Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2020 - 28

additive manufacturing
continued on page 27
explained. "A user might consider heat resistance very
important. Or cost. In other
words, there might be two different answers as to what's the
best match in 3D printing. The
user can express these preferences in the software, which
then automatically identifies
the best match material."

The opportunities
are everywhere
While Castor is currently very
focussed on the machinery industry, which is characterised
by low volume/high complex or
low volume/high mix products,
any company doing this kind of
manufacturing is a potential customer.
The machinery industry, however, with its large machines or
large products combined from
many different parts offers particular scope for benefitting from
AM. Each component contributes to a company's costs. Using software to identify cost-reduction opportunities - for
example, by combining parts,
reducing weight, or even 3D
printing the product as is rather
than using traditional production
technologies - can save significant amounts for the company.
"We have 85 companies using our software, including companies such as Stanley Black &
Decker, AB InBev, and of course,
Evonik," Blaier disclosed.
"Take AB InBev, for example.
The company has something
like 400 breweries around the
world, and a huge inventory of
spare parts they need to maintain in case of breakage. They
use us to identify the opportunities to replace the traditional
manufacturing method by 3D
printing - a good example of
low volume/high mix."
Additive
manufacturing
may be finding its way into an
increasing number of manufacturing processes, but it is
unlikely to ever wholly replace
the mass production methods,
such as injection moulding or
diecasting for metal, used today.
"It will enlarge the pie in terms
of the volumes needed that
make sense for the breakeven
point financially versus the traditional manufacturing method,

28

taking a larger part in the first
1000 - 5000 or 10000 units that
the company needs to produce.
But it still is a huge market
and a market offering great opportunity," he noted.
It is also a market that is still
very much seeking to establish itself. Right now, the price
per part is falling, mainly due
to the fact that more and more
companies are entering the 3D
printing space.
In addition, more and more
applications are developing
with specific needs that 3D
printing can fulfil.
"The automotive industry,
aerospace and medical devices are leading the way in this
world," Blaier said. "Also, end
use manufacturing is on the rise
- but only in specific verticals,
specific needs, and specific
niche cases where 3D printing
is right to replace traditional
manufacturing processes."
Finally, AM is very much in

ties or material properties of
a traditionally produced part
compared to those of a 3D
printed part. Some additive
manufacturing
technologies
and materials offer better part
integrity than others - isotropic
polymers used in powder-based
solutions tend to offer better
properties than filament-based
solutions - but traditional injectional moulding will provide a
'better' product.
"The point is, using our software, we can show the end user
or customer the benefits that
can be obtained with additive
manufacturing, such as accelerating time to market, reducing costs or weight, and reducing complexity. Offsetting these
benefits against the slight compromise in mechanical properties or the material properties,
it soon becomes clear that 3D
printing offers an interesting
alternative. Engineers need to
understand the cost-saving

We have 85 companies using
our software, including
companies such as Stanley
Black & Decker, AB InBev, and
of course, Evonik."
Omer Blaier
Castor
tune with the drive for sustainability within the industry. The
technology offers manufacturing on demand, which provides savings on transportation
and inventory costs; it reduces
weight, which means less material is used, and - in automotive and aerospace applications
- a lower fuel consumption; the
technology provides maximum
geometric design freedom, enabling the direct fabrication of
complex parts in a single step,
which leads to lower assembly
costs. And lastly, because it is
additive, only material needed
for production is used, which
means little to no waste.

Technology versus
customer value
One frequently heard criticism
of 3D printing is the gap between the mechanical proper-

September/October 2020

benefits if they are to make this
compromise," Blaier clarified.
"Additive manufacturing is
adding layers, layer on layer," he
continued. "There is a perception that the material properties
might be a little less than traditional manufacturing methods
can provide. But the technology
is getting better and better in
bridging this gap. We provide
the innovation to show the user
what are the benefits are versus
the compromises that need to be
made in terms of strength, elongation at break, heat resistance
or whatever. It is all part of the
software - and why it is called a
decision support system for utilizing industrial 3D printing."
An additional, important
benefit is the fact that additive
manufacturing fits seamlessly
into a company's Industry 4.0
overall strategy. The technology
is, said Blaier, 'a digital native': it
is based on a digital file created

from a design file, which means
that companies must, to some
extent, be prepared to embark
on the digital path if they are to
adopt this technology.
Although some may feel intimidated by the technology
or hesitant about the cost, in
the end it all comes down to
whether or not a customer can
perceive the overall value of Industry 4.0 and digitalisation.
As Blaier phrased it: "Unlike
a return on investment calculation, or marketing or other aspects of the business, Industry
4.0 is a small improvement in a
lot of areas on the production
floor or in the production method, rather than a huge improvement in a specific area and
companies need patience to
gather those small pieces of improvement and understand it."

Looking ahead
Going forward, additive manufacturing will continue to shift
in the direction of end-use
manufacturing: the production
of end-use parts in an end-use
environment, rather than simply
prototyping, or the production of
tools, jigs or fixtures, for use in
the production line, said Blaier.
"I am talking about really going into end-use manufacturing.
We want to help companies be
the first when that starts happening. Castor is now developing an enterprise tier, which
means we are working intensively on gaining a connection
to the environment - the PLM
and ERP systems, the CAD systems that engineers in large enterprises work in.
Our goal is for CASTOR to
be a tool which is embedded
within the environment of the
engineer, enabling a 3D printing feasibility check. Just imagine an engineer at a company,
who is considering using additive manufacturing to produce
parts. Overnight, Castor could
take the design from the system
he uses to save his designs. The
software would automatically run the analysis and come
back with a report in the morning that says there are, say, ten
parts that can save thousands
of dollars using 3D printing.
It is the future Castor is working
towards, and where we'll hopefully be, within the next five years."
Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2020
