In the words of Phil Collins, "I can feel it in the air tonight." 2018 feels like it will be a good, progressive year, and perhaps, a pivotal year. I say this without consideration of new technologies and better solutions. Instead, the sense is based on a shift in attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions, in essence, a vibe.
Participants and prospective participants are becoming enlightened to the realities of additive manufacturing (AM). However, the positive winds of change that propel us forward are countered by a tide of subconscious resistance.
The revelation of this shift hit home at November's formnext powered by TCT. There was something in the conversations, messaging and expectations that was decidedly different from past events. The show-goers seemed to be looking for real, practical solutions instead of chasing dreams. Those I spoke with were not seeking a magical cure-all, and they recognised that AM is an alternative with both unique strengths and unique weaknesses.
It just felt real; it felt, dare I say it, pragmatic. Yes, there is still a lingering hangover from the days of raw hype, but overall, things were much more balanced.
Evidence of the changing environment also comes from what is becoming common, the equipment manufacturers' customer education centres. Most recently ExOne and GE Additive announced Adoption Centres and an International Customer Experience Centre. These facilities join those of other suppliers that have done the same.
I say that this is evidence because it is an acknowledgment that AM, at least for metal AM, isn't a simple, easy-to-learn solution that users and prospective users can quickly wrap their heads around. It is evidence that allowing a perception of AM being a drop-in solution that effortlessly finds workable applications doesn't work. The supply side has moved to a pragmatic stance by allowing users to learn hands-on, to fine tune the process for an application and to leverage third party resources to transition to in-house operations.
So, there is a positive change, but the battle is far from over. Each of us will need to work incessantly to beat a nebulous enemy, one that lurks in the minds of most. This is the tide of resistance against which we are swimming. The enemy is a pre-existing prejudice for status quo. I call it tunnel vision.
Tunnel vision can derail the best of intentions and sink a great application merely by allowing the past to dictate the future. Rather than expanding the view of what is possible and what qualities are necessary, the prejudice for the capabilities of a non-AM process is often unquestioned. This creates tunnel vision.
How that manifests itself is an inappropriate filter through which AM is considered. The process considerations, output qualities, time constraints and cost drivers of the preceding solution become the baseline for AM evaluation. Additionally, tunnel vision can limit the consideration of opportunities to be attacked to those within the scope of the non-AM process.
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Since AM has a dramatically different rule book and significantly different deliverables, that tunnel frequently bars AM applications, no matter how strong the use case is. Something as rudimentary as an unneeded, overly tight, global tolerance for a part can thwart AM.
To expand AM's horizons, we need to pull this enemy, this bias, into the light. Since it is often a subconscious force, the key action is to call it out by questioning everything and challenging all that is accepted as fact. With intelligent questioning, what is assumed to be a critical need may be found to be a good, but optional, characteristic. With questioning and reevaluation, the tunnel may expand to encompass a broader range of specifications. Questioning may also realign the tunnel in another direction, which can then point it towards daily challenges that are ignored because non-AM processes are incapable of addressing them.
Questioning others' assumptions is imperative, but we cannot forget to question our own. Tunnel vision is a trap into which each of us may fall. It is a trap that creates unrealistic barriers and throws up inappropriate obstacles. Breaking through the tunnel to expand the range of vision is not easy, but it is necessary for AM to flourish within your organisation. Given enough time, this tide of resistance will ebb on its own, but if you wait until it does, you will be a late adopter that has fallen be-hind the open-minded.
