Who does it
We have over 15 years of experience in working with companies and consortia to create awareness for 3D Printing in their organizations, build strategies, investment plans and business cases for 3D Printing, define the set up and required skills sets for 3D Printing and understand and share the value of 3D Printing in their value chain.
Can we 3D print end products? And can we deliver a positive business case that exploits the benefits of 3D Printing? 3D Printing technology is capable of manufacturing end parts and tooling meeting quality requirements.Business cases for the specific application you have in mind are sometimes hard to find. We bring experience of 3D Printing applications in many industries, ranging from aerospace, automotive and toolmaking, to oil & gas medicaland the creative sector. The cases not only give you insights in the quantitative cost elements, but also – and perhaps even more importantly – in the benefits 3D Printing showed in those cases over the traditional manufacturing method.Call us to gain inspiration from the cases we have available.
Can you 3D print spare parts on demand and on location instead of storing, maintaining and transporting parts? 3D printing spare parts bringadvantages like printing on demand and lower warehousing costs. However, it requires a different business modelfrom storage to fast production and often involves new supply chain partners. We have learned what the requirements are for optimizing you warehouse and transportation activities via 3D Printing. For instance, when you want to use 3D Printing for balancing the end of stock you need to design the parts for multiple production technologies from the start, not at the end of life. Or, for parts that can solely be produced by 3D Printing, use value-based pricing instead of focusing on the cost price, which very often is the standard way of working for spare parts. Let us help you gain insights on benefits of 3D Printing to increase efficiencies in you supply chain.
Is it possible to build an online portal for 3D printed parts that meet the quality standards of my industry? Many platforms can be found online that support 3D Printing your part of choice. But often these platforms are focused on personal widgets rather than certified industrial production parts or tooling. Business to business customersare not generic and demands differs per industry. The Mansys project delivered adeep understanding of the essential elements that lead to an industry-accepted online portal. Next to the industry specific demand, the business and earnings model of the platform, and the selection of the partners are key aspects for strategic decision making. For instance we will prevent you from competing with your own partners or even your own company.
What are the benefits of 3D Printing in the logistic and transportation segments? It is impossible to exploit all advantages of 3D Printing in one particular part. Be specific about what you want to achieve with 3D Printing in your logistics and distribution operation. Three main benefits to be achieved are: lowing stock levels of slow movers, adding features to standard parts for higher margins, and using 3D printing for ‘bridge parts’ to solve stand still of your machines. One option is selecting slow movers to be 3D Printed on demand, instead of having them on stock and catching dust. But this often requires information on part characteristics you do not currently administer (is a printing file available? Is the part made of printable material?, etc. (etcetera)). Using 3D printing for add-ons to standard parts, is a possibility, but changes your role and liability position in the value chain. Printing bridge parts can prevent from standstill, but often requires procurement levels your purchasing officer has no authority for. We help to build the business case and integrate these kinds of solutions in your organization.
Which industries, that match with the strengths in the Utrecht region, offer possibilities in 3D Printing? And can the Utrecht region build a proposition to attract more companies in these specific industries? From the ICT, insurance, and medical industries requests came to the Utrecht Economic board for supprt to 3D Printing initiatives. Our assessment led to the insight that especially the medical would create many opportunities. The development of the Fieldlab 3DMedical (FL3DM) – a collaboration between UMC Utrecht, University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht, Stichting ProtoSpacewas a direct result of this research. Aligning 3D Printing initiatives with other initiatives in ;local ecosystems has many benefits: it creates more awareness for that initiative in industries and networks that are normally not involved. And it creates awareness for the possibilities of 3D Printing in arenas not familiar with that technology. We have been involved in many local initiatives for developing a 3D Printing ecosystem. Please use our experience to prevent your economic region from re-inventing the wheel.
What are the possibilities for 3D printing in the maritime industry? Is it beneficial to set up an experimentation lab for 3D Printing in the port of Rotterdam? Together with an ever growing consortium of finally 32 partners we printed a number of maritime parts to assess the real applicability of the technology in the risk averse and certification driven maritime industry. All metal parts we printe, passed the quality tests. Based on these promising results a business plan for an experimental 3D Printing lab was developed and implemented. The RAMLab 3D Printing lab was established in 2017. We learned that cooperation with partners is essential; working together with enterprises of all parts of the value chain is a condition for success. The RAMLab business model is also built on this concept. Willingness to invest and achieving things together, despite the fact that you are competitors, is an essential factor for success. We can help you manage this kind of collaborations and mitigate issue on confidentiality and competition.
Is your staff capable to capture the benefits 3D Printing can bring to your organization? 3D Printing requires technical and commercial expertise. The various ‘layer-by layer’production technologies falling under the 3D Printing umbrella each require specific skills for design, engineering, production and post processing. Selling the benefits of 3D Printing, and reaping higher margins for custom made, more functional parts or tooling demands insights not easily found with account managers. On-demand and on-location supply chain models for 3D Printing differ from traditional warehousing and transportation models. Training all stakeholders is therefore essential. We developed a full training curriculum, together with UL. And we developed many half-a-day, full day or 2-day training modules on 3D printing, to quickly get your staff up to speed.
What elements need to be controlled in order for your 3D printing process to deliver quality assured parts? Industry standards and quality requirements need to be met, to introduce 3D Printing as a valid production technology. To get a new technology accepted, it is fundamental that enterprises work together in a constructive manner in a precompetitive setting. In a joint industry project we were involved in a guideline was developed whichdefined standardized requirements and conditions to ensure high quality 3D printed parts. In this project participants spanning the entire value chain (industry actors, OEM’s, contractors, design and engineering companies, supply chain partners) collaborated to develop a sound but practical guideline the industry could buy in to.Please call upon us to help you build a consortium and manage a project leading to acceptance of 3D printing, or demonstrating its possibilities in your industry.
