Applications, Advantages And Disadvantages Of 3D Printing Technology
What is 3D Printing Technology?
Discuss about the VEGF Delivery Spatially and Temporally.
In the mentioned case study, a prospective company which deals with manufacturing printers and computers wants to take up 3D printing technology as a new implementation. The mentioned company has been operating for 10 years in Australia. It is planning to migrate its business overseas to USA as well as other states if Australia. To achieve this, the company does not want to invest in expensive infrastructures and wants to do it in the cheapest possible way. It is mainly concerned about the implication of the technology on the prospective business and the social, legal and ethical aspects of the implemented technology.
- assess the advantages and disadvantages of the mentioned technology
- check the various applications of the technology
- assess the 3D printing technology
- understand the implication of the technology
- provide recommendations for the issues that the technology faces
The purpose of the report is to provide the Australian industries with proper information about the 3D printing technology and evaluate the implications of the technology.
3D printing technology refers to the technology in which 3D structures are created from a computer aided manufacturing device or CAM device. The printer functions just like 3D printers but prints a three dimensional design from a custom raw material rather than printing on a paper. The technology usually works by putting two dimensional structures on top on one another to create a three dimensional structure. It is hence referred to as additive technology as the layers are added on top of another. Unlike the subtractive manufacturing processes, this process creates the structures from scratch which leads to zero wastage. The technology uses the CAD software to get a digital understanding of the model. The CAD file is then converted into STL file or standard tessellation language file. This particular format turns the CAD file into a number of geometrical shapes. The final result of the manufacturing process depends in the technology used, timeline of the project and material used.
A number of developments have occurred in the domain of this technology, Speed printing is one recent development in the field.
The additive process is usually very slow and complex. The layering process may sometimes take a little bit more time than expected due to the added complexity. Carbon 3D is an organisation that was created to address this challenge of the technology. With polymer designing, the company revolutionized the technology (Macdonald et al. 2014). It is 100 times faster than the conventional 3D printing processes and creates a monolithic structure from customized polymer.
3D vaccines are one of the recent developments in the field of 3D printing technology. It was introduced in 2017 and has the capacity to deliver multiple vaccines from one 3D printed vaccine. A 3D micro particle was created by MITR with specialists from StampED that had the ability to contain more than one vaccines. Moreover, the vaccines degraded biologically with various degradation rates which is an added advantage.
Recent Developments in 3D Printing Technology
There are various applications of 3D printing technologies. Some of them are written as follows:-
- SOLS is company that deals with customized shoes and sports related products. The company uses the additive technology to furnish requests for its clients. By incorporating the technology, the company was able to make the shoes at a cheaper rate as well as much faster than conventional processes (Bogue, 2013). Customers could also use the mobile app of the company to make their customized shoes.
- Circuit designing is another application of 3D printing technology. With the help of silver based inks, a company named as Nano Dimensions designs circuits (Bandyopadhyay & Bose, 2015). Manufacturers can save ample time by utilizing the technology for making circuit prototypes.
- Boeing is another renowned airline company that makes use of the 3d printing technology. The company has over 21000 printers and uses the technology to create intricate parts of airplanes, door hinges and vent ducts. The 787 Dreamliner was created using this technology with as much as 30 parts being manufactured with 3d printing (Bogue, 2013). The company uses the Stanratys 3D printer to avoid the conventional manufacturing processes.
- In the healthcare sector, this particular technology is used in stem cell researching, prosthetics and plastic surgeries. Luxexcel uses this technology to create lenses (ophthalmic). The company can make customized lenses for special patients and also furnish occupational and coated lenses for individual requests (Lee et al. 2014).
- FicTv is a company that has changed this technology landscape by promising a delivery time of one day. The customer has to upload the computer aided design file in the database and the manufactures will deliver the product within one day
The 3D printing technology is used for making casting mould with the help of 3D sand printers which are used in transportation. The casting moulds traditionally takes about six months to get to its completion stage. The 3D printing technology has made it possible to complete the manufacturing in less than 7 days (Banks, 2013). Also, this technology is used in the manufacturing of turbines at half the normal cost. 3D printing is also used in the manufacturing of dishwater items, ATP engines, housing compressors and heat exchangers.
3D printing is used in health care sector for assisting bone fractured victims with printed bone models. It has a lot of potential in stem cell research and is used in creating plastic moulds and prosthetics extensively (Bingheng & Dichen, 2013). Stethoscopes are created with this technology nowadays. Depending upon the requirements of the patients, 3D printing technology is used for .making bio printed cells and drugs. It is also extensively used in dentistry.
The mentioned organization in the case study can incorporate the technology used by Nano Dimensions for meeting its organisational goals. The organisation can use silver based inks to print circuitry for its printer and computer manufacturing. A heat based curing system can be employed for creating the PCB boards. Usually making PCB board is extremely costly, but with this technology, the mentioned organisation can save time as well as money in the manufacturing process (Chua & Leong, 2014). The transportation cost of the raw materials will be reduced significantly as every location will have its own 3d printers. For making the intricate circuitry, dielectric substances can be used by the prospective company.
Secondly, the next application of the technology is its potential of remaking the design process and efficiency. With the new technology, the proposed organisation will be able to rethink the geometry, factor and form of the board to create innovative products.
The third application of this technology for the mentioned organisation will be the capability to build prototype models. To make computer parts, continuous innovation is necessary as the hardware needs to be incorporated in various models of PCs. For meeting the client requirements properly, this technology can be used to properly investigate on prototype models before going through the final development stage. The team will be able to make improvement and adjustments to the final product with the help of this technology.
