3D Printing

Jabil is creating a digital network to manufacture 3D printed parts

Peerless Media’s 2017 Virtual Summit shows how creating a data-rich ecosystem can eliminate borders, establish visibility and optimize logistics and supply chain management operations to meet the digital mandate.

New breakthrough developments, such as drones and driverless vehicles, seem to be everywhere.

As manufacturers continue to invest in breakthrough research, they tend to overlook the need for a plan to put those products into consumers’ hands.

Through adidas’s obsession with helping athletes make a difference, the brand unveils Futurecraft 4D, the world’s first high performance footwear featuring midsoles crafted with light and oxygen using digital light synthesis, a technology pioneered by Carbon.

DHL's Logistics Trend Radar, identifies 3D printing as one of the major disruptive trends to impact the logistics industry in the near future, creating instant production and distribution models.

McLaren plans to start 3D-printing parts for its Formula 1 cars trackside at Grand Prix competitions shortly, the firm believes the technology will give it an advantage over rivals allowing it to make last-minute changes.

This paper describes in detail five key ways 3D printing is changing the automotive industry, both today and in the near future.

Initially, IoT applications were limited for operational activities on shop floor and data was not leveraged for enterprise use, and with the evolution of Industry 4.0 and industrial Internet, customers are looking to leverage this Big Data and develop responsive and intelligent applications for line-of-business and industry-specific end-to-end processes.

SAP has announced the opening of the early access program for the SAP® Distributed Manufacturing application to new customers as part of its joint collaboration with UPS, the move bolsters SAP’s effort to make 3D printing and on-demand manufacturing an integral part of the digital manufacturing landscape.

The UPS SAP collaboration will transform the ad hoc world of industrial 3D printing into a seamless, on-demand manufacturing process from order through manufacturing and delivery.

This network is comprised of a multifaceted approach that will mesh its global logistics network with 3D printers at more than 60 U.S.-based The UPS Store locations and a collaboration with SAP to foster an end-to-end industrial offering that will mesh SAP’s supply chain offerings with Big Brown’s on-demand manufacturing services and global logistics network.

With the 120th running of the Boston Marathon, the competition to bring 3D-printed athletic shoes to the general market is sprinting ahead, but for the sneaker industry, the technology, and its supply chain, this will be a marathon, not a sprint.

This white paper is part of a series of papers published by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) on disruptive technologies that could reshape supply chains over the next decade.

Rather than eliminating jobs, it’s far more likely that technologies and trends like 3D printing and crowdsourcing will have a positive impact on logistics and supply chain jobs.