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Business Models for Sustainable Manufacturing

Bhagyashri Kambale | December 23, 2021 | 643 views
BUSINESS MODELS FOR SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING
Sustainable business strategies are bringing significant financial and environmental benefits to manufacturers. Sustainable manufacturing creates goods while minimizing environmental consequences and preserving energy and natural resources. In addition, sustainable production improves the safety of workers, the community, and the products they produce.

Allied Market Research projects that the worldwide renewable energy market will reach $1,977.6 billion by 2030, increasing at an 8.4% CAGR. As a result, we can conclude that many businesses are transitioning from traditional manufacturing to sustainable manufacturing.

It’s a good time to be a part of the renewable energy industry. New technologies are coming to market every day, and we work in an industry that is trying to solve an enormous challenge.

– Susan Stone, Chief Executive Officer at Ubiquitous Energy, Inc., in conversation with Media 7

Though many organizations are pioneering the sustainable manufacturing approach, we have selected five of the most well-known companies making serious attempts to be sustainable manufacturing companies by all means.
In addition to the list of sustainable manufacturing businesses, this article will discuss the advantages of sustainability and how organizations may become carbon neutral. So let's get started.


Top 5 Companies with a Sustainable Business Model

The following are five manufacturing businesses that are investing in sustainable manufacturing methods across their production processes to become more responsive to our mother earth.


Philips Electronics

The company is reducing its environmental effect by engaging with suppliers, taking climate action, and driving the shift to a circular economy. Climate change is a key concern for Philips. So they are rethinking their business strategies and decoupling economic development from environmental and social impacts.

They met their aim of becoming 100% carbon-neutral in their operations and procuring 100% of their power from renewable sources by 2020. They intend to obtain over 75% of their total energy usage from renewable sources by 2025 and to reduce CO2 emissions across their whole value chain to meet the 1.5°C global warming state.


Schott

Sustainability is profoundly embedded in SCHOTT's DNA. It derives from their distinctive business concept, which dates back to 1896. Their sustainability plan includes responsible governance, workers, society, environment, and climate.

“Regarding climate change, it is high time to act. Everyone must take responsibility – politicians, companies and society. We are ready to play our part. We want to become climate neutral by 2030.”

- Dr. Jens Schulte, Member of the Board of Management with responsibility for the “Zero Carbon” strategy program

Long-term thought and responsible behavior are guiding principles of SCHOTT, which is why they care about the environment and climate. They are entering a new era of sustainable management with their “Zero Carbon” strategic program.
Long term, they seek to eliminate fossil fuels as soon as technology allows it. They are focused on the most energy-intensive stage of glass melting to create new solutions.


IKEA

IKEA's low-cost furniture utilizes a lot of wood. But because the company employs sustainable forestry practices, your new minimalist nightstand didn't cost the globe a rainforest. The business is also investing heavily in solar and wind energy. This year, the corporation intends to increase its already significant expenditures in renewable energy, to reach 100% clean energy by 2020. It also leads in offering cleaner, greener products.


Nike

In addition to encouraging people to walk, this footwear manufacturer uses recycled aluminum frames in its headquarters in the Netherlands, and underground energy storage to reduce its carbon footprint. Moreover, it has implemented stringent emission regulations at all of its manufacturing facilities and has cut its overall carbon footprint by around 80 % since the late 1990s. The company also sells the most environmentally-friendly soccer sneakers on the market.


Johnson & Johnson

According to the company, Johnson & Johnson has just begun transitioning a significant portion of its energy reliance to solar power in an effort to become the world's most socially responsible organization. Currently, it is the second-largest user of solar energy in the United States, with more than half of its power coming from environmentally friendly sources.


Rewards of Adopting Sustainable Manufacturing Practices

Many businesses are seeking sustainability for many reasons, including:
  • Reduces operating expenses and waste
  • Responds to new consumers and get a competitive edge
  • Builds public trust and protect brand and reputation
  • Creates long-term business viability
  • Recognizes and address regulatory constraints


What Can We Do to Make Sustainable Manufacturing a Reality?

Every business must support green energy projects. Here are some fundamental actions that every business should take to transform itself into a sustainable manufacturing organization.  


Maximize the Efficacy of Fossil Fuels 

In today's society, energy conservation is a win-win situation. Approximately half of the world's known oil reserves have been exhausted, which means we are near to the point of diminishing returns in terms of supply. As far as we know, there hasn't been a shortage of supplies. Shutting down unwanted equipment might help you save money immediately. Replace a single-speed motor with a variable speed or servo drive. Use a hydraulic pump with variable speed. Wind, solar, and hydropower can also be used to conserve energy.


Reduce or Eliminate Waste

Don't overindulge; merely take in what you need to get the task done. At this point, we may all agree that it's easy, but in the past, our primary focus was on reducing production costs or time to market. Whether we were wasting resources was unknown or irrelevant to anyone. Metal, paper, and packaging are all examples of industries where this is true. The potential for waste reduction may justify the purchase of highly accurate production equipment.


Recycle

As a byproduct of manufacturing, metals may be easily recycled and used for new products. In addition, recycling metal saves money and energy since it uses less energy in the manufacturing process, allowing for a 60 % or more reduction in the energy needed to make new products.


Final Words

Sustainable manufacturing practices are making manufacturing industries more socially responsible and carbon neutral. This new manufacturing method is necessary for today's period because we must consider future generations while improving today's. Natural resources must be conserved before depleting, and we have nothing left to offer future generations. Responsible organizations have already used this sustainable approach in their manufacturing processes, and we anticipate that every company should consider this method to be more sustainable and environmentally responsible.


FAQ


What is the difference between green and sustainable manufacturing? 

