By ANDY HOSENIOR WRITER

IN FEBRUARY, FinanceMinister Tharman Shanmu-garatnam announced a $500million Future of Manufac-turing programme, one fo-

cus of which was to create a 3-Dprinting sector over the next fiveyears. The same month, US Presi-dent Barack Obama announced aUS$1 billion (S$1.26 billion) initia-tive to fund 15 hubs to develop3-D printing “to revolutionise theway we make almost everything”and create jobs for Americans.Even earlier, in October 2012, Brit-ish Minister for Universities andScience David Willetts announceda £7 million (S$13.4 million)national initiative in 3-D printing.

Will this technology transformmanufacturing, or even construc-tion? Or is it a rose-tinted fantasyto hope it will somehow createjobs for locals while offsetting theneed for foreign workers,especially in these two sectorsthat, in 2011, together accountedfor 56 per cent of foreign workerson work passes, excluding maids?

Layer by layer

IN 3-D printing, the object to be“printed” is laid down as “ink” inincredibly thin layers which arestacked up precisely upon one an-other to the desired size andshape as specified by a digital blue-print. The ink such printers usecan be liquid thermoplastic tomake a gun or liquid colloids tomake hamburgers. The base ofthese inks can also be powder bedsystems of steel, cobalt-chrome al-loys, titanium, titanium alloys,aluminium, nickel-based alloysand even gold.

Or it could be filaments “verymuch like a fishing line that is fedinto an extrusion head and heatedinto a semi-liquid, which is thenextruded and deposited in ul-tra-thin layers, a layer at a time”,according to Professor Chua CheeKai, chair of mechanical and aero-space engineering at NanyangTechnological University.

The ink is squirted out of preci-sion nozzles that build up the itemto be assembled. The nozzlesknow exactly where and when tosquirt line by line, and then layerby layer, as directed by computersoftware. As far as the nozzles areconcerned, they do the same jobwhether printing a square, a curveor some complicated shape.

While this technology is al-ready used in “rapid prototyping”to make high value-added one-offitems in academe and sectorsranging from dentistry to aero-space, the industrial goal is toscale it up.

Presently, 3-D printing is essen-tially just the fabrication ofunique replacement componentsor spare parts. Printing on an in-creasingly larger scale may lowerlabour costs and manpower re-quirements in manufacturing andconstruction.

Manufacturing

BECAUSE it adds precise layer byprecise layer to the correct dimen-sions and geometry, 3-D printingis also called additive manufactur-ing. This involves much less wast-age compared to traditional manu-facturing, which basically in-volves splitting, sawing, shaving,drilling, milling and turning. Re-moving material this way uses uptime and energy while leaving lotsof metal or plastic shavings allover the shop floor.

With 3-D printing, however,parts can be printed out as, whenand where they are needed. Thiscould save time, energy and cost.There is also less retooling re-quired to make variations of awidget.

Traditionally, one makes a pro-totype using injection moulding,in which hot liquid plastic is inject-ed into a precise metal mould ofthe prototype, which itself re-quires very precise machining tofabricate. But these conventionaltechniques are hard put to makewidgets with intricate designs.

With additive manufacturing,however, extensive and expensiveretooling is unnecessary since the3-D printer can be reprogrammeddigitally to make variations of thebasic widget. Currently, 3-D print-ers can already be used to makepersonalised dental crowns, for ex-ample. So 3-D printing may leadto more rapid product develop-ment through prototyping by themasses.

Because the widget is printedwhen required, inventories wouldbe minimal. One could set upshop in a small space with a fewtabletop 3-D printers – a factoryin an office space as it were.

An innovative sector of smallfirms involved in customised andpersonalised manufacturing couldwell emerge. But this would bemore like the neighbourhoodphoto shop that allows you toprint your own digital photos andless like a factory makinghigh-end digital cameras.

By being able to make things insmall batches themselves, entre-preneurs and inventors would nolonger have to depend on a largemanufacturer that may bereluctant to fabricate the smallbatches of innovative widgets

they dream up.Moreover, by producing the

widget very near to the consum-er’s home base – rather than im-porting it from China, say – prod-uct manufacturing would be de-centralised, fans think.

With 3-D printing, most ofwhat is moved around is justmoved around on the Internet,namely the widget’s digital specifi-cations. These can be printed outon demand, at the customer’s loca-tion. This would entail less trans-portation of raw materials, compo-nents or finished products over

long distances. The carbon foot-print of additive manufacturingcould thus be smaller. It wouldalso be easier to reuse any leftoverraw material. Thus, the new sec-tor could be eco-friendly.

