Aim

Discuss about the 3D Printing Technology In Sonix Computers Manufacturing Company.

Sonix computers and printers is a manufacturing company that deals makes computers and printers. It was established in the year 2007. Our production and supply has tremendously grown over the years. Our profits have been increasing but over the past few years our competitors have given us a hard time in our market share making our profits to be stagnant. Also our demand does not satisfy our supply. Since we are expanding our branches we need a solution to take us to the next level that is 3D printing technology.

3D printing uses digital file to make three dimensional objects (joining or solidifying material under computer control). This is achieved by using binding material in a powder bed then the inkjet printer starts heading layer by layer. For by it being a disruptive technology, it is making life easier by inventing things or products that will improve a business continuity or bettering and individual’s life by for example producing artificial limbs or even a body organ.

To increase our profit margin and to give us a competitive advantage which will lead us to among the best computer and printer manufacturers.

1. Provision of high standard quality of computers and printers.
2. To expand the business by starting to manufacture smart phones that will also give us variety of products to our consumers.
3. To manufacture more merchandise to prevent our online customers from lacking the goods.
4. To maintain and attract more clients.

3D printing technology is used in three ways; modelling, printing and finally finishing.

Modeling is the developing of representation or blueprint of any surface of an object in 3 dimension via a specific software either AutoCAD, SketchUp or Maya. It is the first stage. It uses the additive manufacturing technique, whereby the software takes virtual blueprints by scanning the object using a 3D laser (Tarang, 2015). Then the creation of the model begins with the suitable software. When the digital cross-sections are cut, the machine being used here will determine the material which will be deposited on the build bed or platform. This stage will be done when the model has been printed.

Here, the machine scans the design and adds layers upon layers of the material used be it metal, plastic, food or cement. This is achieved by building the model from a series of cross sections whereby they are then fused to create the shape or image of the object. One of the advantage of using this is the ability to create any shape of the object.

This is the final stage which require special skills. Our object can’t be directly used without being sanded, lacquered or painted.

Objectives

1. Automobile and Aerospace Manufacturing

Motorcar manufacturers and plane manufactures have been using this technology to upgrade their designs at an expeditious rate for the purpose of saving time. Thanks to this, the design team can create a prototype within hours as compared to the past where they could take several months. An example the use of 3DP technology are the Bentley and Rolls-Royce which you all know are car manufacturers. They make some spare parts at low-price by adopting the technology in preference to the previous method of manufacturing. Tesla, a producer of electric cars applies the technology to create automobile spare parts.

1. Architecture and Construction

Developers and Architects have been using 3D technology to make their work easier by making models for buildings. They use of the CAD software to design a 3D model from scanning the area they want to develop then they create a layer by layer outline on the building. The secret of using 3D printing technology in construction is using the existing technology on a very large scale. China is among the top countries using the technology and currently the WinSun Global has allegedly built ten houses in twenty four hours using the 3DP technology as stated by Barnatt (2013). Using the construction products mixed with cement, parts are printed on the 3D printers and then placed on the construction site. The company joined alliance with Dubai and announced their big objective to build the first fully functional 3D printed office building.

1. Food

Yes food printers exist but sadly they are expensive. In this case we would use molten chocolate or vegetable puree as a medium in order to make the food. One example of a food printer is the chocobyte printer. As by the name it makes chocolates. According to the company, it makes one chocolate at a time in less than 10 mins. There is also the Chefjet which makes sugar. It can also produce complex shapes for decorative items.

The Foodini is a printer that uses vegetable puree or thick liquid as a medium and turns it into shapes. It also makes pasta, ravioli, cheese etc (Murphy & Atala et al,  2014)   . Another interesting development is making of meat. One company called Modern Meadow uses bioprinters to print meat. They use stem cells found in the animal. This will reduce the number of killings of animals. This application will also be beneficial to astronauts for NASA has partnered with a Texas company to create a capable printer that will make a wide variety of foods. This will increase the nutrition, the safety of food given to the astronauts in space and the stability. Another advantage is encouragement of children to eat green vegetables by creating different shapes with pureed vegetables mixed with other foods like meat. This will be enhanced with flavor and most importantly, it will be filled with beneficial nutrients.

1. Biomedical Engineering

Uses Of 3d Printing

Using 3D printing technology, engineers and scientists have been found a solution to help the disabled and patients in need of new organs by artificially creating body parts and parts of organs for their use (Berman, 2012). Making an organ is exactly the same as inventing a sculpture using plastic or metal but the only contrast is the materials used which are the living biological cells which are normally created in the laboratory. It is assumed that the living cells of the particular patient will certainly not reject the body of the patient. As a result injuries suffered when accidents occur or through one form of disease or another, these patients need the prothesthetic limb in order to continue with their day to day activities. Currently, prosthetic limbs are very costly and are unfortunately not made for the needs of particular patient’s injury.

However, the 3DP technology is being incorporated in designing and creating customized prosthetic limbs which meet the exact requirements of the patient injury for better results. This will be done by scanning the patient’s body as well as the bone structure using a laser for the capability of the designers and engineers to re-create the damaged part of the injured limb and also the living body parts that will be replaced.

1. Logistics and Supply Chain and Mass customization

3DP technology can now manufacture goods on demand. It prevent the stacking up of goods in the warehouses and also reduce wastage of products due to lack of demand. It also ensures the decrease in producing many sizes by allowing smaller manufacturing runs and this lets companies to decrease inventory warehouses by being able to be improve the supply to the demand. Basically it means a good will be made when wanted. This will simplify the supply chain while adding new efficiencies to the system. Also create more market since the individual get to get a product based on his or her preferences. An advantage of the 3D printing technology in this application is the simultaneous production of several products based on the requirements of customer at no extra process charge as Rong (2013) explains.

