http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ccb592dc-2a9f-11e3-8fb8-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2i0kWAzSo
Manufacturing: The factory has moved to the office
By Sarah Murray
See also FT special report on Innovation and the Economy (http://media.ft.com/cms/dc1c07f6-35f8-11e3-b539-00144feab7de.pdf)
From customised hip replacements to new materials, technology is opening up a range of possibilities for manufacturers. But while the advances are spawning a new breed of products, they could also spark a transformation in the business models and structure of the manufacturing sector itself.
First, technology is revolutionising the way materials and surfaces can be manipulated. Nano-engineering can create synthetic materials with new capabilities, such as better thermal conductivity. Polymers with high thermal conductivity could replace metals or ceramics, for example, while nanofluids that can transfer heat could act as industrial coolants.
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In addition, computational materials science can simulate a substance's properties. "It can be synthesised and, with a reasonable degree of certainty, it will behave as we predicted," says Martin Schmidt, professor of electrical engineering and associate provost at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "This removes the Edisonian [trial and error] approach to generating materials for products," he says.
Meanwhile, 3D printing<http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/666baa2e-de7e-11e2-b990-00144feab7de.html> (also known as additive manufacturing) turns digital designs into objects by building up thin layers of materials, enabling the creation of products that are much more complex than could be created simply in the past.
Chris Williams, director of Virginia Tech's Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems lab, says: "When you do it layer by layer, you can create any shape – and from an engineering and design perspective, that's game changing."
However, 3D printing is also opening the door to designers and entrepreneurs who previously might not have had the time or money to produce prototypes.
"Digital is making things that were once really difficult really easy," says Steve O'Connor, a designer in the London office of Ideo, an innovation consultancy. "Anyone can 3D print something, so there's a democratisation of manufacturing."
Timescales between innovation and product launch are shortening and barriers to entry for innovators and entrepreneurs have been lowered.
Cultural changes paved the way for this. "What the app idea has given us is that anyone can be a software developer," says Prof Williams. "Now that's the same for physical ideas."
Another advantage of 3D printing is that it accelerates the pace of the physical production process. Items that once took months to make can now be finished in a matter of hours.
This, combined with the ability to turn out short production runs, means developers can launch products, receive instant feedback and adapt the design accordingly.
"That changes the way businesses start thinking about the market and the way they compete," says Mr O'Connor.
The machines that make things are also changing radically. The advent of "human-assistive" robots, by combining their capabilities with those of humans, is creating a hybrid approach to robotics.
These robots have the ability to learn, explains Prof Schmidt. "You can take their hand, grab an object, move it to another place and set the object down, and they will learn that function," he says.
"The high cognitive skill areas, you leave with humans. But there are areas where robots can help you."
Technology is the catalyst for another transformation – the rebuilding of an industrial landscape in which companies can turn round ideas fast.
This was possible in the past, when companies were vertically integrated, argues Suzanne Berger, a political-science professor at MIT. "They had plants, lots of manufacturing specialists and cash," she says. "Getting an innovation into the market rapidly was not a problem for vertically integrated companies."
This changed with the advent of outsourcing and digital technology, which permitted web-based transfer of engineering designs, allowing the separation of R&D and production.
Now, with 3D printing streamlining production, products can be made closer to the markets in which they will be sold. And, because of the lower costs of both 3D printing and human-assistive robotics, smaller, nimbler companies can open factories.
Prof Berger, who is author of a book, Making in America: From Innovation to Market, believes this could help rebuild domestic manufacturing.
Some believe technology could pave the way for even more revolutionary forms of manufacturing – with products manufactured on the way to market, inside a shipping container, say.
"You have the opportunity to convert raw materials into product in transit," says Jordan Brandt, a technology futurist in the Manufacturing 2020 Team at Autodesk, the 3D software company.
"In super-optimal supply chain, value is added at every stage in the supply chain. So, we have to rethink what 'factory' means."
