Staying on top of new technology advancements is important to automotive suppliers in two ways: to detect potential threats to the business, and to be on the lookout for opportunities to gain a competitive advantage.
A client recently contacted us with questions about how to evaluate a new development in 3-D printing technology and if they should be concerned and/or get on board with it. Whether this new twist on the 3-D printing process will be a blessing or a curse for the client is not yet known.
The technology of 3-D printing has been around for several decades. It has become very valuable in the auto industry for rapid prototyping and product development, since its method of quickly building up layers of material into the desired shape allows companies to accelerate the trial and error of the design process.
With the advent of cheaper machines and new interest for consumer applications, 3-D printing has been experiencing a burst of excitement, but the traditional high-end equipment for industrial applications is still where the bulk of the market value resides.
The new twist, a similar-but-different approach to additive manufacturing — as 3-D printing is sometimes called — was introduced with a splash at the March 2015 TED conference in Vancouver.
The CEO of a startup called Carbon3D gave a 10-minute talk on Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP), a photochemical process that “grows” a part out of a pool of resin using light and oxygen.
He was an excellent presenter, but what really lit up the 3-D printing community was the live demo that grew an intricate ball of concentric shapes in seven minutes while he spoke. The CLIP process is said to yield better mechanical properties than traditional 3-D printing, but the potentially game-changing factor is its speed, which Carbon3D cites as 25 to 100 times faster. At that rate, the inventors argue, CLIP could be a viable alternative for mass production.
According to a survey of more than 100 manufacturers published in June 2014 by PricewaterhouseCoopers, less than 1 percent of respondents said they currently used 3-D printing for the production of final products or components. Close to 10 percent were using it for prototyping and some production, while 25 percent were doing prototyping only. More than 60 percent of respondents were not using 3-D printing yet, although some were considering it.
With traditional 3-D printing technology, it is clear there is little concern about a competitive threat in automotive manufacturing, although it is certainly valuable for component suppliers doing design and development of their parts.
Our client is right to take notice of the new CLIP technology and monitor its progress, however.
One reason is that Carbon3D executive Joseph DeSimone has explicitly stated that the firm is focusing on injection molding, believing that it can match the properties and reach the necessary speed to gain access to that huge market.
Another reason is that a key customer, Ford Motor Co., is very enthusiastic about its experimentation with a pre-release version of the CLIP equipment. Ford recently issued a press release giving several examples of problem-solving on particular components, including one that is in our client’s product portfolio with Ford.
A Ford executive was quoted in the press release as saying, “We are excited to further our relationship and look forward to innovating together to make 3-D manufacturing a reality.”
Former CEO Alan Mulally joined the Board of Directors of Carbon3D in June.
At the same time, there is no need for our client to panic.
There is still much more work to be done, and the developers of Continuous Liquid Interface Production technology do not expect to have a final product for close to a year. Early exclamations aside, in the notoriously cautious realm of the major automakers, it will be a long time before CLIP is deemed ready for the prime-time of high volume component production.
The 3-D printing industry is very interested in digital manufacturing and the use of its equipment for final commercial products. Industry analysts say the real money is in manufacturing, not prototyping, and equipment makers seem to agree.
Automotive suppliers should be considering how to exploit 3-D printing technology to defend their market position or improve it, in both product development and potentially production.
Having a point of view about its future place in your business helps answer the question of when the time is right for your adoption of a new technology.
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