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Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers

ISSN: 1017-0669 (Print) 2151-7606 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjci20

RAPID MANUFACTURING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Denis Cormier , Ola Harrysson & Tushar Mahale

To cite this article: Denis Cormier , Ola Harrysson & Tushar Mahale (2003) RAPID
MANUFACTURING IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial
Engineers, 20:3, 193-203, DOI: 10.1080/10170660309509227

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10170660309509227

Published online: 15 Feb 2010.

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Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 193-202 (2003) 193

RAPID MANUFACTURING IN THE 21ST CENTURY


Denis Cormier*, Ola Harrysson, and Tushar Mahale
North Carolina State University
Department of Industrial Engineering
Raleigh, NC 27695-7906 U.S.A.

ABSTRACT
This paper explores ways in which rapid prototyping technologies are evolving into rapid
manufacturing technologies. These technologies will bring about an age of fixture-less
manufacturing, mass customization, and increasingly distributed manufacturing in the
coming years. The layer-based fabrication techniques are fundamentally different from
conventional fabrication techniques, and they will significantly affect all phases of product
development from initial design through final disposal. The paper describes ways in which
rapid manufacturing will affect industrial and manufacturing engineers, and it provides
example applications of mass customization.

Keywords: layered manufacturing, mass customization, rapid manufacturing

1. INTRODUCTION worldwide. All three of these processes are well suited


for mass production. The fixed tooling costs and lead
It can reasonably be argued that the decade from times, however, are quite high. The expense is
1995 – 2005 will be remembered as the decade of the relatively easy to justify when these high costs are
global economy. During the past five years, barriers to spread out over hundreds of thousands or millions of
free trade have been significantly reduced throughout parts. However, as product lifecycles continue to
the world, and there is every reason to expect this trend decrease in the coming years, the high fixed tooling
to continue. It is a generally accepted principle that in costs will no longer be economically justifiable in
the absence of competition, companies have little many instances. Consequently, much of the
motivation to strive for improvement. Conversely, manufacturing industry will undergo significant
increased competition spurs companies to be more changes that are intended to address this issue.
innovative and to develop new technologies at an The remainder of this paper hypothesizes how
increasing rate. In the face of increased competition the factory of the future will adapt to shorter product
resulting from the emerging global economy, one can lifecycles, and how the changes will affect the
predict that companies will increase the pace of new practicing industrial engineer. More specifically, it is
product development. A direct result of this is that proposed that in many cases, traditional manufacturing
existing products will be replaced more rapidly with processes will be replaced by fixture-less
newer products having a greater selection of features. manufacturing techniques that have evolved from
From the perspective of the practicing industrial current layer-based rapid prototyping techniques. In
engineer, shorter product lifecycles will significantly addition to bringing about an age of fixture-less
change the nature of the job in the coming years. To manufacturing, these layer-based processes will also
understand why this will be the case, it is helpful to enable mass customization in certain industries. They
examine a highly simplified model of production will even lead to an increased level of distributed
economics. At the most basic level, the production of manufacturing.
goods involves fixed costs and variable costs. The cost
of tooling needed to produce a part is an example of a 2.LAYER-BASED FIXTURE
fixed cost, since this cost is incurred whether the
company produces one part or millions of parts. Raw LESS MANUFACTURING
material costs and labor costs are examples of variable
costs, since the total cost incrementally increases with 2.1 Part Design
each additional part produced.
At the present time, processes such as injection With shortened product lifecycles, companies
molding, die casting, and stamping account for a very will seek to explore fixture-less layered manufacturing
high percentage of parts that are manufactured technologies. The term "fixture-less" is used due to the

