Submit Your DMC Project

Deadline: February 3, 2025 (11:59 PM EST) 

Evaluation Period: February 4 through February 16, 2025
Winners Notified: Week of February 17, 2025

Submission Requirements

Executive Summary (5 pt.)

• Briefly summarize the need and design in the submission
• Discuss the key points in developing, designing, and/or implementing proposed solution
• Discuss the social sustainability impact and social acceptability of the solution proposed.
• One page limit

Industry Overview (10 pt.)

• Identify and describe the deficiency that your design aims to address.
• Justify and describe the need for the proposed design
• What are the critical timelines that the reader needs to be aware of?
• Describe the scale of the issue in terms of who the solution will positively impact, how will this positively impact communities/persons, what solutions exist that try to tackle the problem and what are their current limitations (e.g., “Workers in the warehouse often must execute repetitive motions while moving awkward loads over the course of a shift. For instance, in they must elevate boxes ranging in size and weight… An exoskeleton solution will…”).
  • Undergrad level: Also provide citations of relevant standards (e.g., Ergonomic standards for the above example)
  •   Graduate level: Also provide citations to the relevant standards and how standards are currently addressed and how this may inform your design if such information is known.   

Design, Functionality and Durability (20 pt.)

• Provide a description of the functional requirements (descriptive list of what the design must accomplish; for example, “a cup of water that can hold hot water and be used by adults”) and performance requirements (specific “water volume is …, the temperature range is…, etc.)  of your proposed solution, as appropriate
• Provide a detailed description of your proposed solution that meets the specified requirements above.
•  Discuss health, safety, and quality considerations (positive and negative) for the design.
•  In the description of your design solution, you may include Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing considerations. See GD&T Webinars  
  • High School level: Proper three view drawing with dimensions. Additional drawings/schematics may be used to fully detail the design.
  •   Undergrad level: Proper three view drawing with dimensions. Additional drawings/schematics may be used to fully detail the design. Tolerances should be included and be reasonable for the manufacture of the part.
  • Graduate level: Proper three view drawing with relevant dimensions and tolerances. Additional drawings/schematics may be used to fully detail the design. Tolerances should be included and be reasonable given the manufacture of the part, the manufacturing plan, and any assembly requirements laid out in the submission.
•   In your solution description, comment on Part Quality considerations:
  • High School level: What is the anticipated lifetime of the part proposed (e.g., one time use, minimum X number of months/years)? What key performance indicators does the part need to achieve.
  • Undergraduate level: What testing do you anticipate ensuring the product will remain functional while in use for the required product lifetime
  • Graduate level: Discuss the qualification of the part given the AM processes that are being used. What standards and test methods are available or need to be written into standards for qualification/certification of your design and production parts.

Design Integration and utilization of DDM materials and processes (20 pt.)

• Showcase AM capabilities integrated with traditional methods to add value
• Justify the AM material(s) selected
  • Undergrad/Graduate level: Also discuss how the materials selected contrast with traditionally manufactured materials.
• Justify the AM process(es) used
  • Identify how the design can be adapted for other AM processes. For example, the part is designed to be built in LPBF, but EBPBF can be used if [insert factor] is addressed.
  • Identify additional pre/post AM processes, if any, that need to take place (i.e., powder manufacture, heat treatment, support removal, etc.)
• Consider the serviceability, end of life and recyclability and environmental impact of the part(s) and assemblies designed.

Digital and physical infrastructure: Systems integration, utilization, value chain leverage, agility, lean and continuous improvement (20 pt.)

• Discuss dissemination of designs, how manufacturing coordination will occur, for instance, will it be executed by large corporations, service bureaus, or hobbyist makers, etc.
  • Undergrad level: Also Identify how the design/manufacturing plan will enable resiliency in the supply chain
  • Graduate level: Discuss how the new design will leverage current digital and physical infrastructure. Discuss improvements to digital/physical infrastructure that would create additional benefit to your design/plan. Consider how serviceability is addressed.

Cost Benefit/Value Analysis (10 pt.)

• Compare the value added and/or cost benefit (if relevant) compared to existing designs/solutions described in the “Industry Overview” Section
• Explain and justify the affects anticipated (i.e., Social, environmental, health, safety, and regulatory compliance)
• Undergrad level: Discuss how test methods required will affect cost/value.
• Graduate level: Discuss how tolerances and test methods will affect cost/value. How does the part/manufacturing plan benefit or suffer from the use of AM?

Conclusions (10 pt.)

• Summarize the design holistically, including:
• Key aspects of the design
• How the AM processes and materials are used
• Innovative uses of digital/physical infrastructure to achieve the goals of the work
• The novelty and innovation of the work (e.g., what makes your design and manufacturing plan stand out from the crowd)
• Impact of the design and manufacturing plan

Reference List

• List any references at the end

Overall Quality of Submission (5)

• Is the document free of grammatical and spelling errors?
• Does the writing flow properly or are thoughts/sections disjointed?
• Is the reference list included and properly formatted?

Distinct Academic Tiers Recognized: Students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels are encouraged to prepare and submit their entries! Submissions will be evaluated separately for each academic level, with winners selected in each category.

Judging Criteria

Description	Interpretation	Percent for a given category (%)
Outstanding	An exceptional response; the submission reflects an innovative, insightful, and superior treatment of the issue.	90-100
Good	A convincing response; the submission reflects good analysis and offers a thoughtful treatment of the issue	80-90
Adequate	The submission addresses the criterion, and the treatment suggests competence.	70-80
Weak	The submission may present a response to this criterion, but is far from convincing, or the project is inherently weak in this regard	60-70
Unresponsive	The submission offers a few words in response to this criterion but does not address or shows little to no understanding of the issues	1-60
Missing	The submission does not include a response to the criterion	0