MT Magazine March/April 2024

MANUFACTURING MATTERS

MARCH/APRIL 2024

9

Manufacturing Matters Check in for the highlights, headlines, and hijinks that matter to manufacturing. These lean news items keep you updated on the latest developments.

TECHNOLOGY

Additive Is Disruptive, but … By using additive manufacturing for part design and production, certain benefits have emerged which have proved valuable to the end user – including lighter weight, increased efficiency, less material, and increased robustness. If we take a step back and look at the full life-cycle, we notice our underestimation of the importance of software in these processes. Each phase faces disjointed applications that often require intermediate files to export, import, and interrupt. The biggest strength of additive manufacturing is the ability to iterate quickly. This poses a problem for disconnected application and manufacturing processes; if we add internal and external variations that change a part’s design throughout the process, the scope of this problem scales quickly as disconnected applications hurry to “catch up.” This highlights additive’s major weakness: its lack of standards. Preexisting standards are being used as bandaids, but this is not scalable for the entire industry and supply chain. No, creating industry-wide standards is not the sexy solution, but it is likely the one answer to rule them all. The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same Some of the over 389,000 machinists in the United States are grappling with manufacturing's transformative leap into additive manufacturing (AM). This echoes a similar scenario of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when machinists shifted their thinking from linear to asynchronous processes to get the most out of new, flexible automation technologies. Today, manufacturers ready to maximize AM will need to upskill their workforce to learn design fundamentals for additive, where parts are built layer by layer, allowing for complex geometries, reduced material waste, and the potential for customization and rapid prototyping. This evolutionary parallel underscores a perennial narrative within the sector: the vital need for continuing education and adjustment. The adoption of AM will continue and accentuates the need for training in digital skills and the incorporation of novel technologies – all positioned against the backdrop of a looming skills gap that threatens to leave 2.1 million manufacturing positions unfilled by 2030. This scenario amplifies the urgency for upskilling the workforce in emergent manufacturing techniques, highlighting the need to bridge this divide to preserve the nation's industrial competitiveness. INTELLIGENCE SMARTFORCE The Secret Is Out: You Belong at the Student Summit Spread the word about the 2024 Smartforce Student Summit at IMTS to your local schools, STEM and robotics clubs, scout troops, and everyone you know: Registration is open and free to students and educators of all levels. This isn’t just building talent pools. We're inspiring students, schools, families, and whole communities to learn, grow, and seize the opportunity our jobs present, all through one-of-a-kind hands-on experiences, career insights, and a chance to connect with awesome folks in our industry – and if you’re reading this, that’s you!

So, tell your friends, call your schools, and let's make this summit a big deal together. Your shoutout can make a real impact on both our industry and community. For more information, visit IMTS.com/smartforce.