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The 3D Printing Technology Continues Depositing Large Amounts of High-value Materials in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Imagine hearing the news that manufacturers are producing a proven and safe vaccine for COVID-19 and shipping it your way. It will be music to the world’s ears.

The impact of COVID-19 has changed the way we conduct business, and now, more than ever, illuminates the need for manufacturers to assess their processes and implement smart manufacturing technology.

Industry 4.0 often seems like a vague, faraway idea, but there are several practical and relatively easy steps that can be taken to jump into the “future of manufacturing” right now. From addressing skilled labor shortages to increasing machine utilization, a fancy title should not stop a shop owner from using what works.

The ability to take Industry 4.0 software and implement it into your current server system, connect your machine tools, start collecting data and make it valuable to your business is very easy to do. That is according to Brad Klippstein, supervisor and product specialist at Okuma America Corp., Charlotte, N.C.

As technologies that are a part of Industry 4.0 proliferate, investing in a single platform creates efficiencies in operation and in training.

The increased use of CT scanning for metal powder bed fusion parts is usually associated with high-value parts and elevated quality requirements. There are increased requests for CT scanning on parts made of engineering-grade polymers like PEEK, PEKK or ULTEM and for fiber-reinforced composites like Nylon 12 CF.

The industry’s fastest growing firms are leveraging new artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to transform supply chains, transport and logistics. Reliance on paper forms and clashing systems are giving way to improved transparency across the value chain.

Manufacturers who have deployed the digital or smart factory have put down their pencils, found new uses for their clipboards and closed their spreadsheet programs in favor of using real-time data gleaned from condition monitoring of their machinery.

The concepts Industry 4.0 in Europe, Made in China 2025 and smart manufacturing in the U.S. “all share a common goal—to create cyber-physical systems to innovate in manufacturing,” IDC's Bob Parker said at Dassault Systèmes’ recent Manufacturing in the Age of Experience event. “And it’s really dependent on a set of new technologies like IoT (the Internet of Things) and artificial intelligence (AI).”