Industrial Automation Magazine India

AM is like a stage and it is up to the artist to perform

Published on : Thursday 01-10-2020

Dr Thirumurugan S V M is 3D Health Care Consultant and Orator

Will the Covid crisis act as a boost or is it in fact causing a temporary setback to Additive Manufacturing?
In my opinion, AM is in a position where the industry has got boosted in certain application areas whereas a temporary setback prevailed in other sectors. There has been a phenomenal use of AM technology in some healthcare applications including 3D-printed face shields, lifesaving modified ventilators, swabs for sample collection and customised medical devices. The sudden surge in demand for equipment could only have been fulfilled globally leveraging this technology. There has been a significant decrease in the usage of AM for customised surgical procedures – something noticeable in other industries where such in-situ requirements were common – which is understandable in the current scenario. This is a temporary setback, like most other user industries.

Additive Manufacturing is presently confined to low volume, high value, customised jobs. How can it become more broad based?
I frequently use a line in my presentations: ‘AM or 3D Printing or Digital manufacturing is like a stage and it is up to the artist to perform what they desire or capable of’. The current state of this technology has more applications inclined towards low volume and high cost prototyping. But recent advances are addressing this to move applications closer to mass manufacturing with cost matching or even beating that of conventional manufacturing. There is a need for more evangelisation covering the technical advancements and job requirements on AM. The job skills required are niche and more industry application- based training is needed to address these gaps, thereby making AM more mainstream.

User industries are demanding open ecosystems for greater flexibility rather than being restricted by lack of choice with single vendor. Is this the way forward?
The digital manufacturing platform consists of 4 important requisites including 3D Scanning, 3D Software, 3D Printing and 3D Printable material. In a few cases, all the above can be individually chosen. But majority of the elements would be proprietary, limiting user choice especially in selecting a 3D printable material for a given 3D printer. Careful study is necessary, especially on selecting an appropriate ecosystem, before incorporating digital manufacturing into a user application. More 3D printer manufacturers are open sourcing their offerings allowing users to select 3D printable material like FDM filaments and resins of their choice from third-party suppliers, which has traditionally been a sticking point in these closed ecosystems. On the other hand, the healthcare sector has low risk tolerance, e.g., for metal powders or other materials used in bodily implants – a minor post-surgery infection can significantly impact patient recovery and creates life threatening issues.

Will Additive Manufacturing lead to an era of ‘on demand manufacturing’ and revolutionise the supply chain with virtual inventories?
AM does not have to lead to an era of ‘On demand manufacturing’. It is already working on this principle across the world. There have been various examples in which AM manufactured products has been used directly as an end use product. On demand manufacturing is prevalent in medical applications. Customised complex geometrical implants can be designed and 3D-printed in one country and it can be shipped to other country for surgical restoration on patients directly. All these processes can happen in less than a week time with collaborations happening across borders. Most industries are unaware of the solutions AM can provide for their workflows leading to shorter turnaround times, reduced cost and improved quality and durability of the end-product. There are lot of AM service based organisations rising to the occasion to provide on-demand manufacturing solutions for user industries. Satellite centres are being formed to assess initial requirement, will be scanned or designed to generate model data. The data will be sorted for printing digitally or sent to another location for printing over the air. Opening more satellite centres to address the untapped AM requirement for industries will surely revolutionise the way manufacturing happens and fill gaping holes in the supply chain along with virtual inventories at scale.

One of the significant issues is managing the IP rights and payments – how do original designers get compensated. Can this be resolved?
The AM technologies like FDM were under patent protection till the year 2009 and the patent on DLP expired between 2013 and 2015. Today products that can be 3D printed using these technologies can be used freely without restriction unlike during the patent period. Once these patents expired, there was an explosion in the number of manufacturers for 3D printers at competitive prices internationally. It is very critical to follow and manage patent issues in this industry given the number of 3D printing patents granted in 2007 alone was around 2,355 and rising to 24,245 in the year 2018 (Source: Iplytics).

Patents for 3D software and printable material are on the rise apart from those for printing itself. Aligning patent law with domestic policy and incentivising technological advances without compromising innovation is the real challenge. Registering designs protects the appearance of a product and may offer useful safeguards for the design file. In UK and Europe, there are unregistered design rights, which are instantiated automatically while a newly created design is submitted. Likewise, a global design submission portfolio can be created, and all designers can be encouraged to file with the same. This may help in preventing or disincentivising design infringement and designers will have their fair compensation.

Are there adequate procedures presently to regulate the industry in terms of standards and traceability?
One of the major barriers to the adoption and utilisation of 3D printing in the healthcare industry is attributed to the presence of many regulatory and technical obstacles that have prevented its promised growth. There has been a constant modification and updating of regulatory terms and standards for AM industry in healthcare. A new perspective is necessary for major regulatory bodies of various countries including FDA for USA, EU for Europe and CDSCO for India. Regulations are easily enforceable in other industries whereas in healthcare, it is required to follow strict protocol. Image processing, designing, using a specific 3D printer, bio-compatible printing material, post-processing and sterilisation, etc., are to be done in a prescribed environment, following published standards. Just like conventional treatment, even AM-based device manufacturing and treatments will have a follow up protocol to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients.

Your feedback on how Industrial Automation magazine, the technology platform is doing, being an industry voice and promoting/covering technologies. One of the dominant gaps in R&D and innovation between western nations and India is the lack of interdisciplinary communication towards creation of a new product. There needs to be an interaction between biomedical engineers and clinicians if a medical product is to be developed. A magazine like Industrial Automation is trying its best to bring the knowledge and post updates pertaining to the interplay of different professions in an industrial approach. I wish them the best in providing more awareness in this way.

Dr Thirumurugan S V M is 3D Health Care Consultant and Orator, engaged in Clinical Research. With a background in dentistry, he has master’s degrees in pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices and nano medicine. He is a Key Innovative Associate Member of 3D printing, and 3D Printing World Community Club, India.