*
Corresponding author: cormier@eos.ncsu.edu
194 Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2003)

fact that regardless of how complex a part's geometry sub-millimeter size range. Miniature devices are
is, absolutely no tooling or fixturing is needed to build already becoming increasingly important, yet small
the part using layered manufacturing. For example, the parts in an assembly can be extremely difficult to
torus knot [1] shown in Figure 1a would be virtually manually assemble. Although automated equipment is
impossible to mold or machine as one piece via a readily available that meets the accuracy requirements
conventional manufacturing process. The part simply for these applications, automated assembly is still
could not be removed from any rigid mold, and interior problematic in the sense that the components are quite
surfaces of the part are inaccessible to a cutting tool. difficult to handle. For example, electrostatic forces
However, this part would quite easily be produced by can easily displace components as they are about to be
depositing one cross sectional slice of material on top picked up by a robotic manipulator. By virtue of their
of the next. A sampling of cross sectional slices for this small size, the components may also be small enough
part is illustrated in Figure 1b. to be damaged by the grasping forces of the
While layered manufacturing techniques can manipulators.
reduce the need for costly tooling, it is clear that it will
make more sense in some situations than in others. One
ideal application for fixture-less tooling is for
miniature assemblies in the millimeter to

(a)

(b)

Figure 1. Torus Knot (a), and Cross Sectional Slices (b)


Denis Cormier et al.: Rapid Manufacturing in the 21st Century 195

Figure 2. Pre-assembled Geneva Mechanism and Ball Bearing

Figure 3.Close-up of Bearing Cage


196 Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2003)

One way to avoid the problems associated with upper handle assembly of Figure 4a, the handle consists
assembling small components is to avoid assembly of no few than five parts. These separate parts are
altogether by fabricating devices in their assembled necessary because it is physically impossible to insert
state. This is possible with layered manufacturing the handle into the valve body from the outside if the
techniques. For example, Figure 2 shows photographs of handle is one piece. If this ball valve were fabricated in
two devices that were fabricated in their assembled state. its pre-assembled state via a layered manufacturing
The figure on the left shows a geneva mechanism that process, the number of parts would be just two, as
was fabricated using the Fused Deposition shown in Figure 4b. Note that the merged handle unit is
Manufacturing (FDM) process employed by Stratasys shown removed from the valve body for clarity of
(www.stratasys.com). The figure on the right shows a illustration.
ball bearing that was fabricated in its assembled state Another exciting prospect for DFM/DFA analysis
using the 3-D printing process employed by Z-Corp involves the use of conformal channels. At the present
(www.zcorp.com) The key to making these types of time, wires and tubing often present significant
pre-assembled devices is that layered manufacturing challenges to the assembly engineer. Wires can be
processes typically use two materials. The first material difficult to route, and must often be tied back to prevent
is used to build the parts themselves. The second them from interfering with the motion of components in
material is a sacrificial support that is melted away, an assembly. With layered manufacturing processes, it is
dissolved, or mechanically removed following possible to embed hollow channels within a part that
completion of the device. In addition to supporting follow the contours within the part. These conformal
down-facing surfaces, the support material provides a channels can be used to house wires, or they may be
small amount of clearance between mating parts. In the used to route liquids or gases. In any of these cases,
case of the pre-assembled ball bearing, the small gap assembly is dramatically simplified due to the
between the ball and the bearing cage is filled in with the elimination of extra tubing and tie-backs.
sacrificial support material, as illustrated in Figure 3.
In order to take advantage of pre-assembled 2.2 Process Planning
devices, future industrial and manufacturing engineers
will have to consider new design for manufacture At the present time, the majority of layer-based
(DFM) and design for assembly (DFA) guidelines. processes are designed to process either thermoplastic or
Traditional DFM guidelines recommend keeping part thermosetting polymers [2]. A small number of
geometries as simple as possible in order to reduce processes are geared towards producing metal parts,
tooling complexity. Traditional DFA guidelines however these machines tend to be quite expensive and
generally recommend eliminating as many parts as are relatively slow. For instance, steel parts produced
possible to reduce the part count. Unfortunately, these with the selective laser sintering (SLS) process typically
guidelines are often in conflict with one another. In undergo a 20+ hour debinding and sintering cycle
order to reduce part count, multiple simple components following fabrication [3]. Without fundamental
that do not move relative to one another can often be advances in the technology, it will be some years before
merged into a single extremely complex part. Industrial layer-based metal processes are used for rapid
engineers must therefore balance the added cost of manufacturing rather than rapid prototyping purposes. It
fabricating a complex part with the reduced assembly should be noted, however, that reinforced plastics such
costs. It is important to note, however, that this conflict as glass-filled nylon often compete favorably with die
largely disappears when layered manufacturing cast magnesium, zinc, or aluminum parts. That being the
techniques are used. Since complex parts are no more case, it is likely that future product engineers will place a
difficult to fabricate than simple ones, the DFM/DFA greater emphasis on plastics that are easily processed
analysis becomes a much easier task when layered with conventional layer-based manufacturing processes.
fabricationprocesses are used. If this concept is applied In addition to material selection issues, the task of
to pre-assembled structures, industrial engineers process planning will change dramatically as layered
participating in concurrent engineering design reviews manufacturing processes are adopted in production
will primarily be concerned with whether or not multiple environments. Process planners will still need to
parts are needed based on material differentiation or optimize manufacturing processes, however, the basic
relative motion. Parts will no longer need to be separated tasks being performed will change. For example, there
due to fabrication considerations or ease of assembly are a wide variety of layer-based technologies available.
considerations. As an example, consider the ball valve Each technology is designed to process certain types of
shown in Figures 4a and 4b. Despite the fact that there is
no relative motion between components shown in the
Denis Cormier et al.: Rapid Manufacturing in the 21st Century 197

