3D Printing and Intellectual Property Futures

whitePaper | September 30, 2022

Until 2020, progress towards digital transformation for most manufacturers was slow. But the urgency for manufacturers to make successful digital transformations escalated during the first 8-12 months of the global pandemic. As COVID-19 reshaped consumer buying behaviors, the pace jumped from a crawl to a sprint: According to one study, 85% of organizations accelerated their digital transformation initiatives in 2020.[1] Some industry observers believe we witnessed 6.5 years of digital progress in the last eight months of 2020 alone.[2] The pandemic was largely responsible for worldwide supply chain disruptions that slowed down goods production and delivery. As a result, manufacturers justifiably focused on managing and fixing the supply chain problems first. But as the pandemic continued, it became clear that the supply chain issues were a symptom of something deeper than the short-term disruptions.

whitePaper | May 21, 2020

We are living through a historic time, when advanced technologies continually change how a manufacturer generates value. This new digital era is the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” (4IR). Companies see new technologies accelerating strategic, tech-enabled transformations. Regardless, many manufacturing companies are stuck in the proof of concept (PoC) phase or are running projects that are delivering results far from revolutionary. Add to that the COVID-19 tsunami, a crisis that changed the world in a matter of weeks. It is difficult to predict every aspect of the post-COVID-19 era, but it is already clear the world will never be the same. Even the most conservative industrial player will need to adapt to the “new normal”, with the importance of digital rapidly increasing for the entire value chain. Executives are expected to speed up digital transformation initiatives, changing the operating model forever.

whitePaper | December 12, 2022

While the United States semiconductor industry remains a world leader, domestic manufacturing capacity for chips has undergone a substantial decline. The US semiconductor industry remains a leader in fields like chip design, but more and more firms have moved toward a “fabless” model, in which manufacturing at semiconductors fabrication facilities (“fabs”) is outsourced internationally.

whitePaper | September 4, 2022

It’s the clarion call of today’s marketplace and the prime directive for executives in any business that designs or produces physical goods, no matter how simple or sophisticated. Fortunately, every product can be improved and made at less cost. But how quickly a company can satisfy such demands – before, say, its competitors do, or the market moves on to something new – is largely a function of the product-development cycle. Shorten that cycle, and you can improve the numbers across the board, from customer satisfaction to market share to profitability. However, one seemingly intractable barrier to faster product development lies within the traditional design process. That process starts with identifying a need in the market or within one’s organization; it ends with the manufacture of a finished product, whether a massive, complex assembly or one tiny part. In between are multiple iterations of designs and tests: engineers sketch out a solution, prototype and test it (or run a computerized simulation), and then go back to the design to address any shortcomings. But trade-offs complicate matters each time the cycle repeats: make a part lighter and it’s likely to become weaker, make it stronger and it will probably cost more, and so on. A workable, if not optimal, solution can usually be found. However, finding it often takes longer than the product-development timeline or budget will allow.

whitePaper | January 16, 2023

Digital twin, in simple words, is the virtual model of a product, a process or a service. The concept of a digital twin has been around for quite a while but after the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), it has become imperative to business due to its cost-effectiveness.

whitePaper | November 11, 2022

Are global manufacturers reacting quickly enough to a fluctuating economic climate? Brands are investing in digital to help achieve their goals, but how flexible is their digital infrastructure to handle impending market pressures? As a leading, strategic digital partner to global brands for the last 15 years, Nemetos Tanasuk wanted to really understand the industry’s own sense of the challenges and opportunities heading their way – and how well they’re primed to meet them digitally. In this report, we reveal how manufacturers are embracing digital innovation in 2023.