Managing Automation - November 2007 - (Page 24)

[ COVER STORY ] MIT’s Futuristic ‘Fab Lab’ Gets Personal sk Sherry Lassiter what the future of manufacturing is and she’ll say it’s personal — personal fabrication, that is. Lassiter, the program manager at the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA, is referring to a project she’s involved with called the Fabrication Laboratory, or Fab Lab. The initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, has a twofold objective. First, it is searching for a way to embody or abstract a functional description of a system from its physical form. To that end, it is exploring the boundaries between computer science and physical science. “We’d like to program the assembly of an object so the object has all of the necessary functionality designed into it,” Lassiter says. Second, it is a way to bring manufacturing to the masses. The initiative is described as a hands-on lab based on off-the-shelf industrial-grade fabrication and electronics tools, wrapped in open-source Sherry Lassiter software and programs written by researchers at the Center for Bits and Atoms. Currently, Fab Lab projects include a laser cutter that makes 2D and 3D structures, a sign cutter that plots in copper to make antennas and flex circuits, a high-resolution milling machine that makes circuit boards and precision parts, a plasma cutter and welder for large metal objects, and a suite of electronic components and programming tools for low-cost, high-speed microcontrollers. MIT has also written a computer-aided machinery (CAM) program that takes digital descriptions and turns them into tool paths. “At its heart, it is a rapid-prototyping facility,” Lassiter says. And the result is the ability to bring fabrication capabilities to entrepreneurs creating A micro-businesses or new capabilities to under-served countries. Fab Labs, which cost about $25,000 to $50,000 in capital equipment and $5,000 to $10,000 in consumables, have opened in India, Norway, Ghana, Costa Rica, and MIT’s home base of Boston. Each lab is designed with the same tools and processes so that anything designed in one lab can be shared across the network. To date, projects have ranged from creating wireless mesh networks to help shepherds in the Alps of Norway keep track of their flocks, to users in the Boston lab making jewelry and toys from recycled materials in the community. But the real appeal for major manufacturers, such as HewlettPackard, which is one of the large corporations interested in the Fab Lab, is the ability to quickly design and prototype a product to figure out whether it is worth pursuing, Lassiter says. The technology, however, is designed with the future in mind, the point being that functionality should be built into the materials. For example, “We are working on a chip small enough that you could put it in [something] in order to make the material functional whether it means heat or a Web browser. There are so many things it can mean that I can’t even imagine half of them,” Lassiter says. To that end, the lab is even designed to evolve toward self-sufficiency — meaning that components of the lab can be replaced by components made in the lab until the lab itself is self-reproducing. It is the next step beyond the digital revolution and, according to Lassiter, “we see this as a future part of manufacturing.” For more information on the Fab Lab, go to http://fab.cba.mit.edu. Or read the book, FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop — from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication, by CBA director Neil A. Gershenfeld (2005, Basic Books). product to its DELMIA software, which provides simulation and validation of manufacturing equipment. This virtual commission system has been tested at several companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific for the past three years, Dassault Systemes officials say. They have already established par tnerships with Schneider Electric, Omron, and Mitsubishi to feed their respective controller information back to the hub, and they are in talks with Rockwell Automation to do the same, officials said. Integrating control engineering “is the last link in the digital business of a company,” says Bob Axtman, director of business intelligence at Dassault Systemes-DELMIA. “And we are three to four years ahead of the game.” CROSSING BOUNDARIES Integrating electrical and control systems information together with PLM may be the last link, but it certainly isn’t the final step because the definition of the digital factory will continue to evolve to encompass the supply chain, outsourcing partners, and even customers. The concept of “one digital factory,” where everything is contained, is not necessarily the desired outcome for any company mov- ing in this direction. Rather, it is the digitization of data. “I don’t see one digital factory. I see a fleet of digital factories, some of which you own and some of which you don’t own,” says Vivek Bapat, senior director of solutions marketing for SAP. The characterization is particularly applicable to companies that operate in multiple countries around the world. They may outsource manufacturing or receive products from suppliers in many different locations. In order to organize an approach that is orderly and effective, SAP has an initiative it informally calls “the business of products.” It is a blueprint, so to speak, of the perfect plan to bring together PLM, design, and manufacturing. Of course, the plan is also based on SAP’s own product portfolio, which includes its ecosystem of partners from Visiprise on the MES side to Geometric Software, which specializes in PLM integration. Identifying how the digital factory will impact other aspects of the business is an important discussion to have, observers say. “Design to manufacturing gets you out the door, but then what?” asks Hologic’s Rudzinsky. “It’s half the story. Once we ship the product out the door, then what?” ma November 24 2007 Photo courtesy: Sherry Lassiter http://fab.cba.mit.edu

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - November 2007

Managing Automation - November 2007 Contents Take 1 Mailbox SAP's Business ByDesign to Validate On-Demand Model for Enterprise SW Portfolio Management Specialist Losing Ground to Rivals At Incor, It's Time for Some Deep Breathing Can HART, ISA Get Together on a Wireless Spec? Mesa Tries to Help Improve Plant Metrics Notes Cover Story: The Digital Factory Special Report: Breaking Down Walls Integration: Dreaming of One ERP Industries: Locking onto Cyber-Security Transformation: Not Your Father's Time & Attendance Program Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - November 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.