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RAPID + TCT 2021 Keynotes: 3D Printing in Aerospace, Medical, & More https://ift.tt/3CL3q0y At the start of SME’s 30th year of RAPID + TCT, widely known as North America’s largest, most important additive manufacturing event, AM consultant and writer Todd Grimm got things started on the Main Stage by informing the attendees about several industry highlights that had just been revealed that morning, including BMF’s new microArch S230 printer, new materials from Kennametal, 6K Additive, and Stratasys, the new FS237M printer from Farsoon, new software from Covestro, new partnerships for Dyndrite, and more. SME’s CEO and Executive Director Bob Willig came onstage next and thanked the gathered attendees of the AM industry—he had cervical spinal fusion surgery this summer, and found out afterwards that his disc spacer had been 3D printed; just in case we needed yet another example of the technology’s numerous applications! Then he introduced the first RAPID keynote speaker, Melissa Orme, PhD, the vice president of Boeing Additive Manufacturing. She started things off by saying something that I’m pretty sure most of us agreed with:
Amen to that. She explained that in her presentation, “How AM is Disrupting the Aerospace Industry: Opportunities and Challenges on the Road Ahead,” she would be discussing scale, product differentiation, sustainability, Industry 4.0, industrialization, people, and training. Orme said that Boeing, which has 20 AM sites around the world, focuses on aircraft parts in both metal and polymer, as well as using the technology for teaching aids, tooling, and research mock-ups.
After putting up a timeline of Boeing’s use of metal AM, she also noted a major milestone that wasn’t one of her company’s--GE Additive’s 3D printed LEAP fuel nozzle, an “awesome contribution in 2015” that resulted in 25% weight reduction and consolidated 20 parts into just one.
Weight reduction is critically important when it comes to aerospace applications, and not just because it’s basically a metal tube that’s carrying people up in the air and needs to remain there; lightweighting can also make aircraft and automobiles more energy efficient as well.
She showed us the different ways that additive manufacturing can add value to an organization: programming, products, and parts.
In terms of product differentiation, additive manufacturing is about more than just making a slightly better part and sticking it into an airplane. Part replacement alone isn’t enough to make a good business case for AM—companies need to focus on using the technology to shape future programs, significantly improve the functionality and performance of a part, and set up a strategy that allows for adaptation to a fast-moving environment of product development. To that last point, she pulled up a slide showing some of the major metal 3D printing development milestones, including the first DMLS printer in 1994, powder bed enhancements, and more.
Moving on to how organizations can scale technology, she explained that it’s not just about purchasing 50 3D printers and sticking them on the factory floor. Instead, a framework for equivalency needs to be created.
Even more important when adopting new technologies, companies need to make sure that the source material is consistent, the material being created with the machines is consistent, and that post-processing is automated, rather than applied with “brute force.” Consistency is key when it comes to achieving a reliable, repeatable performance.
So in order to get there, we obviously have some hurdles to get over, and the first has to do with industrialized printers.
In a field where regulations and certifications are of the utmost importance, I’d say that’s almost an understatement. Another hurdle is better access and data to management—how do you manage the data, what do you do with it? Orme noted that the protocols between OEMs can vary, and that it would be great if there was just one standard data format for all OEMs. Yet another hurdle to overcome is design allowables.
Risk reduction is another very important hurdle to cross, especially in aerospace, as the engineers are trained to design with reduced risk.
Orme said that the digital thread is something that Boeing is really working on, as it allows them to collect all the data, put it all together, and create analytics. She pulled up a slide with a few examples of Boeing’s 3D printed parts, including powder bed fusion parts for satellites, and listed a few of the positive results, including increased reliability, major cost savings, and performance enhancement.
Wrapping up, Orme quoted American writer William Faulkner, who once said, “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
I ended up referring back to Orme’s keynote presentation many times in my meetings with various companies during RAPID, especially in terms of “doing the homework” and making sure that everything is repeatable and reliable, and how machines need to be the same inside and out, in order to ensure risk reduction. The next morning, industry expert Terry Wohlers, Dr. h.c., FSME, presented his keynote presentation, though I unfortunately missed the first ten minutes of it. President and Principal Consultant of Wohlers Associates, Inc., as well as a principal author of the popular Wohlers Report, Wohlers speaks at many AM events, reporting on the state of our industry during previous RAPID events as well as this year’s event. When I walked into his presentation, “An Industry 30+ Years in the Making,” Wohlers was telling the attendees that 3D printing has grown 27% on average every year for the last ten years, “so it’s a strong industry.” During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he noted that our industry “had some winners,” such as outdoor gear for hiking and biking, big tech, like Amazon, and desktop 3D printers for making PPE. But, we also had some “losers,” like small businesses, the fossil fuel industry, airlines, and hotels.
