This week, Detroit is hosting SME’s RAPID + TCT event, a conference and trade show dedicated to additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing. It’s the first time the conference, which draws attendees from across the world, has been held in Detroit since 2014.
Maria Conrado, SME’s senior event manager, says the conference has grown by leaps and bounds as additive manufacturing has been on the upswing. “Automotive companies are increasingly looking at 3D printing as part of the [manufacturing] process,” she says. “There’s a big push down through the supply chain.”
3D printing itself has become more sophisticated in both the materials that can be used—metals and alloys, for example—and the projects that can be taken on. 3D printing is considered a form of additive manufacturing, which has primarily been used for prototyping in the past. However, that’s changing; additive manufacturing is increasingly being integrated on the factory floor for bigger production jobs, often saving companies time and money while offering more production flexibility. (A quick note on terminology: 3D printing and additive manufacturing refer to essentially the same thing, but industry professionals often prefer to use the phrase additive manufacturing.)
Another trend in the 3D printing industry, Conrado says, is the growing prevalence of women. “So many women are on the forefront of this technology and on the cutting edge of how it’s developed, adopted, and changed. The number of women in manufacturing has grown exponentially over the past decade, she says—the highest rate of growth since the mid-1990s.
“The manufacturing industry as a whole is really changing,” Conrado continues. “A lot of people used to think of it as being a dark, dirty, dangerous job.” That’s changing with the emergence of new technologies and tech-enabled facilities that more closely resemble large, pristine labs than the cavernous, chaotic industrial settings of the past. More students being exposed to STEM disciplines is also helping to change perceptions, she says.
This year’s RAPID + TCT conference included a “Shark Tank”-like startup pitch contest, in which industry judges narrowed down the field of competitors to a group of finalists, and the event’s audience selecting the two winners. Organizers also scanned a couple of the Motor City’s iconic downtown buildings to be 3D-printed in miniature on the exhibition floor.
Although the conference has been in existence for about 30 years, Conrado says it was important to bring it back to Detroit as the manufacturing industry is on the precipice of a lot of technological change. Automation, 3D printing, robotics, and other innovations are revolutionizing the sector, she says.
“Detroit is the Mecca of manufacturing, and we want it to stay that way,” she says. “Part of the reason we’re having the conference here is because we need for suppliers and manufacturers across the industry to [modernize operations] or they’ll be left behind. We don’t want it to be scary, with people thinking robots are taking over. We need Detroit companies to adopt smart technology or we won’t stay competitive—it’s not just about implementing new technologies, but having a skilled workforce.”
Those goals are in line with findings from a new report published earlier this month by Automation Alley, a Michigan-based nonprofit manufacturing and technology business association. The report looks at industrial tech adoption, the Industry 4.0 ecosystem, and includes a new velocity index measuring the maturity and investment potential for new technologies. The report’s data is gathered all year from a number of sources, including Automation Alley’s corporate partners and American and Canadian universities.
“What gives me pause is that I still think—outside of Tier 1 suppliers and automakers—the supply chain is not moving fast enough,” says Tom Kelley, Automation Alley’s executive director and CEO. “Leadership is not understanding the pace of change and is not making plans to ameliorate the risks of not moving to Industry 4.0. What keeps me up at night is trying to get the [Midwest] region to understand the pace of change outside of our region.”
Kelly says the report is designed to help manufacturers, educators, and policy makers keep up with this rapid technological change. It revolves around the eight core technologies that make up Industry 4.0: the industrial Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity, additive manufacturing and advanced materials, and modeling, simulation, visualization, and immersion.
The report’s key findings show there is work to be done:
—Companies need to understand Industry 4.0 concepts. By now, they should be familiar with these concepts and have thought about how or if they’ll implement them, but the report suggests that many organizations have not yet made this first fundamental assessment.
—Companies must come up with a plan for implementing Industry 4.0 tech and study