materials. Likewise, each process has different levels of


achievable accuracy.

(a) (b)

Figure 4. Ball Valve Assembly


Post Processing – Whenever curved or sloped surfaces
With this in mind, future process planners are produced via layers, a certain degree of stair stepping
working with layered manufacturing technologies will
concern themselves primarily with the following factors: will result. Many systems allow planners to use thinner
Material Capabilities – Planners will identify layers in critical areas in order to produce smoother
candidate layered processes based on material surfaces. The use of thin layers prolongs build time,
compatibility. however, so the process planner must balance post
Accuracy – Layered manufacturing processes typically processing requirements, such as sanding, with build
have different accuracy levels depending on whether speed. In addition to sanding, it is not uncommon to
features are oriented with or across the direction of infiltrate parts with additives in order to improve the
layering. material properties.
Processing Conditions – Every layered manufacturing •
process has process parameters such as layer thickness, 3.MASS CUSTOMIZATION
temperature settings, deposition speeds, etc.
Part Orientation – The orientation of a part within the While the preceding discussion emphasized how
build chamber affects factors such as build speed, fixture-less layered manufacturing techniques will be
surface roughness, and/or feature accuracy. used in factories producing goods in smaller quantities,
The process planner will be required to determine it is also the case that global competition will increase
the best possible orientation of the part within the build the level of customization in certain products. For
chamber in order to optimize as many criteria as example, cell phones may be designed to fit the size and
possible. shape of a customer's head, shoes may be designed
Material Utilization – It is usually more efficient to optimally for a customer's foot, an eyeglass frames could
build as many parts at the same time as possible. The be designed to fit the contours of a user's nose, eye
process planner will therefore be required to nest parts sockets, ears, etc. These are all examples of products
within the build chamber in order to optimize build that are currently mass produced in a relatively small
speed and material utilization. Unlike typical 2-D number of styles and/or configurations. In order to
manufacturing nesting problems such as those enable these items to be tailored for individual
encountered in sheet metal design, the nesting of parts in customers while still maintaining the necessary
a layered-manufacturing build chamber is a true 3-D production volumes, factories capable of mass
nesting problem .
198 Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2003)