I’m pretty sure everyone in the room felt the same way.
He said that in 2020, there were 228 manufacturers worldwide selling industrial 3D printers, and luckily, some of the smaller players reported enough sales during the pandemic for the industry to avoid a decline. Wohlers Associates asked 124 service providers and bureaus, from 27 countries, which AM processes they found to be most profitable, and the top contender was literally the “Other” category, followed by HP and EOS. This is a definite indicator that those smaller AM companies are seeing a more sales, which Wohlers said is “significant.” In materials news, he explained that polymer powders such as nylon caught up to regular polymers last year, and that across the 52 companies around the world that provide metal powders, aluminum is now the most popular, which is a change. This wasn’t the first time during RAPID that I heard aluminum being discussed, and it definitely wasn’t the last. Wohlers also said that composite materials are on the increase, and that there’s a real opportunity at the moment for composite-based systems. Later, during the Q&A, someone asked him to clarify what he meant by this.
Moving on to scaling, Wohlers said that in terms of maturing the industry, reduction and automation of post-processing are important, in addition to end-to-end solutions. Manufacturing execution systems (MES), like Link3D and Oqton, are necessary support platforms to make these solutions work. Even though last year was unprecedented on so many levels thanks to COVID-19, investments increased from $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion in 2020. Wohlers listed several examples, including Protolabs purchasing Hubs for $320 million and Nikon acquiring Morf3D for about $91 million.
3D Systems announced earlier this summer that it was selling its On Demand Manufacturing business for $82 million, and that deal was actually finalized this week. Wohlers noted that the company had purchased a total of 50 other companies from 2009-2015, 17 of which were service providers. With acquisitions and investments come IPOs, and Wohlers asked if anyone wanted to take a guess as to how many companies announced they were going public in the last year. There were 12 AM industry companies listed on his slide, including those that had gone the SPAC route, like VELO3D, Markforged, and Shapeways, and several others, such as Massivit3D and Xometry, that went public without a SPAC merger. Wohlers then made a few observations about what are arguably three of the largest sectors using AM applications today—automotive, aerospace, and medical. First, he noted that BMW is one of many car companies embracing and adopting additive manufacturing, and had printed a total of 300,000 series production parts by 2020. Up until January of this year, customers could get custom 3D printed trim and instrument panel parts for the Mini Cooper, and BMW’s i8 Roadster includes metal 3D printed parts.
In terms of aerospace 3D printing, the technology was used to consolidate more than 300 parts for the GE9X engine, which is FAA-certified and the most fuel-efficient engine in its class. Last month, GE Aviation announced a major milestone—its 100,000th 3D printed fuel nozzle was shipped from its Auburn plant. Finally, Wohlers noted that as of February 2021, the FDA had cleared a total of 225 3D printed medical devices. Wohlers also discussed some other big industries using 3D printing, namely the construction sector, sporting goods, and consumer products.
3DPrint.com tends to agree that 3D printed homes won’t be the salvation the housing market needs. But there are other, more viable use cases for concrete 3D printing, such as culverts, bridges, and even a short-term shelter. With consumer products, Wohlers mentioned Fitz Frames, which uses 3D printing to customize its eyeglasses, and jewelry; he showed off the ring he was wearing that had the Wohlers Associates logo printed on it. As far as sporting goods, Riddell, which is one of the largest producers of football helmets, uses 3D printing and scanning to make its helmets, and another major AM application is bike saddles.
After all this time discussing the latest news and benefits of 3D printing, Wohlers moved onto the challenges and obstacles in the industry, which includes pricing for materials and machines, supply chain development, processing speed, and understanding DfAM.
Other challenges include getting the best MES approach and adopting standards, which are very important.