The main difference between green and sustainable is that green addresses a single aspect i.e., environmental health, but sustainability addresses the entire system, including economic, social, and environmental aspects.


Which business is more environmentally friendly? 

According to Corporate Knights, Alphabet, Tesla, and AstraZeneca were among the world's most sustainable companies in the Global 100 Index for 2021.


What are the four sustainability factors?

The word sustainability refers to programs, activities, and actions to preserve a resource. But it relates to four unique key areas. Human, social, economic, and environmental are the four pillars or factors of sustainability.

Spotlight

Engent, Inc.

Engent is a provider of advanced electronic manufacturing and technology services. Engent leverages its world-class facilities, highly experienced and educated team to provide solutions which shorten a product’s time to market and which enable products to be manufactured at high volumes.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

3 New Design Goals to Fuel Innovation Easily with Additive Manufacturing

Article | September 30, 2022

Stand out with long-term scalability with AM by fuelling innovation in the design process. Staying relevant has now become critical when it comes to additive manufacturing. It is, therefore, essential to make decisions by deep diving into the right people, processes, and technologies at the right moment to keep up the momentum when using AM processes. Better Product Designs with Design Innovation Framework for Additive Manufacturing Additive manufacturers have started using the product design innovation (DI) framework. It serves additive manufacturing part designs with increased - Proof of value (POV) - Helps your business stand out in the market with superior quality design. Proof of concept (POC) – Ensures that the design will function as intended. Proof of market (POM) – Defines the level of success of a design at scale for mass market production. Proof of impact (POI) – Using simulation to mitigate design failures and ensure that your designs last longer. As a result of the design innovation framework, additive manufacturing parts are manufactured faster and with better quality while lowering material costs. Furthermore, with more and more additive manufacturing companies implementing design innovation frameworks for their production, it is possible to tap into the opportunities of innovative product design at an early stage to give your production a competitive edge. Therefore, in the quest to grab an early market share in additive manufacturing for new, small and medium enterprises, the design innovation framework will play a pivotal role. Your product design, product research and development teams will implement the DI framework for the scalability of your additive manufacturing units. Fuel innovation and design thinking to produce innovative product design ideas with the goals and practices in the DI framework, as mentioned below. They infuse your designs with the design innovation framework to get quality manufactured products. Strategic Business Growth with AM Design to Fuel Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises Fuel innovation in how you design additive manufacturing parts with strategic business growth. By keeping three goals in mind during the design process, you can use cutting-edge research in additive manufacturing design to help your business grow. Increase Speed: Create highly detailed intermediate manufacturing goods. As additive manufacturing is still in the transition phase, creating highly complex designs on a small scale is easy. But for large-scale AM production, intermediate goods like molds make it easy and quick to make intricate details. Build upon the existing DI (Design Innovation) process. Make use of designs from the design repositories and similar component geometry. Choose an orientation that does not need additional support. Save resources by preferring cellular structure over solid volumes. Make use of internal volumes to add more functionality. Print functional joints to save assembly steps and time. Standardize the assembly process to save production time. Use high-resolution STL files to reach your maximum design potential. Improve printability by scaling the artifacts and considering the resolution of the process. Manage Quality: Reduce residual stress to keep the parts from warping. Materials must be qualified and characterized to be micro-structured. Adhere to industry standards to get consistent, reliable, and repeatable outputs. While successful designs with strategic AM innovation can be beneficial to Create new products with AM. Create new business models with AM, AM helps to advance product design processes. Create new classes of AM technologies. Save Costs: Save costs by creating multifunctional parts. Choose a cheaper alternative material that satisfies the same constraints. Go for an economical assembly by manufacturing high-performing parts. Implement a cellular structure to reduce the quantity of material used. Innovate designs that bring down costs through accurate simulation of manufacturing constraints. Use composite material that satisfies the applied constraints. Risk Factors to Consider and Mitigate When Investing in AM The Risk of Data Leakage Cyber security is a critical component when storing design file data on the cloud and sharing it over the network. Getting a design file copied, stolen, altered, infected, or deleted causes a loss of time and sometimes money. Attackers ask for a ransom by putting a worm in your design file or blocking access. A highly private network with encrypted personal cloud connectivity and highly secure access control are the answers to mitigating the risk of cyber-attacks. Mitigating the risk is done with several measures. These include doing regular risk assessments, using a single design with no mistakes as a base for other design models, using advanced RFID tags to make products with AM, and practicing individual vigilance through awareness. The Risk of Poor Quality When outsourcing your manufacturing to an AM unit, the risk of low quality of the manufactured products is high. You cannot offer a warranty or guarantee when outsourcing production. Also, there is a risk that companies facing losses due to faulty products might want to claim for their losses. Quality improves when you give much attention to post-processing the manufactured parts. Leading Industries Using the DI Framework in AM: Aerospace Automotive Consumer products Energy Infrastructure Medical and pharmaceutical Food Sports Accessories Final Thoughts: Gearing up with innovation in additive manufacturing starts with three design goals. These include increasing speed, managing quality, and saving costs, which can help you achieve strategic business growth to scale for the long-term for business resilience. In addition, the DI framework for AM helps your large enterprise use progressive design thinking. So, now is the best time to invest into new ways to design products using design and management software for additive manufacturing.