Applications of 3D Printing Technology
The mentioned technology applications has a number of advantages and disadvantages that are discussed in the subsequent sections. 3D printing technology has a number of applications in customization of products, product testing, reduction of costs and product designing.
The next advantage of the applications is that the respective organisation will be able to reduce the costs of its manufacturing process as the method will be conducted in a single step. Moreover, with the low costs of production in small scale, the process reduces the need for opting for extra manufacturing processes. The entire manufacturing process can be concentrated in a single area where the CAD file needs to be updated in the PC.
Another benefit of the applications of the technology is the ease of accessibility that the prospective company can benefit in creating printers and computers. Due to the proposed technology, the organization will not require experienced staffs and could handle the technology with a small experienced staff. The accessibility of the technology has helped the number of sold 3D printers to rise in 2011 (Pîrjan & Petrosanu, 2013). Compared to other conventional technology, the learning curve of this technology is less.
Another advantage application of this technology is the generation of minimal waste from the manufacturing processes. The mentioned technology helps to increase sustainability and reduce the carbon footprint of the company as the raw materials do not normally generate any waste products.
The technology has its own drawbacks though. It has managed to slowdown other relevant innovation such as tool development (Budmen & Rotolo, 2013). Another innovation that it has managed to stop is rapid prototyping. The reason is because the technology stops a number of secondary step that are involved in subtractive manufacturing.
The next drawback of the mentioned technology is the legal, environmental, political and social aspects of the technology which are still yet to be researched and explored, Moreover, the implications of the technology are still unknown. The technology is also not suitable for a number of product development (Canessa et al. 2013). The 3D orienting technology can have other effects such as complications of business processes and loss of critical resources.
The technology has another severe drawback. 3D printing technology normally takes up a lot of energy for its usage. For melting the material, the printers takes up over 100 times the energy that are used in traditional methods. Moreover, the technology can be used in a profitable manner if the number of products to be manufactured are limited (Moon et al. 2014). Large scale manufacturing from third technology will led to a lot of energy and resource consumption which is deter the organization from its organizational goals.
Advantages of 3D Printing Technology
Pricing of the technology is the next disadvantage of the 3D printing technology. Initially for availing the technology, the company has to invest a lot of resources and millions of dollars (Lee et al. 2014). Most of the ties for maintain the technology, the organisation has to maintain an experienced crew and the raw materials are not always available.
The lack of access to the proper raw materials is the last disadvantage of the mentioned technology. The applications of the technology in designing circuitry is severely diminished due to the lack of silver based ink materials which is costly as well (Espalin et al. 2014). Moreover, the inks that are used for replacing the raw materials do not produce the conclusive design of the end product
There are several legal, social and ethical considerations of the applications of the mentioned technology. The ethical concerns rises from the funding procedures of certain projects. For commercial purposes, organizations use their Research and development team to develop prototype models (Miko?ajewska et al. 2014). The prospective parties which provide the funding are often not aware of the project that they are funding. Rather, they are focused on their profitability and success of the project. This raises an ethical concern about how does the fund raisers determine which project gets more funding than the other.
The social consideration for the mentioned technology applications is the elimination of secondary processes of conventional manufacturing processes (Gebler, Uiterkamp & Visser, 2014). The loss of subtractive manufacturing will affect the nearby community and will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. The prospective technology not only reduces the labour costs but also directly results in the loss of lo skilled jobs that raises the unemployment level and affects the region financially.
The applications of the technology has legal considerations as well. If the companies that are using the technology are not careful enough, they can accidentally develop products that infringes the copyright laws (Chia & Wu, 2015). A blueprint of the required product is needed for designing the computer aided design file. If the company designs products without properly researching, it can face huge lawsuits and copyright violation laws due to the similarity of the product that can affect the business procedures of the company.
The first recommendation that the company can consider in implementing the mentioned technology is by using the 3D printing technology as a side process with the conventional manufacturing processes. This will prevent the loss of jobs abruptly and can help to address the social consideration of the technology (Dudek, 2013). This recommendation can help in retaining the jobs of those workers whose jobs were endangered due ti the loss of secondary processes of conventional manufacturing.
Disadvantages of 3D Printing Technology
The second recommendation is to check properly if the products they are manufacturing does not conflict the patent law of products of other companies. The organization will be able to avoid the legal considerations of the mentioned technology. Proper regulations need I be followed so that the company does not face copyright infringement lawsuits.
The last recommendation for the mentioned organization is to search for a proper raw material that is easily available. The raw materials that are used for 3D printing processes nowadays are not only expensive but also rare (Barnatt, 2013). The alternatives do not produce good end products. The prospective company needs to invest in research and development to find a proper raw material for large scale manufacturing.
Conclusion
To conclude the report, it can be stated that the CEO of the mentioned company who is planning on expanding the business needs to implement the prospective technology in the mentioned organisation. For making their mark in USA and other regions of Australia, the organisation needs to consider the initial high investment of the technology to maintain high profitability. The benefits that the company can have due to the prospective technology is much higher than the potential drawbacks of the technology. Before incorporating the technology though, the organisation needs to consider the legal, social and political viewpoints of the mentioned technology. It needs to properly assess these factors carefully so that it does not have to face issues in the near future. The recommendation that are mentioned in the topic needs to be taken into account. The report includes the several applications of the mentioned technology in different fields and the developments that have happened in the field. The report also mentioned the current uses of the technology in several organisations.
References
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