost,
that could be offset
by lowering inventory and transportation costs.
3D printing could also give us more flexibility
and make it easier to respond
to our customers' needs.
Operationally,
we need to compare the time it takes
to 3D print a part to all of the steps
and lead times in a traditional manufacturing process.
3D printing could eliminate many
of these steps and shorten our lead times.
It's also important to remember
that 3D printers have a supply chain of their own.
We need to plan for getting the raw materials we need
to the printers, and we need to ensure
that the printers have reliable power, trained operators,
and access to spare parts.
Additive manufacturing allows us to think differently
about what we make, when we make it, and where we make it.
As we embrace digital transformation,
3D printing could play a huge role
in making our supply chains more efficient, more flexible,
and more resilient.