Ms. Susan Smyth reports

TO 3D PRINT OR NOT TO 3D PRINT? NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM WILL HELP ANSWER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY QUESTION

SME and General Motors Company, working with Dr. Michael Grieves with the Florida Institute of Technology, are developing a Web-based evaluation system to aid manufacturers in making better decisions in additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing.

While additive manufacturing has grown in use and capabilities over the last 25 years, manufacturers do not always have the in-house knowledge and expertise to determine the best way or whether they even should additively manufacture parts, risking valuable time and resources on trial and error in the manufacturing process.

This partnership of companies makes up the independent technical evaluation of additive manufacturing (ITEAM), which will provide manufacturers with an expert system that compares and calculates the best machine, material and process for a particular application. The system also offers an additive manufacturing community section, where users can share experiences and feedback on equipment, materials and techniques, as well as create specialized apps.

"One of the keys to determining whether 3-D printing is a game changer will be the ability to totally redesign a part, or merge an assembly of parts and make the additive part a reality in production," said Susan Smyth, GM chief scientist for manufacturing and secretary of the 2017 SME board of directors. "The challenge from the automotive community is the need for hardware, material innovation and availability of design tools to reinvent parts and morph assemblies for applications above and beyond prototype."

ITEAM will provide a virtual repository of additive manufacturing machine and material capabilities, as well as an open platform and evaluation tools, to enable users to determine suitability of parts to be manufactured additively against the repository of machines and materials.

ITEAM will also be a centre and clearing house for design for additive manufacturing research, methodology, qualification and advancements. Founding members of the ITEAM consortium will invite users to join, share their information with the initiative and be first to know about beta versions of the system.

"We regularly hear from our additive manufacturing user community on how emerging 3-D technologies are allowing them to increase speed to market, produce stronger and lighter parts, improve efficiency, reduce waste, eliminate costly tooling, and create products and geometries that couldn't be created before," said Debbie Holton, vice-president of events and industry strategy at SME.

The methodology, called SAM-CT (size, accuracy and materials, plus economic evaluation of cost and throughput), is under development. It addresses if something can and should be produced by additive manufacturing -- or if better methods exist based on cost and throughput.

"The information about additive machines and material capabilities that users need to make quality decisions is fragmented and expensive," said Dr. Michael Grieves, PhD, executive director, Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design at the Florida Institute of Technology. "This new future requires accurate, reliable and current information so users can make the best technical and economic decisions as to additive equipment and materials. SME is stepping up to the challenge of providing this capability with ITEAM."

Common applications across the additive manufacturing landscape include:

• Consolidated assemblies;
• Lightweight components;
• Complex geometries;
• Multimaterial parts;
• Embedded sensors;
• Compressed manufacturing cycle times.

About General Motors Company

General Motors and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets.