Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/703077
I DA U N I V E R S A L J u l y -Au g u s t 2 0 1 6 29 manufacturing and design, but also is clearly a logistics solution. e fuel fi lter base is, above all, a logistics-related success. While the design of this part is unchanged, simpli- fying the supply chain and reducing the minimum order quantity together promise to dramatically reduce the cost of this part's management and handling. is kind of impact makes AM diff erent from an advance in some established manufacturing operation, she says,such as, say, welding. "With welding, we know where we perform this opera- tion, and we know where an advance in welding technology ought to be tested and used," she says. Something similar is not true of AM, and making any early assumption about where this option ought to be used risks bottling up the technology. For example, the machining group might use AM to make fi xtures, and designers might use it to make prototypes. Both applications are valid, but either group would naturally emphasize one application without pushing the possibilities of the other. In fact, various parts of the company have been using various types of 3D printers since the early '90s, she says. e aim of a separate additive manufacturing facility today is to take the next step, central- izing AM expertise and capability so that it can act as a hub to connect with every part of the company that might benefi t. at is why the new facility is more accurately described as a factory than a lab, she says. Real parts are made here, whether prototypes, a ermarket components or (eventually) production parts. Technically, it's an R&D facility, but as Caterpillar's Schmidt likes to say, "We think of the work in our group as little r, big D." Outreach Schmidt is an AM engineer who is also part of the new facility's team and helps carry out its mission. Signifi cantly, though, he is not based in Peoria; he works from an offi ce in Ohio and spends much of his time traveling to other facilities in the company, looking for AM opportunities there. Other engineers knowl- edgeable about AM o en travel to other sites for the same reason. Schmidt returns to the Additive Manufacturing Factory frequently, and he coordinates with personnel there remotely. A routine part of his job is leading AM training, he says. A component of this training is evangelizing – encouraging engineers to see that additive both permits and requires new ways of thinking. His training can range from one-hour webinars to multi-day seminars. He recently returned from leading a two-day seminar for staff in Germany. is fuel fi lter base is used in the engines of products including the excavator in the preceding photo. e part seen here was produced through AM instead of casting. Here, the advantage of additive is speed in delivering a legacy part. He says more and more of the people in engineering roles throughout the company understand the nature of 3D printing and roughly what promise it holds. His training generally begins one step past that. "I get into the seven or eight diff erent types of 3D printing processes, and the diff erent strengths and limitations they all have," he says. is is new informa- tion for many, who until then Continued on page 31