Nowadays, we’ve seen buzzwords such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Blockchain or Industry 4.0 being widely utilized and tossed about. These technologies are having a significant effect on today’s economy and current industrial processes.
But what about the reality that these new technologies – frequently characterized as disruptive – could be combined? Then, will there be totally unique, previously unimaginable possibilities?
What fascinates us above all is, of course, the integration of these technologies with additive manufacturing. In this article, let us examine the connection between Big data and 3D printing services. The goal is to discover what possibilities exist when these two technologies are merged, what advantages may be gained? What constraints may remain?
3D Printing
3D Printing service has become a practical reality that has altered the way people think about production and manufacturing. Now that the technology has developed, practically anything from smartphone covers to human organs can be 3D printed by 3D Printing companies. Customized goods and components produced by 3D printers have empowered businesses and accelerated repairs in various situations.
Extra capabilities arising from the development of the Internet of Things and 3D Data Exchange & Translation promise to make 3D printing services useful in new ways.
Remote printing and the production of things from scans have joined with print sharing to make 3D printing service an essential element of the corporate sector. The emergence of big data implies that even more applications for 3D printing will soon emerge.
Big Data
Big data has to be one of the most popular terms in the early 21st century. Hundreds of thousands of job listings are actively looking for “business analysts, data scientists, or individuals with expertise in big data, data modeling, database administration, data etc.”
Just about every single one of our management information systems core classes touches with big data in some way or form. And most significantly, companies and recruiters begin to see a candidate like a god in an interview when they have genuine exposure and practical job expertise in big data.
3D Printing and Big Data
Analytics technologies make big data useful to various industries that create new applications for economical 3D printing services. Both technologies expedite the large-scale product modifications required to suit specific markets identified via the use of big data.
Fields that have demonstrated the potential to profit from the integration of big data with 3D printing companies include computer-aided design (CAD) and engineering (CAE) as well as computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). In each market sector, the two technologies have a mutually beneficial connection. The below examples demonstrate how big data and 3D printing services may interact.
Data Visualization
Corporations increasingly rely upon 3D printing companies to help them comprehend the data they gather. The same is true for small companies and private people. Two MIT researchers created a model of their campus and printed it using 3D printers. Streaming data on the mockup showed how it can make a rigid framework that shows variable data.
Geospatial models that interact with big data may assist city planners who analyze traffic patterns and other dynamic data. In the past, such experts only had access to flat data, typically printed on paper.
Now, using 3D modeling, people may view many perspectives from a single experience. People may hold such models and share them along with alternative models to make better real-world choices.
Data Storage
Driven largely by big data, the globe currently produces approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, generating a huge need for storage. Companies of every size contribute to the storage problem by hoarding the data they gather. From practically any viewpoint, big data will progressively disrupt the world as companies and governments utilize it to generate forecasts and make choices.
The cost of data storage continues to increase along with data repositories. Luckily, as the quantity of big data increases, so does the pace at which 3D printing service advances. The 3D printing industry continues to expand, and it is projected to reach $21 billion by 2022.
Technology that allows for the 3D printing of electronics has become essential because of the uses such electronics have for generating electronic storage. Future innovations include Functionalize F-Electric, an electrically conductive filament that 3D printers incorporate into electronic circuit boards.
Another intriguing invention, Carbamorph, utilizes 3D printing technology to build bespoke electrical designs for portable gadgets. Such emerging technologies indicate that electronic circuits will become widespread enough to satisfy the worldwide need for data storage.
Monitoring Manufacturing
The printing of 3D products has changed the industrial sector. 3D Printing companies utilize 3D printers to produce prototypes and other models and the goods they sell to commercial clients and consumers, upsetting conventional business processes. Now that businesses can print huge quantities of personalized goods, they may extend the attractiveness of their brand to specialized markets.
3D Printing companies also utilize 3D printing services for on-demand production, reducing the need for vast and varied stocks. The technique also lowers the time needed to create things from ideas to marketable commodities.
When a business wants to mass-market goods, 3D printing offers them a simple method to verify the presence of demand before committing to high-cost production runs.
However, with 3D printing service still being a relatively new technology, engineers need to develop appropriate quality control techniques. This is where big data can assist.
A firm named GE Aviation has linked big data to 3D printing companies to gather and analyze manufacturing data to identify production issues in real-time using strategically positioned sensors.
The technology detects variables such as temperature and structural integrity, alignment, deflection, etc. The data that is collected helps enhance the quality of outputs from various industrial items.
Big-Data Approach
This engine operates similarly to Google. If you’re not acquainted with how Google works, they place websites on the result page to crawl websites.
These robots are used to detect alternative keywords related to what the user is searching for. Crawling the internet and gathering 1,000,000 STL files from the internet makes it possible to obtain models using the printer’s interface.
This is comparable to a buffet. You notice the food and place it on your plate. But, instead of your plate, customers will receive the model printed on their bed.
Browsing the internet for files needs an algorithm too. Google workers don’t search the internet for similar terms on every site. That would take too long.
A disadvantage is algorithms have biases. It’ll make it difficult to locate what you want if there is no data. The advantage to this is it provides the user with space for innovation. You may post your 3D printed model online and have your effort to inspire people.
Another benefit of integrating Big Data and 3D printing companies is molding the material. There’s a lot of manual calibration going on while setting up printers. Setting up the material with the correct parameters is one of those laborious procedures which may make or break your model. Big Data helps with this.
3D printing also benefits from data by correcting mistakes. Big data and machine learning resolve mistakes in real-time. Think about all the issues a print may have. You have warping, shrinking, and more. Machine learning will help you save hours of your time.
Are Big Data and 3D Printing a threat?
Any new technology carries with it its own set of restrictions and may offer a variety of dangers. Big Data and 3D Printing are no exception: in the 3D printing industry alone, we are talking about 3D printed weapons, for example. And when it comes to Big Data, we frequently hear that robots may surpass humans.
However, 3D technology now makes it possible to recreate numerous things quickly. If we integrate Big Data and artificial intelligence into these, our privacy and safety may be severely jeopardized in the future.
Big Data and 3D printing: the combo of the future?
These technologies for sure will play a significant role in the future years, particularly in industrial applications. Today’s additive manufacturing needs a high degree of specialized expertise for the creation of components. Big Data will adopt key rules in the 3D printing process.
Faster and better algorithms will decrease the manual process done by humans. Big Data will then give access to huge quantities of data to better manage 3D technologies.
At present, this combination is in its infancy and already shows tremendous potential: the few examples mentioned show you how Big Data and 3D printing companies drive creativity, make manufacturing more efficient, and offer businesses a competitive advantage. We are not sure how far this revolution goes, but one thing is certain: it is hopeful.
Conclusion
Big data has altered the way companies function. Collecting information from various virtual and physical channels has given unparalleled decision-making capabilities to companies of every size.
Companies understand markets and consumers better and utilize that knowledge to leverage 3D printing technology to offer customized goods to an almost unlimited number of clients.
Meanwhile, 3D printing offers the capacity to generate visual representations of accessible data to assist companies in expressing their ideas and comparing alternatives.
Ironically, 3D printing companies support the development of big data. Ultimately, the connection between 3D printing with big data becomes cyclic as 3D promises to enhance the availability of storage accessible for usage by big data applications.