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ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

10 Best Features to Look for in an Additive Manufacturing Software

Article | September 20, 2022

The day is near when additive manufacturing (AM) will become production-ready, with many technological advancements in additive manufacturing software. Although taking care of manual post-processing is one of the challenges AM faces, methods to reduce it are on the rise with the help of better additive manufacturing software. Multilayer 3D printing revolutionises production, combining to fuel innovation. Let's find out what software features for additive manufacturing can help solve the problems that arise. How Does Additive Manufacturing Software Aid in the Resolution of Issues in Large Enterprises? For large enterprises, additive manufacturing software champions innovation to achieve long-term goals and resolve problems with these solutions. Sustainability in Manufacturing: A minimum wastage of material makes additive manufacturing sustainable. Therefore, achieve your goal of implementing sustainable practises quickly. Decrease Costs: Cut costs by automation, optimization, and simulation to help decrease costs at all stages of an AM workflow. Optimize Inventory: You can get rid of a lot of your inventory if you know exactly what material each part needs and how much of it you need. Easy Material Replacement: Simulate results for different materials and easily replace your material for printing as per availability. Combine multiple materials to strengthen parts and make them versatile. Generate Multiple Design Versions: The generative design approach allows you to generate multiple versions of a complex part subject to constraints. As a result, you reduce the guesswork and improve the quality quickly and efficiently. With AI designs in additive manufacturing software, you get progressive design innovation and development. As AM software aids large enterprises to fuel innovation in design implementation and follow the recent trends in additive manufacturing, AM processes such as binder jetting, metal additive manufacturing work and other types of additive manufacturing benefit from them as well. Explore the benefits of additive manufacturing for small and medium enterprises in our next segment which will cover additive manufacturing overview. Learn in-depth insights into why AM software are becoming a choice of medium sized businesses as well. Three Reasons to Use Additive Manufacturing Software To realize the full potential of additive manufacturing, good software plays a vital role in determining the quality of the output printed. Find out exactly how software for additive manufacturing could help your designs and your business grow. Automate: Automated light weighting, part consolidation, and generative design help unlock the scalability of your designs in terms of functionality and cost efficiency. Additive manufacturing software helps you achieve these efficiently. Optimize: Streamline the AM workflow using additive MES (manufacturing execution system) software. Increasing the printing process's efficiency helps reduce the time needed to print and improves the quality of the part manufactured and the machine utilization rates. Simulate and Test: Make your part design model subject to different constraints with the help of simulation using AM software. Reach excellence in additive manufacturing parts for real-life situations. Build a failsafe part using automated mathematical analysis. Using additive manufacturing software can help you overcome many challenges. However, while considering AM software, please note its shortcomings. The Big Challenge in Additive Manufacturing Software At each step of additive manufacturing, separate software is essential to perform different functions. AM software performs many critical functions, such as step-by-step design, printability checks, light weighting, adding support, and simulation analysis. However, a single software package does not exist that addresses all aspects of additive manufacturing. Software integration resolves this issue effectively and efficiently. Additive Manufacturing Software Functions for Large Enterprises For large enterprises, it is essential to get the accurate design of complex parts and manage the AM production workflow right. Additive manufacturing software brings both functions to the table. Learn how additive manufacturing fuels innovation in design. Features of Additive Manufacturing software for design and managing workflow are as under: Top Features of Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) Software: It is easy to nurture the design thinking process by arming with suitable DfAM software for medium and large enterprises. Their features are as follows: Topology Optimization: Using mathematical tools to simulate the material distribution of the part is topology optimization. Making changes in the material distribution can remove inefficient regions from the design. In addition, automated topology optimization helps quickly produce complex geometrical structures using DfAM software. Lattice Pattern Generation: Using additive manufacturing software, we generate 3D lattice patterns automatically. They significantly save costs by using a lower volume of materials and helping design multifunctional parts and structures. In addition, they reduce their weight and cost, making them flexible and stress-resistant. Generative Design: The power of generative design lies in designing to match all the design parameters, applying all constraints, and generating multiple design candidates quickly and efficiently. These include material type, shape, density, orientation, and more. This design evolves your part per your required parameters and expedites optimization. Automatic Light-Weighting: Applying light weighting techniques such as materials selection, part consolidation, conformal ribbing, lattice structures, and optimization of topology helps further bring down the costs. With DfAM software, the process is automatic and easy. Automated Part Consolidation: Creating a single part that can perform multiple functions saves space and costs, boosting efficiency. However, deciding whether consolidation can conform to other system components can sometimes be challenging. Find a way to solve this problem with the help of a feature in additive manufacturing software that automatically groups parts together. Stress, Heat, and Impact Simulation: Predict the part design's stress, heat, and impact-taking ability in the case of light weighting. Simulation helps test the part using different materials, keeping in mind their temperature, stress, and impact resistance. For instance, DfAM software tests a part before printing the prototype, utilizing this feature. Build Failure Prediction: Mathematical analysis-backed calculations of distortions and validations help in predicting building failures. A DfAM also helps predict building failures before they happen by calculating the efficiency over time. This makes the parts more durable. 3D Packing: Find the ideal shipping container and calculate its size, number, and maximum capacity using 3D packing technology. This automated software tool helps you efficiently send your shipments to your clients. Machine Parameters: Select the process parameters as per the part or product requirements. Apply different constraints to simulate the work using additive manufacturing software. Adjust them as per the desired characteristics in the output part using the software. Print Failure Prediction: Analyzing a designed model for deformation, cracks, stress, and growth is possible with software simulation. In addition, this data helps detect probable print failure. An end-to-end workflow automation solution using additive manufacturing MES software works in sync with your existing software. Learn about its features as below: Features of Good Additive Manufacturing MES Software: Order Management: Receiving, organizing, and processing orders for printing is excellent at order management. Part/file Analysis: The main tasks of part or file analysis are to look at the part or file's feasibility under different constraints and suggest ways to fix it. Production Planning: Production planning helps automate preparation for the production cycle. Instant Quotations: With built-in quotation management, create, approve, present, accept or reject quotations and place an order for part printing. Material and Inventory Management: It takes care of choosing the right material for the part and making sure that enough of that material is in stock to make it. Nesting: With nesting calculations, automatic space optimization on the print bed is possible Post-Processing Management: Remove defects after manufacturing using a streamlined post-processing management system. Quality Inspection and Management: Use the Quality Management System to remove possible distortions and deformations under constraints. Order Tracking and Traceability: Get the status of print order processing at all times with accurate tracking during the AM process. Analytics: Get a complete analysis of the data generated at each step of your AM workflow. If getting powerful software is not something you are considering at the moment, you can still welcome a host of new additions with the help of software integrations. Explore more about it down below. Use Software Integrations to Connect Existing Software: Link your existing software to your additive manufacturing software for seamless data sharing over the additive MES using software integration. For instance, connect existing AM workflows, 3D modelling simulations, import CAD files of models, send and receive purchase orders, and do much more with a one-stop MES solution. With the right integrations, you can add the features your software needs to stay current. When considering purchasing an AM software package, the initial, operational, training, and time required to learn it must all be calculated. For large enterprises, the reduction in inventory size and better accuracy with AM software bring down the cost of additive manufacturing production. Let us take a deep dive into the estimation of AM software. Estimation for Additive Manufacturing Software Setup and Operations: Depending upon the feature set of the additive manufacturing software, it might cost from $120/month/user to $25,000 annually or more. The significant influence is the implementation time and user-friendliness, like any other software for your business or enterprise. Several additive manufacturing and management software might have features that you may not need right now. However, upon scaling your business, they will become a necessity. You may want to consider software with supporting API integrations to smoothly transition from your existing software to advanced additive manufacturing software. As a result, you will reduce your cost of training the personnel while boosting their efficiency manifold. Additive Manufacturing Software's Future Scope Custom printing of complex geometrical structures with additive manufacturing is no longer restricted just to rapid prototyping. With the advent of volumetric additive manufacturing, it is now possible to print all the target points in the geometry simultaneously. Achieve this with the help of rotating the resin container with the guidance of a digital light projection system. In addition, this method can reduce some of the post-processing involved in an additive manufacturing production workflow to help make additive manufacturing more reliable and efficient. The future of additive manufacturing looks supremely promising with several applications of volumetric additive manufacturing. These include aerospace, medical, transportation, energy, consumer products and the like. In the future, revolutionary multifunctional parts will be created using automated part consolidation to optimize part designs like never before. Furthermore, using AI, accuracy is bound to improve. Conclusion: Building a resilient business for medium and large enterprises to unlock scalability is easy with a range of additive manufacturing software. Leveraging AM software saves turn-around time from researching to the production line with a stable and better design. It boosts ROI by streamlining your additive manufacturing workflows and cutting production costs using additive manufacturing software. Software integrations help enterprises stay current with all the features needed and introduced from time to time to make additive manufacturing practical. Using AI with AM software is becoming the norm for both medium and large AM companies that want to get a head start on the market.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

