MISUMI

With an ever-changing economy, it’s important now more than ever to incorporate technologies that are fast, cost efficient, and environmentally sustainable. This is where Misumi’s Quality, cost, time initiative fits perfectly. Having virtually no waste material, strong, quality, light weight parts can be created in ways never before imagined at unprecedented speeds. 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing no longer falls exclusively under prototyping, it has far surpassed these use cases with major improvements in some of the largest industries such as the Medical, Aerospace, Automotive and even consumer industries. With on-going research and funding, Additive Manufacturing seems to check all of the boxes when it comes to both the manufacture and the consumer. 

Change in Materials

Only around 5-6 years ago was the material choice of 3D printing limited. The main materials used were ABS and PLA along with some proprietary Stratasys materials. Today, there are thousands of materials and blends that manufacturers can use to optimize their products. The biggest difference in recent technology has been the ability to 3D print metals, metal powder and engineering plastics with similar or better material properties than alloys. This has allowed even more use cases for some of the most demanding applications.

Moving Manufacturing In-house

With 3D printing becoming more accessible, we are seeing more companies choosing to manufacture small batch projects, end use parts and tooling inhouse rather than outsourcing. Once companies are ready to move to mass production, this is where additive specialized companies come into play. Modern print farms and additive machinery can produce products at the same or more efficient that traditional injection molds and machining practices with the benefit of there being less restrictions on design and the ability to make improvements to the product without having to create a new mold or new machining processes. Some current down sides for additive manufacturing inhouse especially with powdered based systems is that the post processing can have a large up-front cost. This is where we are seeing most of the outsourcing happening in the industry. These post processes include debinding, sintering, powder management, polishing etc. On the upside, the cost of these machines over the past 3 years has dropped almost 10%, allowing these processes to reach more manufacturers at a more affordable cost.

Use Cases

With MISUMI playing a large role in the medical automation industry, it’s imperative which materials are chosen for each process as there are many chemicals and cleaning processes that the materials must endure. This is where additive excels, as the vast array of technical materials and geometries can be fine-tuned to be more easily sterilized. Major advancements in AI Generative design now allows manufacturers to 3D print medical screws, personalized implants, tools and many more that far outperform those made from traditional manufacturing. These new medical tools are not only more effective but are also specifically tailored to the end user that the body can more naturally accept. Utilizing scanning technology in conjunction with 3d printing, a doctor can now practice surgeries on patients’ exact biology days in advance with increase in confidence and success rate. In addition to practicing the patient’s specific surgery, these scanned 3d printed models are also used as valuable teaching tools which help to educate the next generation of medical students. Looking outside of medical tools, research is now being conducted in creating donor organs for patients so that they will no longer have to be put on a long wait list for a transplant. They would be able to receive a temporary implant until a donor is available which will help save countless lives. Within the next 10 years, the medical industry is projected to grow by a staggering 20 percent.

“The Automotive Industry has a similar approach to the aerospace industry where, additive manufactured parts are used to improve performance of the vehicles and processes.”

One of the earliest commercial adopters of this technology was the Aerospace Industry, they now consider additive manufacturing as a part of their standard practices. From military drones, commercial airplanes, to even rockets. Companies continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with additive manufactured parts. Some of the most common use cases within this industry include fluid mixing for propulsion, light weight brackets, frames and engine components. 

The automotive industry has a similar approach to the aerospace industry where additive manufactured parts are used to improve performance of the vehicles and processes. Through partnering with many automotive brands, MISUMI has increased automation and productivity for countless manufacturers, bringing in this new additive technology will only further improve efficiency for these companies and the products they sell. Some products include 3D printed brake calipers, control arms, and even built in cooling channels within the engine itself. In addition, these performance enhancing parts typically seen in formula 1 driving, 3D printing has also played a massive role in creating 1 to 1 scale prototypes of new car designs using less than half of the material and labor. Once concepts have been finalized, additives have even been utilized through the interior design to create modern, safe and stylish interiors.

Looking into the Future

With prices on additive technology and materials coming down and a wider acceptance from not only manufactures but consumers as well, 3D printing is set to take the manufacturing industry to a whole new level.