Presently the main limitationto scaling up 3-D printing forlarge-scale manufacturing is the“build envelope”. This is the prod-uct of the maximum dimensionsof each of the three axes, namely:height, length and breadth.

This volume, which defines theprintable widget size, is con-strained by the size of the en-closed zone needed for depositingthe ink layer by layer.

The enclosed zone is like anoven because the raw material hasto be heated up to a liquid orsemi-liquid form to be squirtedout by nozzles.

Thus, most 3-D printing is con-fined to fabricating smallish com-ponents. What is called “big buildenvelope” today is only about60cm to 80cm along each axis.Thus, with most 3-D printers, youneed to print smaller pieces to beassembled into a bigger widget.

Print speed is also slow. Thebigger the “build envelope”, theslower the print speed. This is be-cause when you double the dimen-sions of each of the three axes, theprint volume goes up eight-fold.Thus, print times are currentlyclocked in terms of hours anddays, not minutes.

Moreover, 3-D printing is notquite there yet in terms of preci-sion, maximum resolution, con-sistency, reliability and maintaina-bility that consumer productsmust have in today’s market. AtProf Chua’s lab, what one sees arejust small-scale items like toys,figurines and jewellery.

How can 3-D printing be scaledup to massive sizes? One idea is touse a team of coordinated robotson heated platforms to print largestructures sized in terms of me-tres rather than centimetres.Called Big Area Additive Manufac-turing, multiple nozzles are used,each of which is responsible for aspecified area. The nozzles can bemounted on gantries or movedaround by robots.

In this manner, it might be pos-sible one day to print very hugestructures. The vision is to have awarehouse full of robotic nozzlesworking in concert 24/7 with lit-tle human input to print anythingfrom cars to drones. But until 3-Dprinting can be scaled up for massproduction, it is more likely to beintegrated into commercial pro-duction in a way that comple-ments rather than displaces con-ventional manufacturing.

Accounting for about 21 percent of Singapore’s gross domes-tic product, manufacturing here isfocused on higher value-addedand innovation-intensive activi-ties such as aerospace. Thus,while 3-D printing could be an en-abling technology for some partsof the value chain in high-endmanufacturing, it is unlikely to re-duce the need for manpower, espe-cially in less value-added manu-facturing for some time.

Construction

IN 2005, British scientists man-aged to develop a quick drying ce-ment of the right viscosity thatdid not clog up the nozzles. Usinggantry-mounted nozzles thatsprayed cement, binders and a cat-alyst mixed with the sand, theyprinted out a small wall sectionthat began hardening in 15 hours,and was totally solid by 24 hours.

In 2010, the University ofLoughborough’s Freeform Con-struction Project managed toprint out a one metre by one me-tre, one tonne, free-form rein-forced concrete panel with an un-dulating geometry reminiscent ofthe Microsoft Windows logo.

In the future, concrete wallscould be printed with all the con-duits and ducts for electrical,plumbing and air-conditioning insitu. You could also include anytexture or feature on or within thewalls, which could be customisedto specific requirements.

A big hurdle, however, is thatconcrete printing is currently veryslow.

At a construction site, roboticprinters could be towed around byautomated tractors. Operatingthem outdoors, however, wouldmake it subject to the vagaries ofthe weather. Thus it is more likelythat panels with complex geo-metries will be printed indoors tobe transported to actual construc-tion sites.

Of course, such robotic fabrica-tors could be used to print outmundane flat parts for publichousing projects too. But theremight be no cost advantage overexisting methods. All in all, 3-Dprinting may change the construc-tion sector at the high end butprobably not reduce overall man-power needs to any significant de-gree for some time to come yet.

andyho@sph.com.sg

CURRENTLY, two localfirms offer commercial3-D printing servicesfor creating models orprototypes. Demand

comes largely from creative pro-duct design and electronics firms.

But for many years, academicshave also been using 3-D printingto make bespoke parts to help sur-geons plan delicate operations.

In a case reported in 2006, Nan-yang Technological University(NTU) worked with KK Women’sand Children’s Hospital surgeonsto make an oral stent for a childborn with a membrane that sepa-rated his mouth from the back ofthe throat, which would have pre-vented him from learning tospeak. The stent kept the airwayopen between the mouth and theback of the throat.

But the growing child needed anew stent every six weeks. Using3-D printing, Professor ChuaChee Kai’s team was able to pro-duce a perfectly fitting stent onceevery six weeks until the anatomi-cal structures had stabilised at agefive. NTU has also worked with

other surgical teams to print repli-cas of a patient’s face with a bigtumour so doctors could practiseon them before the actual surgery.

