A look at 3D Printing and the Australian defence industry

Mass customization is the ultimate small production run: a product made for just one customer. A good example is Normal, which makes custom ear buds using 3-D printing, each pair optimized for an individual customer. The University of Florida creates plastic brains for student surgeons to practice on. Current technology can vary the density of the material, creating a very genuine feel for the material under the scalpel. In the future, the practice brain will be derived from scans of the actual patient’s brain, with an life-like tumor of just the right size in just the right location.

Non-standard parts is a potential use. For small and mid-sized production runs, standard parts are often specified. For example, a piece of aluminum trim is usually a common size, such as one inch, which is cheaper than an unusual size. With 3-D printing, the design can be optimized without regard to standard sizes.

Forbes Article

High-value manufacturing involves advanced techniques like 3-D printing and composite materials, systems integration and identifying opportunities to participate in international supply chains. We need to update our thinking to realise that producing large objects through ‘metal bashing’, such as ship hulls, is increasingly the low value-add end of manufacturing. Tomorrow’s high value might not involve producing solid objects at all—at least in any way we’d recognise today.

ASPI Blog

I thought that in light of my arguments for modernising the Australian shipbuilding industry , 3D printing is worth a closer look. If your not familiar with 3D Printing have a read of the articles linked to above.

At present 3D printing in Australia is still small scale . Retooling the Australian defence industry as a whole with 3D printing could happen in a couple of different ways. The first is that smaller firms (e.g. DMTC) would adopt the new emerging technology. The advantage of this would be that 3D printing would be demonstrated on a small yet successful scale. Larger firms including the ASC could retool their production lines with 3D Printing in the knowledge they aren't taking a gamble on a unproven technology.

The other way would see the ASC before or after privatisation adopting 3D Printing. The rest of the Australian defence industry would naturally follow suit over time. In either approach small business will likely have difficultly meeting the costs of transitioning to 3D Printing from older machinery.

IMO the conversion to 3D printing would be akin to PC's replacing typewriters in officers and homes around the world. Before spreadsheets found their way onto your PC, nobody was quiet sure what roles the newfangled devices would have outside of being a Geek's paradise. At the time of writing 3D printing is well on its way to establishing itself as one of the emerging technologies of this decade. (Note to the reader I have previously sighted how the Chinese are using 3D Printing in the construction of high rise buildings.)

IMO the real danger is that the Australia defence industry shies away from embracing 3D printing. The cost of retooling and the potential fear of a new technological frontier are formidable obstacles. If these formidable obstacles are not overcome the Australian Defence industry's production and R&D bases will face obsolescence.