3 New Design Goals to Fuel Innovation Easily with Additive Manufacturing

Article | September 30, 2022

Stand out with long-term scalability with AM by fuelling innovation in the design process. Staying relevant has now become critical when it comes to additive manufacturing. It is, therefore, essential to make decisions by deep diving into the right people, processes, and technologies at the right moment to keep up the momentum when using AM processes. Better Product Designs with Design Innovation Framework for Additive Manufacturing Additive manufacturers have started using the product design innovation (DI) framework. It serves additive manufacturing part designs with increased - Proof of value (POV) - Helps your business stand out in the market with superior quality design. Proof of concept (POC) – Ensures that the design will function as intended. Proof of market (POM) – Defines the level of success of a design at scale for mass market production. Proof of impact (POI) – Using simulation to mitigate design failures and ensure that your designs last longer. As a result of the design innovation framework, additive manufacturing parts are manufactured faster and with better quality while lowering material costs. Furthermore, with more and more additive manufacturing companies implementing design innovation frameworks for their production, it is possible to tap into the opportunities of innovative product design at an early stage to give your production a competitive edge. Therefore, in the quest to grab an early market share in additive manufacturing for new, small and medium enterprises, the design innovation framework will play a pivotal role. Your product design, product research and development teams will implement the DI framework for the scalability of your additive manufacturing units. Fuel innovation and design thinking to produce innovative product design ideas with the goals and practices in the DI framework, as mentioned below. They infuse your designs with the design innovation framework to get quality manufactured products. Strategic Business Growth with AM Design to Fuel Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises Fuel innovation in how you design additive manufacturing parts with strategic business growth. By keeping three goals in mind during the design process, you can use cutting-edge research in additive manufacturing design to help your business grow. Increase Speed: Create highly detailed intermediate manufacturing goods. As additive manufacturing is still in the transition phase, creating highly complex designs on a small scale is easy. But for large-scale AM production, intermediate goods like molds make it easy and quick to make intricate details. Build upon the existing DI (Design Innovation) process. Make use of designs from the design repositories and similar component geometry. Choose an orientation that does not need additional support. Save resources by preferring cellular structure over solid volumes. Make use of internal volumes to add more functionality. Print functional joints to save assembly steps and time. Standardize the assembly process to save production time. Use high-resolution STL files to reach your maximum design potential. Improve printability by scaling the artifacts and considering the resolution of the process. Manage Quality: Reduce residual stress to keep the parts from warping. Materials must be qualified and characterized to be micro-structured. Adhere to industry standards to get consistent, reliable, and repeatable outputs. While successful designs with strategic AM innovation can be beneficial to Create new products with AM. Create new business models with AM, AM helps to advance product design processes. Create new classes of AM technologies. Save Costs: Save costs by creating multifunctional parts. Choose a cheaper alternative material that satisfies the same constraints. Go for an economical assembly by manufacturing high-performing parts. Implement a cellular structure to reduce the quantity of material used. Innovate designs that bring down costs through accurate simulation of manufacturing constraints. Use composite material that satisfies the applied constraints. Risk Factors to Consider and Mitigate When Investing in AM The Risk of Data Leakage Cyber security is a critical component when storing design file data on the cloud and sharing it over the network. Getting a design file copied, stolen, altered, infected, or deleted causes a loss of time and sometimes money. Attackers ask for a ransom by putting a worm in your design file or blocking access. A highly private network with encrypted personal cloud connectivity and highly secure access control are the answers to mitigating the risk of cyber-attacks. Mitigating the risk is done with several measures. These include doing regular risk assessments, using a single design with no mistakes as a base for other design models, using advanced RFID tags to make products with AM, and practicing individual vigilance through awareness. The Risk of Poor Quality When outsourcing your manufacturing to an AM unit, the risk of low quality of the manufactured products is high. You cannot offer a warranty or guarantee when outsourcing production. Also, there is a risk that companies facing losses due to faulty products might want to claim for their losses. Quality improves when you give much attention to post-processing the manufactured parts. Leading Industries Using the DI Framework in AM: Aerospace Automotive Consumer products Energy Infrastructure Medical and pharmaceutical Food Sports Accessories Final Thoughts: Gearing up with innovation in additive manufacturing starts with three design goals. These include increasing speed, managing quality, and saving costs, which can help you achieve strategic business growth to scale for the long-term for business resilience. In addition, the DI framework for AM helps your large enterprise use progressive design thinking. So, now is the best time to invest into new ways to design products using design and management software for additive manufacturing.

