History And Processes Of Digital Manufacturing

The Personal Fabricator, a chapter in Neil Gershenfeld’s When Things Start to Think, presents an argument concerning the accessibility and personalization of commodities through technological means, and explores the technology used to satisfy the concept of personal fabrication. Throughout the chapter, Gershenfeld contends that personal computing should extend beyond the digital realm into the physical world, and illustrates the idea of a direct access to physical products that are digitally designed to meet the needs of the individual by the individual. The author uses 3D printing to demonstrate the possibility of personal fabrication. In the chapter, a 3D printer is described as a computer that combines materials together in order to create

Ability to customize products: With the desired raw material, a 3D printer, and the required blueprint, one can “manufacture” any object one wants, with the specifications and design of one’s choice.

Automated manufacturing is another application of automation and by far, it is the most important and useful in the United States. This practice of automation is used to produced things in a factory way. Consequently, many of the products that consumers purchase are the result of automated manufacturing. Some of these products include automobiles, refrigerators, dishwashers and videogame consoles like the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Today there are numerous industries applying automated manufacturing including the airline, automotive, mining, oil and food production industries (Vassar).

A number of authors think (1) that we are entering an economy in which, due to advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and 3-D printing, the marginal cost of most manufactured items will fall close to zero. Consider software: while Windows 10 cost millions of dollars to develop, the cost to Microsoft to pushing out another copy over the internet is essentially nonexistent – about 20 minutes on a virtual server that is probably running dozens of instances of Windows. Consider the 3-D printed car. Once the printer is programmed, depending on the cost of materials, the car is very inexpensive.

Before digital technology was available in graphic design, conceptual and production methods were simply through training hand-letter type, thumbnails and sketches . As design methods evolved accordingly, marks of individualism at the drawing board vanished and are now replaced with the capacity to command technological means of production . Digital softwares can be fully utilized to help create and finish all aspects of a project to a high professional manner and at the same time, ease the process of origination. Not only has it changed the way a design is created from scratch, it has also transformed the way designers and clients collaborate and interact with each other on professional level . With so much convenience and accessibility, there is no doubt why digital technology is able to make a significant impact on graphic design.

In the early stages of manufacturing quality and cost went hand-in-hand, if one went down so did the other but now quality is maintained at an excellent standard and cost is going down; engineers are racing to the bottom in price. This is achieved by the engineers that have created a system of work that is the assembly line, allowing for more affordability and profitable, and leading to innovation. By implementing the assembly line system of work, it requires simple tasks to be accomplished by multiple people at a constant pace, which results in cost efficient production. This system allows more product to be produced in a smaller period of time to meet the demand of the people, as the price is cheaper. However, profit is not changed

In Gershenfeld’s When Things Start to Think, the ultimate way for technology to reach full potential of personal fabrication is through simplicity of structure, as well as efficiency in its ability to create anything. Gershenfeld (1999) states, “big companies use big machines to make things we may not want” demonstrating the unnecessary need for elaborate high cost technology to give society the things they want and need. With these big companies and their machines being the only means to acquire merchanise, it makes it difficult for others to see a different way in obtaining these products in a more basic way. Gershenfeld (1999) provides through research an example of a “3D printer” as an alternative route in cutting out the middleman to establish

17. (p. 469) Flexible manufacturing technologies allow a company to produce a wider variety of end products at a unit cost that at one time could be achieved only through the mass production of a standardized output.

This essay will evaluate the current and future uses of 3D printing by discussing both its advantages and disadvantages. The essay will also reflect upon the 3 main groups of users; scientists and entrepreneurs, business manufactures and finally, individual people.

“Although 3-D printers are not yet a standard part of home-computing equipment, the latest generation of devices, such as Cube® by 3D Systems, the Cubex™ or Makerbot’s Replicator™2X - which retail for between one and three thousand US dollars - are bringing the possibility of home manufacturing one step closer to reality” (Jewell). Now the biggest difference between traditional manufacturing and 3D printing will be the emergence of mass customization. Goods will be, “infinitely more customized, because altering them won’t require retooling, only tweaking the instructions in the software. Creativity in meeting individuals’ needs will come to the fore, just as quality control did in the age of rolling out sameness” (D'Aveni). When you have a product that is printed out individually from software with your own customization, then there would be no reason in buying a product that will look like something another person can own because of its ordinary accessibility. Creating physical 3D models in a fast, easy and affordable way has great potential, especially when you can do it in the comfort of your home.

One Emerging Technology field that is soon to change the game is 3D Printing. Though 3D Printers have been around since the 1980’s, it hasn’t been widely accessible or used until now. This is due to the advances in technology, which allow 3D Printers to be created in a smaller form factor and used at a much cheaper price. Throughout this paper, I will further go through more reason why I believe 3D printing has a huge future. This paper’s topics are broken up into various paragraphs, which will discuss technology specifications, business value, examples of usage, competitive value, and my analysis and perspective of 3D Printing technology.

Finally, the author argues that the rapid improvement of 3D Printing and the increasing convenience for individuals to produce things with it is both a major concern and a tremendous

A considerable portion of the defense budget is spent on training personnel to operate and maintain highly complex equipment. In the austere environment that the military operates in, this presents shortfalls in maintenance. In order to combat this and in an attempt to maintain and adapt DoD equipment in the face of long logistical supply chains, the DoD deploys machine shops, weld shops and other fabrication capabilities in-theater. However, due to lack of design information, manufacturing technology and limited engineering design expertise these capabilities are limited and only provide a small percentage of repair parts that are needed to maintain these complex systems (DARPA 2013). This is where technology enters the picture.

At present, printing is easy for us because a common printer can make it. But have you ever imagined a place where has a certain type of printer that can print three-dimensional objects that satisfied our lives? Believe or not, it indeed exists and it is called 3D printing lab. In this lab, we would have a feeling of we are in the future. Everything is incredible but it just happens in front of your eyes. This emerging technology called 3D printing, which have board application and a bright future. Maybe only a couple years later, we could print objects to meet our various needs and no longer to buy it. When students run out of pencils, their parent can print that for them. When an engineer’s computer has broken, he can print out a brand

3D printers use a technique known as additive manufacturing which could be seen as a parallel to subtractive manufacturing. Both systems start with a computer generated model and are transferred to an external device that operates on an X Y Z axis system. In simple terms printing is traditionally done by stacking thousands of thin layers on top of each other until the object is completed. While