The last challenge he brought up was talent, asking if we’ll have enough people to work the printers, market them, and run 3D printing events once we “ramp up.” He reminded us of what Orme had said in her keynote the day prior about the importance of reliability and repeatability. Looking ahead to the future, Wohlers said the industry is set to grow to almost $116 billion by 2030.
His final example was the tried and true STL file format, which has “stood the test of time” and is still the most popular.
After Grimm got things started for us again on the final day of RAPID, Mark Wehde with Mayo Clinic came onstage to present the final keynote, “How Technology is Changing Healthcare.” Wehde is the chair of the Mayo Clinic Division of Engineering, assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and a fellow in the Mayo Clinic Academy of Educational Excellence. Explaining his background in 3D printing, Wehde told us that with the help of a STEM grant, he’s purchased multiple 3D printers from STEM centers. He spent 16 years on what he called his passion, which was developing custom medical devices, before moving into management.
Wehde said that Mayo Clinic, which was founded in the late 1800s, is the first, largest, and “arguably best integrated not-for-profit medical group practice in the world.” Just fifty or so years after Mayo’s instrument shop was using beef bone grafts to repair broken human bones, the clinic began computerizing, and hasn’t stopped adopting new and innovative technologies since. After stating the noble mission of the Mayo Clinic, which you can see in the image above, Wehde started providing examples of some of the projects the Mayo Clinic has worked on that use 3D printing in some aspect, such as a deep brain stimulation program that’s moving into clinical trials by 2023. The program, which is helping to develop closed-loop feedback algorithms, uses a microfabrication diamond reactor to create electrodes, which are currently used on rats to test dopamine levels and will ultimately help with epilepsy research. The team is using a 3D printed model to try and make a more minimally invasive electrode delivery system.
Because of their unique vasculature, and the fact that an aneurysm’s location can change, physicians at Mayo Clinic are custom-creating stents, and 3D printing is used here as well; not to make the stents, but to help with hands-on training.
Wehde next discussed the surgery of two little girls who were conjoined twins. These cases can be “really complex,” as multiple organ systems are often encompassed.
Today, those twin girls are happy and healthy, as you can see in the image below, and Wehde said they still come to visit Mayo Clinic occasionally to say hello and thanks.
Wehde said that medical errors are the third highest cause of death in the US, which is a little frightening to hear and makes me grateful that I don’t have any surgeries scheduled in the near future (knock on wood). He explained that the future of healthcare encompasses several products and ideas, such as patient data sets, AI personalization engines, and integrating monitoring and care.
In the continuum of care model, patients may start off at a big place like Mayo Clinic, and then transfer to a smaller hospital closer to their home, or even their home itself. Healthcare’s future is also about the “real-time refinement of individualized care solutions,” which includes helping family members become caregivers. Wehde listed some of the drivers of change in healthcare, including an aging population, acceleration of science and discovery, changing demographics, big data, analytics, and progress in IoT.
He suggested that healthcare providers looking to learn and manage new technologies should “find an engineer,” because they can explain why surgical robots, like the da Vinci Surgical System, will work and why something like the T-1000 won’t.
Wehde believes that the modern robotic surgery suite will have two surgeons at the terminal, along with a few residents in the room as well.
He next brought up the advantages that point-of-care, or POC, 3D printed parts have over keeping parts constantly in stock.
Other medical applications he sees 3D printing help with are anatomical models, as previously mentioned, prototype medical instruments, patient-specific implants, and devices for market evaluation. Wehde touched briefly on the use of 3D printing and other advanced technologies in prosthetics, such as using a neuroprosthesis to recreate a sense of touch with a direct interface to the brain, and how Open Bionics is using technology to turn kids into superheroes with its Hero Arm at a relatively affordable cost. Another major initiative that Mayo Clinic is working on is advanced care at home.
I can personally attest to how much time, and gas, telehealth appointments have saved me over the last year. Advanced care at home will also help those patients who live in rural areas that are far away from big hospitals.
In the hospital of the future, you could get care at home, or in a small community hospital. As Wehde explained, expansion doesn’t have to mean more hospital beds, but instead providing care where the patient is, wherever and whenever it’s needed, not just through face-to-face visits. Stay tuned for more coverage from my time on the show floor at RAPID + TCT 2021! Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com September 24, 2021 at 07:06AM
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