Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
A case for 3D printing - Spare Parts
A car is compiled of 20 000-30 000 parts. A Boeing 777 is made of 3 million parts supplied
[lxii]
by 500 suppliers from around the world
. Home appliances and machines are made in
thousands of variations and spare parts are counted in millions or even billions. Cars and
machinery eventually get old and suppliers stop storing spare parts for obsolete models. In
the end many of the produced spare parts are left unused and will eventually end up, in the
best case, at a recycling center.
Needless to say, if 3D printing lives up to the quality requirements in strength and accuracy
of produced parts, it would revolutionize the spare parts market. Accuracy in airplane parts
or turbine parts produced with traditional techniques are still better than those made with
3D printing, but some non-critical spare parts are already being produced even in high-de-
manding industries like aerospace and energy. As the 3D printing technology advances it is
very likely that we will see more systemized organization of spare parts supply chains. A
produce-on-demand business model for spare parts, and this is valid for practically all in-
dustries, would reduce costs and increase resource efficiency. Instead of millions of physical
spare parts in stock, modern inventory management will evolve to digital warehouses with
billions of spare parts. No longer will spare parts be out of stock, they will always be avail-
able just a button click away.
Future auto repairs shop will possibly be outfitted with metal printers which can print prac-
tically any spare part. This could work through a licensing system where the auto repair
shop prints out, for example, a BMW part, charges the end customer and pay a license fee to
BMW.
Another scenario would be for a consumer to pay for downloading cad-files of spare parts
to their refrigerator, heat pump, lawn mower etc., and print it out at their own 3D printer.
The benefits to the world from implementing such a system are huge, it could eliminate the
transportation and overproduction of billions of spare parts. The nuisance of not being able
to find outdated spare parts would also be eliminated.
 
 
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search