ABSTRACT
Once the workforce and executives of a manufacturing company have a positive, open attitude towards 3D printing, having explored the first strategy outlined in this book (Chapter 3), the professional product designer can lead product redesign and the design of completely new products appropriate for additive manufacturing. This is the collection of approaches that often leads to the eye-catching 3D printed products shared in the media, and the one many designers and engineers want to jump to. However, skipping over the first strategy to this more challenging second strategy is a mistake which may cause resistance from an established workforce and problems gaining support for the inclusion of the technology on the shopfloor. It requires consideration of a company’s technical capability, as well as new equipment, logistics and customer demand.
Once a company is ready to embrace 3D printing for end-use products, the approaches included in Strategy 2 progressively advance from redesigning existing products to completely new products and systems to support them. This begins with the technical optimisation of existing products through light-weighting, topology optimisation, and part consolidation. This includes opportunities to apply generative design workflows, finite element analysis and lattice structures through advanced design software. These approaches build through the adoption of customisation strategies that may allow for some level of customer interaction and input, towards the most radical and potentially impactful applications of new product innovation and forms driven by functional requirements. Examples of these approaches are illustrated through the work of leading product designers specialising in new product innovation using 3D printing.
