Economics of AM Flashcards
What is driving interest in AM?`
Government investment Increased competition Patent expiration Media coverage New industries adapting tech
What are the 6 main reasons for using AM?
Rapid prototyping Mass customisation Rapid tooling Short production runs Non-standard parts Manufacturing flexibility
What are some reasons that manufacturing might be shifting from offshoring to onshoring?
Innovation Automation New manufacture methods Shifting energy markets Reduced transportation costs Branding improvement when onshoring
What are the 4 drivers of AM costs?
Labour
Processes
Materials
CAD
Why is the costing of AM more complicated than traditional manufacturing methods?
Because there is the problem of splitting indirect costs to the different parts whereas in traditional methods the total cost of building can just be divided by the number of parts
What is the difference between direct and indirect costs? with examples
Direct costs are expenses that go directly into producing goods or services
Labour, materials etc
Indirect costs are general business expenses that keep you operating
Rent, utilities, office supplies etc…
How could direct and indirect costs be reduced in the next generation of machines?
Reducing indirect:
Increase speed
Increase bed capacity
Decrease machine purchase price and maintenance
Reducing direct:
Increase recycling of materials
Decrease material cost
Where is hybrid manufacturing particularly useful?
Printable integrated circuits
Medical models with outer transparency
What are some drivers for AM research?
no need for templates
Customisation
low volume/ high value manufacturing of electronic systems
rapid product development
What are some areas of research in AM?
New processes Process development Hybrid/combinational processes Improving speed/throughout (more nozzles/lasers, parallel operation, less post processing etc...) Resource efficiency/sustainability new application areas
Why is multimaterial AM useful? and what are 3 emerging approaches?
Most functional products are typically made from more than 1 material class
- Factory in a box (one single system) Inkjet is most likely
- Hybrid approach (combining processes) like a production line
- Using voxels as building blocks (nanobots)
