Tuesday, July 3, 2018

TECH SPECIAL ...3D Printing Makes Slow But Steady Inroads into Industry


3D Printing Makes Slow But Steady Inroads into Industry

The process of building three-dimensional solid objects from a digital design using additive methods has potential, reports Rachita Prasad

JSW Steel is building a captive power plant at Salem. The industrial steam turbine being set up needed oil sealing rings, a seemingly small component but a crucial one for the running of the unit. JSW Group’s procurement team made inquiries from their usual suppliers and were told that in a best case scenario, they could manufacture the oil sealing rings in 4-6 months.
This was a typical situation faced often by the industry where delay in sourcing of a small components often lead to derailing commissioning timeline. But something different happened this time.
“We were looking at options to compress time and Siemens offered to make the same component for us through 3D printing,” said Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director at JSW Steel. “We told them to do it and they delivered it in a matter of days. We tried it as an experiment and we were successful,” he told ET.
3D printing, or additive manufacturing — the process of building three-dimensional solid objects from a digital design using additive methods — has yet to pick up in the country but experts see significant potential.
“The market for 3D printing in industry is latent and is hard to define. It is not a market where the product is ready for commercial purposes; it is pretty much in the development stage,” said Prashant Jain, country division lead - power generation services division, at Siemens India. “Right now, the technology is used more for developing pilots but going forward more and more parts will be printed for machineries in plants; even those which are obsolete and the customer is looking for components to replace them,” he said.
Market research company 6Wresearch has projected Indian 3D printer market to be worth $79 million, or about Rs 535 crore, by 2021, driven by domestic production, low cost of manufacturing, and increasing penetration across various applications, along with ‘Make-in-India’ initiative.
The global market for 3D printing is seen growing to $20 billion by 2020, which will still be only a fraction of the entire tooling market at the time. Global consultants McKinsey believes the overall economic impact created by additive manufacturing (AM) could be much higher, reaching $100 billion to $250 billion by 2025, if adoption across industries continues at today’s rate. Most of that potential will come from the aerospace and defence, automotive, medical, and consumer goods industries.

THE TECHNOLOGY
3D printing, or additive manufacturing (AM), could be a game changer. The technology “prints” or assembles a three dimensional object layer by layer, where each layer is like a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the object being made. An energy source like laser or electron beam is used with materials such as metal, polymer or resin in a regulated environment to convert a 3D design into object, one micro layer at a time.
The traditional methods of manufacturing are based on subtractive manufacturing, which entails cutting out and hollowing out a piece of metal or polymer, and are, therefore, restricted by the tools available, while a 3D printer has the flexibility of manufacturing several types of designs.
“AM can be used for mass customisation; for instance, a customer would be able to buy shoes that are perfect fit and customised for him and not just a best fit,” said Ajay Parikh, business head at Wipro3D. “The technology also gives flexibility and ability to make complex geometry that allows designer to keep experimenting with designs. Today, if you are making jet engine components for a company, you don’t have to commit to a design as the only option. The freedom and speed in AM can help alter the design in the next engine, and you can come up with functionally better designs,” he said.
Wipro3D focuses on metal-based AM.
BIG BOYS VS STARTUPS
Technology majors such as Siemens, Wipro and HP Inc, among others, have spotted the opportunity in this space in India. HP launched its 3D printing solutions in the country earlier this year, almost a year after its international foray, and is eyeing collaborations with the government to expand the scope of business. Wipro3D launched its state-of-the-art solution and experience centre for metal 3D printing in Bengaluru in March.
Startups, too, have entered the market, primarily by offering 3D printing services such as designing, prototyping and other related services, often collaborating with some bigger players. These companies are catering to several industries like healthcare, jewellery, automotive and consumer products.
ROAD AHEAD
Challenges are largely the same for big companies and startups.
“We started our company in 2013 and being one of the first company to even talk about this technology, we thought that in five years we could be selling few hundred thousand machines,” said Arvind Nadig, cofounder of Brahma3, which launched the country’s first locally made 3D printer. “But the awareness in the market is really low. It is not easy to set up in India because investments are not coming by as volumes are still low,” he said.
However, despite the challenges, Nadig is bullish as there is good traction from defence and education sectors.
All the sector executives ET spoke to said they have to invest a lot of time and effort to convince potential customers about the reliability of the technology, strength of the product, and the overall financial benefit — even if the product cost is higher, the delivery time is shorter.
JSW is impressed with the technology as a customer. “We are now looking at this technology seriously,” said Rao who is also the group chief financial officer at JSW Group. “We are planning to check with suppliers at the time of placing the order for machinery itself if it is possible to use 3D printing for some components which can give a savings in time,” he said.
ET23JUN18

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