Read More
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

10 Best Features to Look for in an Additive Manufacturing Software

Article | September 20, 2022

The day is near when additive manufacturing (AM) will become production-ready, with many technological advancements in additive manufacturing software. Although taking care of manual post-processing is one of the challenges AM faces, methods to reduce it are on the rise with the help of better additive manufacturing software. Multilayer 3D printing revolutionises production, combining to fuel innovation. Let's find out what software features for additive manufacturing can help solve the problems that arise. How Does Additive Manufacturing Software Aid in the Resolution of Issues in Large Enterprises? For large enterprises, additive manufacturing software champions innovation to achieve long-term goals and resolve problems with these solutions. Sustainability in Manufacturing: A minimum wastage of material makes additive manufacturing sustainable. Therefore, achieve your goal of implementing sustainable practises quickly. Decrease Costs: Cut costs by automation, optimization, and simulation to help decrease costs at all stages of an AM workflow. Optimize Inventory: You can get rid of a lot of your inventory if you know exactly what material each part needs and how much of it you need. Easy Material Replacement: Simulate results for different materials and easily replace your material for printing as per availability. Combine multiple materials to strengthen parts and make them versatile. Generate Multiple Design Versions: The generative design approach allows you to generate multiple versions of a complex part subject to constraints. As a result, you reduce the guesswork and improve the quality quickly and efficiently. With AI designs in additive manufacturing software, you get progressive design innovation and development. As AM software aids large enterprises to fuel innovation in design implementation and follow the recent trends in additive manufacturing, AM processes such as binder jetting, metal additive manufacturing work and other types of additive manufacturing benefit from them as well. Explore the benefits of additive manufacturing for small and medium enterprises in our next segment which will cover additive manufacturing overview. Learn in-depth insights into why AM software are becoming a choice of medium sized businesses as well. Three Reasons to Use Additive Manufacturing Software To realize the full potential of additive manufacturing, good software plays a vital role in determining the quality of the output printed. Find out exactly how software for additive manufacturing could help your designs and your business grow. Automate: Automated light weighting, part consolidation, and generative design help unlock the scalability of your designs in terms of functionality and cost efficiency. Additive manufacturing software helps you achieve these efficiently. Optimize: Streamline the AM workflow using additive MES (manufacturing execution system) software. Increasing the printing process's efficiency helps reduce the time needed to print and improves the quality of the part manufactured and the machine utilization rates. Simulate and Test: Make your part design model subject to different constraints with the help of simulation using AM software. Reach excellence in additive manufacturing parts for real-life situations. Build a failsafe part using automated mathematical analysis. Using additive manufacturing software can help you overcome many challenges. However, while considering AM software, please note its shortcomings. The Big Challenge in Additive Manufacturing Software At each step of additive manufacturing, separate software is essential to perform different functions. AM software performs many critical functions, such as step-by-step design, printability checks, light weighting, adding support, and simulation analysis. However, a single software package does not exist that addresses all aspects of additive manufacturing. Software integration resolves this issue effectively and efficiently. Additive Manufacturing Software Functions for Large Enterprises For large enterprises, it is essential to get the accurate design of complex parts and manage the AM production workflow right. Additive manufacturing software brings both functions to the table. Learn how additive manufacturing fuels innovation in design. Features of Additive Manufacturing software for design and managing workflow are as under: Top Features of Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) Software: It is easy to nurture the design thinking process by arming with suitable DfAM software for medium and large enterprises. Their features are as follows: Topology Optimization: Using mathematical tools to simulate the material distribution of the part is topology optimization. Making changes in the material distribution can remove inefficient regions from the design. In addition, automated topology optimization helps quickly produce complex geometrical structures using DfAM software. Lattice Pattern Generation: Using additive manufacturing software, we generate 3D lattice patterns automatically. They significantly save costs by using a lower volume of materials and helping design multifunctional parts and structures. In addition, they reduce their weight and cost, making them flexible and stress-resistant. Generative Design: The power of generative design lies in designing to match all the design parameters, applying all constraints, and generating multiple design candidates quickly and efficiently. These include material type, shape, density, orientation, and more. This design evolves your part per your required parameters and expedites optimization. Automatic Light-Weighting: Applying light weighting techniques such as materials selection, part consolidation, conformal ribbing, lattice structures, and optimization of topology helps further bring down the costs. With DfAM software, the process is automatic and easy. Automated Part Consolidation: Creating a single part that can perform multiple functions saves space and costs, boosting efficiency. However, deciding whether consolidation can conform to other system components can sometimes be challenging. Find a way to solve this problem with the help of a feature in additive manufacturing software that automatically groups parts together. Stress, Heat, and Impact Simulation: Predict the part design's stress, heat, and impact-taking ability in the case of light weighting. Simulation helps test the part using different materials, keeping in mind their temperature, stress, and impact resistance. For instance, DfAM software tests a part before printing the prototype, utilizing this feature. Build Failure Prediction: Mathematical analysis-backed calculations of distortions and validations help in predicting building failures. A DfAM also helps predict building failures before they happen by calculating the efficiency over time. This makes the parts more durable. 