The company could use some of the applications for the purpose of expanding the business. This will guarantee us more profits cause of cheaper production which will improve the name of our company and will give us a competitive advantage to our competitors.

Since we are expanding our business, we could use this technology to build our own warehouse where we will store our stocks. We could also build more offices for new recruits, interns, moving of staff in order to create space in our offices. Since we are starting e-commerce we would need extra space for customer care.

Modeling

Advantages

1. Since the printer directly sends the digital representation into a three dimension, there will be only errors because materials or poor design making the construction fast and more
2. Reduction of labor cost since the printer will be doing most of the work.
3. Reduced generation of waste since products are printed based on the demand, when construction phase is taking place. Presence of unused goods will lead to recycling.
4. Health and safety risks are reduced because of the eradication of the dangerous parts of the construction process.
5. This is pro-environment since the recycled goods can be used to produce construction materials used by the printer.
6. Creation of lower housing cost and creation of new designs.

Disadvantages

1. Decreased demand for labor, impacting erectors, builders, convectional producing product manufacturers and rental construction equipment. This will lead to unemployment.
2. Introduction of a new skill and labor when using this technology
3. Currently there is limitation of the types of materials used in these printers. And also limitation of printers that use a particular material type.
4. Difficulty in moving printers from one place to another could raise problems like damage of the printer by falling of safety of an individual.
5. Risks of constructing may increase because any errors done during the modeling stage that will affect the digital model could result in wrong construction thus needing special handling or rework.

We can use this to personalize the devices by our customers’ requirements and preferences. This will give the customer a unique gadget. This will definitely be a win for also we for it will attract more customers.

Advantages

1. Create a unique user experience.
2. Collect data about your clients’ preference
3. Add value to your goods.

Disadvantages

1. Even though price is reduced by 3D Printing, the cost of data collectiong and incorporating the data to the blueprint’s design, is not decreased by printing technology.
2. How to know when and how to integrate it.

We can use this knowledge in making prototypes of our new device be it the computer, printer or smart phone. This will help us instill unique features and make quality work. This will enable us to attract our market.

      Advantages

1. Rapid Prototyping.
2. Lower Turnaround Time.
3. Low Consumption and Wastage.
4. Lower Costs.
5. Added Flexibility.

       Disadvantages

1. Manufacturer-specific materials, nonstandard for use on more than one additive manufacturing system.
2. High costs of raw materials
3. Low working speed
4. Small build volumes limiting part size
5. Need for post-processing
6. Skills availability

Conclusion

3D Printing technology could revolutionize and improve our company by significantly the way we manufacture our goods. This will increase our profits and also lead us to the top from distributing around the country to internationally. The main reason we need this technology in our manufacturing use was the increase number of competitors which made use loose our market and gave us a stagnant incoming revenue.

Basically, 3D printing by scanning or designing an object with Computer Aided Design software, joining of the thin layers, which then form a solid three-dimensional product.

With this research, we can see that the 3D technology is in trend and an increasing amount of people are using it to their advantage by fulfilling human needs. If we decide to use it will help as to have a fast and easy manufacturing of any scale. Though some of the limitations may include firing some of our worker since they have no skill or reduce our workers train then in order to get the skill. This will be time consuming and also costly at some point because these machines need to be used in a particular procedure.

This revolutionized technology presents a great deal of opportunities for this company, a developing company that still experiences challenges of meeting its needs. All in all this technology will help in our business expansion, lead us to the top and most importantly increase the company’s profits in the next five years.

1. One of the problem is how we will deal with our online business. I would recommend that first we create a website. Here we could put our available products where our clients could purchase. It should also have a page where customers could order their custom made devices, here they could give the preferences meaning we should also have a team that will deal with them in casea of any issue. Then create awareness on our new website.
2. Another issue is on how to expand our business. Since we already have branches, we could start with the developing of the smart phone. This will give us variety and also the market growth will increase.
3. Increase in demand. If we introduce the 3D printing technology, the manufacturing of the computers, printers will increase leading supply will satisfy the demand.

References

Berman, B. (2012). 3-D printing: The new industrial revolution. Business horizons, 55(2), 155-162.

Murphy, S. V., & Atala, A. (2014). 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs. Nature biotechnology, 32(8), 773.

Mironov, V., Boland, T., Trusk, T., Forgacs, G., & Markwald, R. R. (2003). Organ printing: computer-aided jet-based 3D tissue engineering. TRENDS in Biotechnology, 21(4), 157-161.

Pfister, A., Landers, R., Laib, A., Hübner, U., Schmelzeisen, R., & Mülhaupt, R. (2004). Biofunctional rapid prototyping for tissue?engineering applications: 3D bioplotting versus 3D printing. Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 42(3), 624-638.

Rengier, F., Mehndiratta, A., Von Tengg-Kobligk, H., Zechmann, C. M., Unterhinninghofen, R., Kauczor, H. U., & Giesel, F. L. (2010). 3D printing based on imaging data: review of medical applications. International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery, 5(4), 335-341.

Gross, B. C., Erkal, J. L., Lockwood, S. Y., Chen, C., & Spence, D. M. (2014). Evaluation of 3D printing and its potential impact on biotechnology and the chemical sciences.

Rong, H. (2013). 3D Printing and Manufacturing. Instrument Standardization & Metrology, 2, 007.

Tarang, Y. E. (2015). 3d printing additive manufacturing. International Education and Research Journal, 1(4), 21-23.

Miko?ajewska, E., Macko, M., Ziarnecki, ?., Sta?czak, S., Kawalec, P., & Miko?ajewski, D. (2014). 3D printing technologies in rehabilitation engineering.

Barnatt, C. (2013). 3D printing: the next industrial revolution. Nottingham: ExplainingTheFuture. com.