Chris Holman welcomes back Tom Kelly, President & CEO, Automation Alley, Troy, MI.

This month they're discussing Integr8 Playbook #3: Additive Manufacturing

Q. Thanks for coming back on our show to talk about Automation Alley’s series of Integr8 playbooks.
Your next one is focused on additive manufacturing – and we will get into that – but remind us again what this series of playbooks is?

· The 2024 Integr8 Roundtable Series offers invite-only roundtable sessions where leaders from industry, academia and government meet.

· Each roundtable is focused on a different topic or challenge related to the Industry 4.0 and the transition to digital manufacturing

· And then we publish a playbook from each roundtable that provides advice for manufacturers to help them overcome challenges

· It all builds momentum towards the Integr8 Roundtable Summit, to be held Oct. 3 in Detroit

Q. So, you just released the findings from your third roundtable. What was the focus? And can you tell us about your findings?

· Our third playbook was focused on additive manufacturing or 3D printing

· Additive manufacturing isn’t new – it’s been around for decades – but what is new is how advanced it has become and what it can do today

· Across the country, we are seeing manufactures do amazing things with 3D printing

o From rockets to sustainable housing

· While some Industry 4.0 technologies are more nebulous like Big Data and the Industrial Internet of Things, additive manufacturing (AM) is hands on and visual.

· You can see a new additively manufactured piece being printed and feel it, from a rocket booster the size of a truck to a micro-lattice part the size of a matchhead.

Q. What are the challenges? What is holding companies back from deploying it?

· A lot of manufactures remain stuck – they continue to do things the old way – and they are just not sure how to implement 3D printing

· And then there is the cost – the best 3D printers are not cheap, and we recognize that

· At Automation Alley, we encourage manufacturers to start small and we help them get started with funding and training through our Project DAMOnD program.

· The process starts with redefining how engineers design products. Design For Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) is a set of processes that focuses on the design, engineering, and production of components or end products through additive manufacturing.

· When designing components or products using DFAM, engineers consider material properties, build speed versus accuracy tradeoff, surface finish requirements, and structural integrity as they would with any regular build. Those elements are critical to manufacturing parts that can perform with quality

Additional background for MBN reference:

The third playbook explores what is possible with additive manufacturing and offers strategies and considerations for adopting an additive mindset. Topics discussed include:

· The importance of design for additive manufacturing (DFAM)

· Generative artificial intelligence design and additive manufacturing · Project DIAMOnD, a distributed manufacturing and additive manufacturing use case

· Additive manufacturing and sustainability

· Government support with Additive Manufacturing Forward (AM Forward)

· Integrating additive manufacturing programs in education

· Building a scalable framework