WHEN MANUFACTURING GOES 3D

A number of industries have started using 3D printing to make goods. Makers of 3D printers expect the trickle to soon turn into a flood

- NIDHI SINGAL

Athmika was born with a rare condition. She did not have a sternum (breast bone), which protects the heart, major blood vessels and lungs. She had to be operated upon but it was not an easy surgery. The team of doctors at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, took a 3D CT scan and developed a simulated 3D model of her chest wall to practise the procedure several times before fixing a 3D-printed titanium implant in her chest.

Welcome to the brave new world of additive manufacturing, popularly known as 3D printing – the making of three-dimensional objects from a digital file. The process involves building an object by laying down successive layers of raw material. Each layer can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal crosssection of the eventual object. It is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing, which involves cutting out/hollowing out of a piece of metal or plastic. The technology, which took its first steps over three decades ago, is now catching on in India, where companies ranging from Tata Motors and JSW Steel to GE Transportation and tens of start-ups, apart from organisations such as ISRO, are reaping its benefits in the form of higher precision and lower costs. Even the fashion industry is using 3-D printing to give its exclusive clientale a customised experience. And to cater to such high demand, players such as HP, Wipro3D and Siemens Digital Industries Software are offering a suite of solutions. While the early adoption of this technology was restricted to visualising and prototyping, it has now moved on to the realm of hi-tech and precision manufacturing.

“In India, the market size for 3D printing is about ₹3,000 crore (including players who provide 3D printing solutions and services – prototyping, product manufacturing and services.) The market is growing by 40-50 per cent a year,” says Vinay Awasthi, Managing Director, HP Inc., India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.