Prof Chua feels that the futureof 3-D printing in Singapore liesin tissue engineering. This is be-cause it offers synergies with thebioscience initiative begun here in2000. Bioprinting involves 3-Dprinting at the other end of thescale compared to manufacturingor construction.

The NTU approach involvesprinting tissue scaffoldings. Theseare porous structures made of bio-compatible polymers with the re-quired dimensions to fit the site ofthe body needing replacement tis-sue. They are seeded with startercells sourced from the recipient’sbody to grow replacement tissues,which are then transplanted backinto the recipient.

By the time these cells havemultiplied and fused together intotissues that can repair or replacethe defect, the scaffolding wouldhave biodegraded away. The raceis to print functioning blood ves-sels within the whole structure to

mimic nature, says Prof Chua. Alltissues would have very fine bloodvessels bringing blood, nutrientsand oxygen to all cells.

But this requires the ability toprint at nanoscale. Currently, 3-Dprinters can only go down to mi-croscale, which is 1,000 timeslarger than nanoscale. Withoutthe nano level of precision, ProfChua reckons “we are only at StepFive out of 10 steps towards a to-tally bioprinted tissue”. Thus co-operation between bioscience andengineering will be crucial.

But this translates into a needfor more, not fewer, knowledgeworkers, whether local or foreign.(In 2011, there were 21,702 re-search scientists and engineers orRSEs here who were citizens andpermanent residents. Another7,780 RSEs were foreigners.)

So bioprinting will advance thelife science sector here but in noway does it promise to reduce theneed for (foreign) scientists.

Separately, Singapore mustcome to grips with looming intel-lectual property (IP) issues. Con-cerns about technical hurdles and

manpower requirements apart, IPissues could prevent the 3-D print-ing sector from maturing. This isbecause most 3-D printing in-volves designing the widget on acomputer or, more usually, down-loading free files of such objectsfrom open-source archives on theInternet. Alternatively, the widg-et is copied from an existing ob-ject. This is done using a scannerto record its 3-D geometry and de-tails from various angles and thenturning the data into a digital file.

Unfortunately, not everyonefollows the open-source model,so the original artist, designer orinventor may claim his IP rightshave been infringed. In fact, thishas already happened: In Febru-ary, lawyers for HBO (an Ameri-can pay TV channel) demandedthat a firm stop selling 3-D print-ed iPhone docks modelled on theIron Throne portrayed in theGame of Thrones TV series.

It is likely that if 3-D printingbecomes widely adopted enough,artists, designers and inventors,as well as big business, might tryto prevent unauthorised reproduc-

tion of their IP. They might try toget the sharing of digital files of3-D designs banned to fight homeor small business piracy of theirwidgets, just as the music labelswielded the law to block musicand movie piracy on the Internet.If this transpires, the much bally-hooed 3-D printing revolutioncould be stopped in its tracks.

The authorities need to consultthe relevant stakeholders now tosee how to tweak IP rules to avoid

the mess with digital patents thatthe US music and movie indus-tries got into. That involved suingmany individuals and raising IPquestions to which the courts hadno simple answers. The result wasa less than clear regulatory re-gime. If the 3-D printing sector isto mature, the authorities shouldstart thinking about regulationsneeded to protect both consumersand IP rights owners.ANDY HO

THE SINGAPORE PERSPECTIVE

Future lies in tissue engineering: Prof

ABOUT THE BIG QUIZL Co-organisers: The Straits Times and the Ministry of EducationL Presenting sponsor: Singapore Press Holdings FoundationL Innovation partner: ShellL The run-up to The Big Quiz comprises:1. A series of 12 primers on current affairs topics2. Talks given by editors and correspondents ofThe Straits Times3. A sponsored segment on students’ say to set questions

THE BIG QUIZ CONTESTFour quiz rounds in which teams from participating schools willvie for the top prize: a championship trophy and $5,000 cashL Open to: First-year pre-university students and Year 5Integrated Programme students from 24 participating schools

For more information, go to www.straitstimes.com/thebigquiz

Ms Hayden Tay, marketing director of local start-up 3D Matters, putting the finaltouches to a 3-D bust. More knowledge workers will be needed as Singapore’slife science sector embraces bioprinting. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Visitors examining sample products made with 3-D printers at an exhibition in New York on April 22. 3-D printing is currently constrained to making small-scale,specialised items, but the goal in the manufacturing and construction industries is to scale it up in terms of both size and output. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

This is the ninth of 12 primers on various current affairs issues, whichwill be published in the run-up to The Straits Times-Ministry of

Education National Current Affairs Quiz. The series takes a break fromnext week and will resume on July 15.

3-D printing and labour needs

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