3D Packing: Find the ideal shipping container and calculate its size, number, and maximum capacity using 3D packing technology. This automated software tool helps you efficiently send your shipments to your clients. Machine Parameters: Select the process parameters as per the part or product requirements. Apply different constraints to simulate the work using additive manufacturing software. Adjust them as per the desired characteristics in the output part using the software. Print Failure Prediction: Analyzing a designed model for deformation, cracks, stress, and growth is possible with software simulation. In addition, this data helps detect probable print failure. An end-to-end workflow automation solution using additive manufacturing MES software works in sync with your existing software. Learn about its features as below: Features of Good Additive Manufacturing MES Software: Order Management: Receiving, organizing, and processing orders for printing is excellent at order management. Part/file Analysis: The main tasks of part or file analysis are to look at the part or file's feasibility under different constraints and suggest ways to fix it. Production Planning: Production planning helps automate preparation for the production cycle. Instant Quotations: With built-in quotation management, create, approve, present, accept or reject quotations and place an order for part printing. Material and Inventory Management: It takes care of choosing the right material for the part and making sure that enough of that material is in stock to make it. Nesting: With nesting calculations, automatic space optimization on the print bed is possible Post-Processing Management: Remove defects after manufacturing using a streamlined post-processing management system. Quality Inspection and Management: Use the Quality Management System to remove possible distortions and deformations under constraints. Order Tracking and Traceability: Get the status of print order processing at all times with accurate tracking during the AM process. Analytics: Get a complete analysis of the data generated at each step of your AM workflow. If getting powerful software is not something you are considering at the moment, you can still welcome a host of new additions with the help of software integrations. Explore more about it down below. Use Software Integrations to Connect Existing Software: Link your existing software to your additive manufacturing software for seamless data sharing over the additive MES using software integration. For instance, connect existing AM workflows, 3D modelling simulations, import CAD files of models, send and receive purchase orders, and do much more with a one-stop MES solution. With the right integrations, you can add the features your software needs to stay current. When considering purchasing an AM software package, the initial, operational, training, and time required to learn it must all be calculated. For large enterprises, the reduction in inventory size and better accuracy with AM software bring down the cost of additive manufacturing production. Let us take a deep dive into the estimation of AM software. Estimation for Additive Manufacturing Software Setup and Operations: Depending upon the feature set of the additive manufacturing software, it might cost from $120/month/user to $25,000 annually or more. The significant influence is the implementation time and user-friendliness, like any other software for your business or enterprise. Several additive manufacturing and management software might have features that you may not need right now. However, upon scaling your business, they will become a necessity. You may want to consider software with supporting API integrations to smoothly transition from your existing software to advanced additive manufacturing software. As a result, you will reduce your cost of training the personnel while boosting their efficiency manifold. Additive Manufacturing Software's Future Scope Custom printing of complex geometrical structures with additive manufacturing is no longer restricted just to rapid prototyping. With the advent of volumetric additive manufacturing, it is now possible to print all the target points in the geometry simultaneously. Achieve this with the help of rotating the resin container with the guidance of a digital light projection system. In addition, this method can reduce some of the post-processing involved in an additive manufacturing production workflow to help make additive manufacturing more reliable and efficient. The future of additive manufacturing looks supremely promising with several applications of volumetric additive manufacturing. These include aerospace, medical, transportation, energy, consumer products and the like. In the future, revolutionary multifunctional parts will be created using automated part consolidation to optimize part designs like never before. Furthermore, using AI, accuracy is bound to improve. Conclusion: Building a resilient business for medium and large enterprises to unlock scalability is easy with a range of additive manufacturing software. Leveraging AM software saves turn-around time from researching to the production line with a stable and better design. It boosts ROI by streamlining your additive manufacturing workflows and cutting production costs using additive manufacturing software. Software integrations help enterprises stay current with all the features needed and introduced from time to time to make additive manufacturing practical. Using AI with AM software is becoming the norm for both medium and large AM companies that want to get a head start on the market.

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Achieving Interoperability in an Industry 4.0 Factory

Article | February 11, 2020

As a part of the Industry 4.0 movement, factory engineers are increasingly adopting some form of industrial Ethernet to interconnect the machines and other equipment implementing their production processes. Ethernet has been around in multiple forms for over 40 years. Most of it serves the IT community by interconnecting PCs and other equipment to a company LAN. Because of its flexibility, Ethernet has been adapted to many industrial uses.

