Societal Implications of Advanced Manufacturing

What distinguishes humans from other living creatures is their ability to (1) grow food for providing nourishment, (2) alter the surrounding environment (e.g., construct buildings, bridges, roads etc.) to facilitate modern living, and (3) manufacture artifacts to improve the quality of life. 

The importance of being self-reliant on food production is well understood by every nation. For example, the US produces a large portion of food items consumed by its population. Construction by its very nature takes place in the communities that are going to benefit from it. Manufacturing on the other hand has seen large geographical shifts due to economic considerations. This has major societal implications.   

As countries around the world experience high unemployment rates and large trade deficits, there appears to be a vibrant debate about the role of manufacturing in the society. Developed nations are primarily interested in high value manufacturing that creates high paying jobs and export opportunities for its manufacturers. This type of manufacturing is often called Advanced Manufacturing. A number of enabling technologies are having a profound effect on the manufacturing sector. This post explores the value of Advanced Manufacturing in the societal context.

I have categorized advanced manufacturing into four main areas and tried to list challenges, enabling technologies, goals,  and societal implications for them. 

1. Smart Manufacturing

• Challenges: Manufacturing consumes significant resources and negatively impacts the environment. To compete favorably, companies need to offer high quality products of increasing complexity at a faster pace with lower prices.  
• Enabling Technologies for Addressing These Challenges: Internet of Things, Low Cost Sensors, Ubiquitous Computing, Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing
• Goal: Improve manufacturing efficiency and productivity
• Societal Implications:  Reduce environmental impact of manufacturing, create high paying jobs in manufacturing, and reduce cost 

2. Automation

• Challenge: Manufacturing involves significant manual labor and hence not competitive in high wage regions  
• Enabling Technologies for Addressing This Challenge: Digital Models, Virtual Prototyping Software, Human-Friendly Robots, Human Robot Collaboration, and Automated Material Handling Systems  
• Goal: Reduce human labor in manufacturing 
• Societal Implications: Make domestic production viable, increase exports, and enhance national security by reducing reliance on imported goods

3. Advanced Materials 

• Challenge: Existing materials limit the design options
• Enabling Technologies for Addressing This Challenge: Advances in Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, and Composites  
• Goal: Develop new materials to overcome functional limitations of existing materials
• Societal Implications: Enable invention and creation of new products    

4. Process Innovations

• Challenge: Existing processes impose constraints on what can be made
• Enabling Technologies for Addressing This Challenge: 3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing, In-Mold Assembly, Microfabrication, and Nanofabrication
• Goal: Develop new processes to overcome limitations of existing processes
• Societal Implications: Democratize manufacturing, empower innovators, reduce barriers to create new businesses based on new products  

I would like to hear your thoughts.

Buying Custom Mechanical Parts on the Internet

Prior to the widespread use of the Internet in mid 90s, getting a custom mechanical part manufactured was a time consuming task. For example, if you were an inventor with a brilliant idea living in a small town, you had to travel to the nearest city that had the appropriate manufacturing facility. Once you got there, it might take you days to meet the manufacturing expert and find out how many and what kind of changes were needed to make your concept work from the manufacturing point of view.

Today, if you have an Internet connection, you have access to companies who will be happy to make your custom part. Once your CAD model is ready, you can order the part with a few clicks of your mouse. The Internet has enabled new e-commerce models in the manufacturing space and you have many options. You can directly order parts from manufacturers, let a broker find you a manufacturer, or work with a manufacturing service provider. Basically, you don’t need to leave your home to get your parts manufactured.  So a natural question is – what option should you choose? Let us quickly review what you might need to think about before answering that question. Here are the four basic issues that you need to consider: 

• Can the process under consideration make your part? Every manufacturing process imposes restrictions on shape, material, and achievable accuracy. So it is important to ensure that the process can produce the part.
   
• How much will it cost? For some people, cost is the main driver. Other issues are less important. In many situations, other considerations are more important and hence cost minimization is not the right approach.
   
• How long will it take before the part is delivered to you after you place the order? Sometimes, people are under tremendous time pressure and getting the part as soon as possible is the most important criterion. Some customers are willing to pay a premium price to get the part shipped quickly.
   
• What is the probability that the part that is delivered to you actually conforms to your specifications? Unfortunately, many things can go wrong when placing a part order on the Internet. Moreover, an outfit with a good looking website and a promise of the lowest possible price may not actually have the right capability or expertise. If you receive a defective part, then it may cause a major problem for your project schedule.

Depending upon your requirements and situation, you may need to consider the following four other issues:

• There might be a few different ways to make a given part. For example, a part can be laser cut or can be made using a water-jet cutter. So it might be useful if the manufacturer can provide multiple process options to you.
   
• If you are new to designing mechanical parts, then you might need help in performing manufacturability analysis and improving your part design. Different companies offer different levels of help in this area.
   
• If you are working on a sensitive project, then you may worry about protecting your intellectual property. How do you know that the manufacturer will not inadvertently share your CAD models with others? If this is your concern, then you may need to carefully review the data protection policy of the manufacturer. You may need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the manufacturer. Please keep in mind that enforcing NDA with an international company might be quite hard.
   
• Different manufactures require different CAD model formats. So you will need to find someone who can accept files produced by your CAD system.

There are three different types of models to buy custom mechanical parts. I will use representative companies in each model to explain the basic idea:

• Direct Purchase from Manufacturers: There are many job shops with websites. You can upload your CAD model and they will make it and ship it to you. A well-known example is Protomold (www.protomold.com) for ordering injection molded parts. Usually, directly working with a well-known manufacturer gets you a good price and the fastest delivery. However, the process options might be limited. This appears to be the best option when you have experience with the process under consideration and do not need significant help in ensuring manufacturability.
   
• Purchasing from Manufacturing Service Providers: Quickparts (http://www.quickparts.com/) uses a number of manufacturers to fulfill its orders. They take care of all the backend details of working with the manufacturer after you order the part. This appears to be the model of choice if you want process flexibility and do not want to directly deal with the manufacturer yourself. This model also provides good support to new designers. However, you might not necessarily get the lowest possible price or the fastest delivery time.
   
• Finding a Supplier Using a Brokering Service: There are brokering services that will allow you to find a manufacturer to make your part. For example, MFG.COM (http://www.mfg.com/) can help you get quotes from different suppliers. You can then select the supplier who meets your needs. This appears to be a good model if you have experience in dealing with job shops and want to minimize the cost.

In summary, this post gives you a list of questions to ask as you attempt to buy custom mechanical parts on the Internet. I look forward to hearing your experiences. Did I miss anything important?