Industrial-scale additive manufacturing (Part 2) – radical change, risks and rewards

The future is here with industrial-scale additive manufacturing.

The product industry is being transformed at multiple levels with the implementation of advanced technologies like industrial-scale additive manufacturing, also known as ISAM. Technology is providing new manufacturing developments, and ISAM is changing the way companies design products, as well as the materials to make them. Moreover, manufacturing is being impacted at an industrial level with the acceleration to fully merge new mechanical properties and metal production.

In this second encore podcast of our series on ISAM, “Industrial Additive Manufacturing: The Risks and Opportunities,” Dean Haehnel, director of marketing, and Robert Meshel, director of the Siemens Additive Manufacturing Network initiative, discuss what’s possible with industrial additive manufacturing.

They chat about the multiple levels of manufacturing that are being affected, such as the ability to produce lightweight, functional designs, as well as customization’s role as the market responds to demands for individualized parts and how we’ll see more of this with additive manufacturing.

Moreover, efficiency is the operative word with industrial additive manufacturing: iterations are fast with little to no effect on cost, which wasn’t the case with traditional methods. The product was designed, and then the manufacturing infrastructure was built to produce it. Any problems with the design wouldn’t be known until after production, causing a chain of events leading back to design and manufacturing ― a lengthy process.

Even with these benefits, manufacturers still hesitate to embrace additive manufacturing due to a few key questions they aren’t sure how to answer:

• Will engineers have the necessary skills to design for additive manufacturing?
• Are we willing to establish the infrastructure that must be in place to support it with changes in both process and materials?
• Will we be able to manage security concerns, given that additive manufacturing is fully digital with the risk of copying?
• Will we be able to monitor the entire production process? And,
• Will we be able to keep up with the pace of change continuing in the industry?

In this podcast, our experts touch on all of these points throughout their conversation about the value of ISAM and key industry changes that companies are concerned about. They also introduce the role that the Siemens Additive Manufacturing Network could play in helping companies make the leap into industrial-scale additive manufacturing.

The full encore podcast series is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, and iTunes.

Also, read blog and podcast01 from this encore series.

Click here to read more about additive manufacturing.

This is the second podcast in an encore series of four on “Is Your Company Ready for Industrial-Scale Additive Manufacturing? “

About our expert
Robert Meshel is the Director of the Siemens additive manufacturing network, an online collaborative platform designed to accelerate the use of additive manufacturing in the global manufacturing industry. This initiative was born under his previous role, where he re-joined Siemens Digital Industries Software as the director of the strategy for the manufacturing Engineering Software unit. Driven by the passion for innovation in technology and business models, Robert was relentlessly pursuing new strategic opportunities developed within the organization or by partnering with external ambitious startups that are seeking to make a significant impact. Robert originally joined Tecnomatix in 1996, where he served in various technical management capacities, including head of portfolio management, director of product management and business consulting.