customization will be needed. Mass customization is an As mentioned above, more than 1 million implant
extreme case of the scenario described in the previous surgeries are performed worldwide each year, and this
section. Rather than producing parts in smaller lots, the number is rising. Clearly, custom designed implants
custom cell phone, shoe, and eyeglass applications call cannot become a reality on this scale until factories
for production quantities of one. capable of mass customization are available. At the
Biomedical engineering is one of the fields that present time, most orthopedic implants are produced
will most significantly benefit from the emergence of using investment cast titanium or chromium-cobalt.
mass customization facilities. As an example, Investment casting produces accurate implants that
orthopedic implants represent a fast growing market, possess good surface finish. In order to produce a part
where knee and hip implants are the most common through investment casting, a wax pattern is needed.
products. As the growing global population ages, the While it is not economically feasible to make a die to
need for knee and hip joint replacement surgery produce one wax pattern, there are numerous layered
(arthroplasty) is rising dramatically. The most common manufacturing techniques that are well suited for the
reason for knee or hip arthroplasty is osteo arthritis. This production of wax investment casting patterns. For the
is a degenerate joint disease that breaks down the industrial engineer working in mass customization
cartilage in a joint. The cause of osteo arthritis is not yet industries, many future challenges will be related to the
well understood, however factors such as age, gender, handling and integration of information. In the case of
occupation, weight and hormones are known to play an custom implants, the following steps will be taken:
important role. In many cases, acute arthritis must be
treated with total joint replacement. At the present time, Customer is scanned - This can physically take place
approximately 750,000 hip replacement surgeries and anywhere in the world.
500,000 knee replacement surgeries are performed each Implant is designed - It is unrealistic to think that firms
year worldwide [4]. This number is increasing rapidly as will employ enough design engineers to work
the growing population ages. Unfortunately, these one-on-one with each individual customer. The
replacements do not last indefinitely. It is estimated that customer will therefore be responsible for using design
approximately 100,000 hip surgeries and 70,000 knee software to select customization options. The field of
surgeries are performed each year worldwide to repair human computer interaction and software usability will
worn or poorly fitting implants [4]. The duration therefore be quite important.
between surgeries to revise existing implants is Data is transmitted – Generic file formats that contain
dependent on the patient’s age and activity level. The all necessary information will have to be specified. At
risk for premature failure is higher for younger patients the present time, the standard file format only contains
(< 65 years old) due to their higher activity level. The surface information. With the introduction of layered
most common reasons for failure are loosening of the manufacturing processes that can selectively vary
implant, and mechanical failure of either the implant or material properties such as porosity, hardness, or
the surrounding bone. Recent research has shown conductivity within a part, it will be necessary to
evidence that custom knee and hip implants can solve develop more robust file formats.
some of the above mentioned problems. At the present Fabrication site is selected - Since fabrication will no
time, implants are not custom designed for a patient. longer be dependent on tooling, industrial engineers will
Instead, a small set of 5–7 standard size implants are locate fabrication facilities on the basis of their
available. Since these implants do not fit the patient proximity to the customer and their machine availability
exactly, stress concentrations arise, and the implants such that transportation costs and lead times are kept to a
tend to loosen over a period of years. In an attempt to minimum. This will require the development of
address this problem, some researchers are investigating information systems that allow consumers (i.e. the
the use of custom implants that are designed using design firms) to instantly have access to prospective
Computed Tomography (CT) medical imaging data [5]. supplier's anticipated production workloads. Parts are
Using special software, a 3-D computer model is fabricated – Since most parts will be fabricated in lot
constructed from the two-dimensional CT images sizes of one, industrial engineers will devote
(Figure 5). This provides the designer with a digital considerable time and energy towards developing
representation of the patient’s anatomy (Figure 6). accurate and reliable product data management and
Using this data, an implant that exactly matches the inventory tracking systems.
patient's own bone contours is designed, as shown in
Figure 7. Finally, the custom implant is fabricated using 4. DISTRIBUTED
a layered manufacturing technique such as the
stereolithography implants shown in Figure 8. MANUFACTURING
Denis Cormier et al.: Rapid Manufacturing in the 21st Century 199

