Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM) opens the vision of decentralised and individualised manufacturing, as a tailored product can be manufactured in proximity to the customers with minimal physical infrastructure required. Consequently, the digital infrastructure and systems solution becomes substantially more complex. There is always a need to design the entire digital system so that different partners (or stakeholders) access correct and relevant information and even support design iterations despite the heterogenous digital environments involved. This paper describes how the design and integration of a digital thread for AM can be approached. A system supporting a digital thread for AM kayak production has been designed and integrated in collaboration with a kayak manufacturer and a professional collaborative product lifecycle management (PLM) software and service provider. From the demonstrated system functionality, three key lessons learnt are clarified: (1) The need for developing a process model of the physical and digital flow in the early stages, (2) the separation between the data to be shared and the processing of data to perform each parties’ task, and (3) the development of an ad-hoc digital application for the involvement of new stakeholders in the AM digital flow, such as final users. The application of the digital thread system was demonstrated through a test of the overall concept by manufacturing a functional and individually customised kayak, printed remotely using AM (composed of a biocomposite containing 20% wood-based fibre).
Highlights
Compared to conventional subtractive manufacturing, additive manufacturing (AM)has numerous benefits, including minimising material waste and an increased capability to make quick and highly individualised customisations to a product [1]
This section describes how a digital thread system for kayak production has been designed and integrated in collaboration with an established kayak manufacturer—Hereafter named as original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
Compared to traditional manufacturing methods, Additive manufacturing (AM) in principle requires no pre-existing tooling; usually, only a computer aided design (CAD) file needs to be provided for the product to be manufactured
Summary
Compared to conventional subtractive manufacturing, additive manufacturing (AM)has numerous benefits, including minimising material waste and an increased capability to make quick and highly individualised customisations to a product [1]. Manufacturing the product in close vicinity to the customer has the potential to minimise delivery time and cost, as well as reduce associated carbon emissions [2]. Such a decentralised approach to manufacturing can be enabled by digital technologies, which allow different parties to contribute to the manufacturing process. A vision in the kayak manufacturing industry [3] is to allow. Systems 2020, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW users to customise their kayaks through a Userthrough Interfacea(UI) 1) and communicate [3] is to allow users to customise their kayaks User Interface (UI).
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