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The Impact of Coronavirus on Electronic Manufacturing

Article | February 11, 2020

Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, is considered a crucial hub in the middle of China, a place of high importance for the production of automobiles, electronics, optics, and fiber optics. Wuhan and surrounding cities in the Hubei province are currently on a government-imposed quarantine at a scale the world has never seen before, some Chinese officials have referred to the situation as warlike.

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Engent, Inc.

Engent is a provider of advanced electronic manufacturing and technology services. Engent leverages its world-class facilities, highly experienced and educated team to provide solutions which shorten a product’s time to market and which enable products to be manufactured at high volumes.

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Innodisk Proves AI Prowess with Launch of FPGA Machine Vision Platform

Innodisk | November 24, 2022

Innodisk, a leading global provider of industrial-grade flash storage, DRAM memory and embedded peripherals, has announced its latest step into the AI market, with the launch of EXMU-X261, an FPGA Machine Vision Platform. Powered by AMD's Xilinx Kria K26 SOM, which was designed to enable smart city and smart factory applications, Innodisk's FPGA Machine Vision Platform is set to lead the way for industrial system integrators looking to develop machine vision applications. Automated defect inspection, a key machine vision application, is an essential technology in modern manufacturing. Automated visual inspection guarantees that the product works as expected and meets specifications. In these cases, it is vital that a fast and highly accurate inspection system is used. Without AI, operators must manually inspect each product, taking an average of three seconds per item. Now, with the help of AI solutions such as Innodisk's FPGA Machine Vision Platform, product inspection in factories can be automated, and the end result is not only faster and cheaper, but can be completely free of human error. Innodisk's FPGA Machine Vision Platform comes with 1GbE LAN, 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, 2 M.2 slots, and a series of other expansion and connectivity options. Thanks to the platform's 0° to 70 °C operational temperature support, and optional industrial temperature support from -40° to +85°C, EXMU-X261 is tough enough for the harshest of industrial environments. In addition, EXMU-X261 features support for Innodisk's InnoAgent out-of-band remote management module, allowing the platform to be remotely managed from anywhere, even during a system crash or an in-band network failure. This is important for any automated system, as it allows for it to be completely unmanned, which further reduces manpower and maintenance costs. Customers can take advantage of AMD's Xilinx Kria K26 SOM's ability to quickly get applications to market thanks to EXMU-X261's full support for Innodisk's AI Suite SDK. The suite includes an FPGA Model Zoo, as well as Innodisk's in-house software solutions, such as iCAP (Innodisk Cloud Administration Platform), and iVIT (Innodisk Vision Intelligence Toolkit). iVIT for example, provides a deep learning environment for efficient development and deployment of "no-code-operation" solutions.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Legenday Starts Supplying Silicone Products to 3C Industry

LegenDay | November 28, 2022

Today, LegenDay started supplying silicone products to computers, communications, and the consumer electronics industry (3C Industry). This comes after LegenDay adopted a range of silicone product manufacturing technologies such as extrusion, injection molding, Overmolding, compression molding, and multi-shot injection molding. LegenDay will supply silicone parts to 3C industries, including Bluetooth headsets, phone parts, headphones, Wi-Fi accessories, mouse pads, gamepads, case sleeves, phone holders, and multimedia players, among other components. During this first phase, LegenDay will support small and OEM businesses in the 3C industry. “Rethinking performance, reliability, safety, and performance makes silicone the best material in consumer electronics, At LegenDay, we strive to create the future by supplying the best silicone product to the 3C industry – whether small or large silicone products. We are a partner you can trust.” -Frank, Marketing Manager LegenDay. Silicone rubber is a breakthrough in the 3C industry. Its soft-to-touch feeling, exceptional durability, flexible design, best chemical resistance, temperature tolerance, and eco-friendly features make silicone rubber the best for consumer electronics products. LegenDay continues to partner with product developers alongside manufacturers and reputable brands in the 3C industry. About LegenDay: LegenDay designs and manufactures silicone products for home and industrial use. Based in China, the company has invested in advanced silicone products manufacturing technologies such as silicon extrusion, co-moulding, Overmolding, multi-shot, and clean room injection molding. With continued innovations and research, LegenDay remains a market leader in silicone product manufacturing.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Reell Precision Manufacturing Introduces the SJ500 Spherical Joint with Multi-axis Position Control

Reell Precision Manufacturing | November 25, 2022

Reell Precision Manufacturing, a world leader in innovative small package motion control, is pleased to introduce the latest addition to its popular SJ Series of multi-axis friction hinges, the SJ500. The SJ500 is Reell's largest spherical joint hinge. It is available with torques from 4.0 - 8.0 N-m, making it ideal for positioning today's larger monitors and display devices, as well as industrial applications and many other components requiring precise multi-dimension position control in the industrial, medical, office, and consumer electronics marketplace. All Reell SJ Series hinges have the capability to swivel from side to side with a 60º range of motion, tilt back and forth with a 60º range of motion, and rotate with a full 360º range of motion. They utilize Reell's patented SphericalTorq™ clip technology to perform consistently for a life of 50,000 adjustments. All SJ models have a durable glass-filled molded nylon housing and black finish, presenting an attractive and stylish appearance, while the all-metal shaft, ball, and torque elements are manufactured from nitrided and hardened steel for durable performance. Global Product Line Manager Jim Brown is excited about the introduction of the SJ500. "The SJ500 expands the capability of our popular SJ platform with increased torque options for larger applications. We can now provide our easy adjustment, smooth feel, and secure holding power to a wider range of customer applications in lighting, monitor mounts and industrial equipment." AboutReell Precision Manufacturing: Reell Precision Manufacturing provides high-quality innovative solutions to transmit torque, control angular position and protect delicate components from excessive force. Combining the world's most precisely controlled torque technology with the industry's most experienced engineering team, Reell provides a perfect product fit for customer application. With facilities on three continents, Reell's responsive global customer service and world class manufacturing ensures exceptionally easy ordering and on-time delivery.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Innodisk Proves AI Prowess with Launch of FPGA Machine Vision Platform