Figure 4. Converting CT Scan Data Into Medical Model

Figure 5 .Front and Side Views of the CAD Model


200 Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2003)

Figure 6.CAD Model of Custom Designed Implant Surface

Figure 7.Stereolithography Prototype of Investment Castable Custom Implants

While fixture-less small lot manufacturing and fabricated using layered manufacturing techniques and
mass customization will become realities to some extent is delivered to the customer. Although the design and
in the coming years, some researchers have gone so far fabrication steps are currently performed by the
as to suggest that some segments of manufacturing will company, it is not difficult to envision a time in the near
be pushed all the way down (i.e. distributed) to the user. future were customers would simply purchase the digital
The idea here is that personal fabrication machines will CAD model to which the photographic images are
become so inexpensive that people will purchase them applied. The customers would then perform the design
the same way they currently purchase computers and and fabrication steps themselves. In the short term, it is
printers. Rather than buying items that have been not unrealistic to expect that digital fabrication devices
manufactured elsewhere, consumers will purchase will begin appearing locally in copy shops. In this case,
digital models that are downloaded over the internet [6]. customers will take digital models to the local copy shop
Depending on the application, the customer may even be to be fabricated overnight. Either way, the actual
able to customize the model to his/her liking. The model manufacturing becomes distributed almost to the point
will then be built on the user's own personal fabrication of use.
device. An interesting preview to this concept can be Another possible use for distributed
seen at the www.toybuilders.com web site. This web site manufacturing is in the area of replacement parts. As
allows consumers to submit photographs of a person mentioned earlier in this paper, companies will tend to
(typically a child) that are digitally applied to a solid phase out products more quickly in favor of newer
model of a toy doll or action figure. The toy is then products with more features. The logistical problem that
Denis Cormier et al.: Rapid Manufacturing in the 21st Century 201

this trend presents is that companies must have a way of capabilities that will be difficult to provide in any way
providing replacement parts for a wide variety of other than with fixture-less fabrication techniques.
obsolete products. At the present time, this means that Lastly, it has been suggested that because layered
old tooling must be stored and/or warehouses full of manufacturing techniques do not require fixturing or
replacement parts for obsolete products must be tooling, generic fabrication shops in local communities
maintained. With fixture-less layered manufacturing, it will be capable of fabricating a wide variety of parts on
will be possible to fabricate replacement parts anywhere very short notice. This will substantially affect the way
in the world. The small local fabrication shops will parts are supplied to assembly factories, and it will also
simply download digital models from the manufacturer's greatly facilitate the process of supplying replacement
web site, and will then proceed to build the part. This parts.
will eliminate inventory overhead issues associated with
large warehouses, it will dramatically reduce the cost REFERENCES
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
have a significant impact on the way products are
manufactured. For example, the continuing trend Denis Cormier is an associate professor of Industrial
towards shorter product lifecycles will no longer justify Engineering at North Carolina State University. His
the cost of expensive tooling. Layered manufacturing research interests center on the development and
processes will overcome this problem, and will actually optimization of freeform fabrication processes. His most
allow designers to merge multiple parts together, thus recent work involves direct fabrication of metal
requiring considerably less assembly. In the case of components via electron beam melting.
extremely small assemblies, it will even be possible to
fabricate pre-assembled devices that require no Dr. Ola Harrysson is an assistant professor of
assembly at all. Industrial Engineering at North Carolina State
In an attempt to succeed in the midst of increasing University. His research interests center on biomedical
global competition, many companies will strive to offer applications of freeform fabrication techniques. His
custom features that are designed around individual most recent work involves the design and fabrication of
customers. This will require mass customization custom-fitted implants from CT scan data.
202 Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2003)

Mr. Tushar Mahale is a Ph.D. candidate in the


Department of Industrial Engineering at North Carolina
State University. His research involves the development
of a 3D electrostatic printing process.
203 Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, Vol. 18, No. 3 (2001)

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