Innodisk | November 24, 2022

Innodisk, a leading global provider of industrial-grade flash storage, DRAM memory and embedded peripherals, has announced its latest step into the AI market, with the launch of EXMU-X261, an FPGA Machine Vision Platform. Powered by AMD's Xilinx Kria K26 SOM, which was designed to enable smart city and smart factory applications, Innodisk's FPGA Machine Vision Platform is set to lead the way for industrial system integrators looking to develop machine vision applications. Automated defect inspection, a key machine vision application, is an essential technology in modern manufacturing. Automated visual inspection guarantees that the product works as expected and meets specifications. In these cases, it is vital that a fast and highly accurate inspection system is used. Without AI, operators must manually inspect each product, taking an average of three seconds per item. Now, with the help of AI solutions such as Innodisk's FPGA Machine Vision Platform, product inspection in factories can be automated, and the end result is not only faster and cheaper, but can be completely free of human error. Innodisk's FPGA Machine Vision Platform comes with 1GbE LAN, 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, 2 M.2 slots, and a series of other expansion and connectivity options. Thanks to the platform's 0° to 70 °C operational temperature support, and optional industrial temperature support from -40° to +85°C, EXMU-X261 is tough enough for the harshest of industrial environments. In addition, EXMU-X261 features support for Innodisk's InnoAgent out-of-band remote management module, allowing the platform to be remotely managed from anywhere, even during a system crash or an in-band network failure. This is important for any automated system, as it allows for it to be completely unmanned, which further reduces manpower and maintenance costs. Customers can take advantage of AMD's Xilinx Kria K26 SOM's ability to quickly get applications to market thanks to EXMU-X261's full support for Innodisk's AI Suite SDK. The suite includes an FPGA Model Zoo, as well as Innodisk's in-house software solutions, such as iCAP (Innodisk Cloud Administration Platform), and iVIT (Innodisk Vision Intelligence Toolkit). iVIT for example, provides a deep learning environment for efficient development and deployment of "no-code-operation" solutions.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Legenday Starts Supplying Silicone Products to 3C Industry

LegenDay | November 28, 2022

Today, LegenDay started supplying silicone products to computers, communications, and the consumer electronics industry (3C Industry). This comes after LegenDay adopted a range of silicone product manufacturing technologies such as extrusion, injection molding, Overmolding, compression molding, and multi-shot injection molding. LegenDay will supply silicone parts to 3C industries, including Bluetooth headsets, phone parts, headphones, Wi-Fi accessories, mouse pads, gamepads, case sleeves, phone holders, and multimedia players, among other components. During this first phase, LegenDay will support small and OEM businesses in the 3C industry. “Rethinking performance, reliability, safety, and performance makes silicone the best material in consumer electronics, At LegenDay, we strive to create the future by supplying the best silicone product to the 3C industry – whether small or large silicone products. We are a partner you can trust.” -Frank, Marketing Manager LegenDay. Silicone rubber is a breakthrough in the 3C industry. Its soft-to-touch feeling, exceptional durability, flexible design, best chemical resistance, temperature tolerance, and eco-friendly features make silicone rubber the best for consumer electronics products. LegenDay continues to partner with product developers alongside manufacturers and reputable brands in the 3C industry. About LegenDay: LegenDay designs and manufactures silicone products for home and industrial use. Based in China, the company has invested in advanced silicone products manufacturing technologies such as silicon extrusion, co-moulding, Overmolding, multi-shot, and clean room injection molding. With continued innovations and research, LegenDay remains a market leader in silicone product manufacturing.

Read More

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Reell Precision Manufacturing Introduces the SJ500 Spherical Joint with Multi-axis Position Control

Reell Precision Manufacturing | November 25, 2022

Reell Precision Manufacturing, a world leader in innovative small package motion control, is pleased to introduce the latest addition to its popular SJ Series of multi-axis friction hinges, the SJ500. The SJ500 is Reell's largest spherical joint hinge. It is available with torques from 4.0 - 8.0 N-m, making it ideal for positioning today's larger monitors and display devices, as well as industrial applications and many other components requiring precise multi-dimension position control in the industrial, medical, office, and consumer electronics marketplace. All Reell SJ Series hinges have the capability to swivel from side to side with a 60º range of motion, tilt back and forth with a 60º range of motion, and rotate with a full 360º range of motion. They utilize Reell's patented SphericalTorq™ clip technology to perform consistently for a life of 50,000 adjustments. All SJ models have a durable glass-filled molded nylon housing and black finish, presenting an attractive and stylish appearance, while the all-metal shaft, ball, and torque elements are manufactured from nitrided and hardened steel for durable performance. Global Product Line Manager Jim Brown is excited about the introduction of the SJ500. "The SJ500 expands the capability of our popular SJ platform with increased torque options for larger applications. We can now provide our easy adjustment, smooth feel, and secure holding power to a wider range of customer applications in lighting, monitor mounts and industrial equipment." AboutReell Precision Manufacturing: Reell Precision Manufacturing provides high-quality innovative solutions to transmit torque, control angular position and protect delicate components from excessive force. Combining the world's most precisely controlled torque technology with the industry's most experienced engineering team, Reell provides a perfect product fit for customer application. With facilities on three continents, Reell's responsive global customer service and world class manufacturing ensures exceptionally easy ordering and on-time delivery.

Read More

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