What Will Be Our Next Industrial Revolution?

Historians generally place the Industrial Revolution from 1760 to 1850, when steam-driven engines turned handmade items into factory-produced mass production. Suddenly, labor costs lowered and more people could afford to buy things. Luckily, advances in manufacturing never stop. As companies turn towards the future, digital manufacturing should become the driving force of industry.

Daniel Bormolini, senior business consultant at Vendavo writing for Manufacturing Business Technology magazine, believes companies must foster the beginning of what he calls the fourth industrial revolution. First came steam engines and then the conveyor belt before moving to automated machines. As the calendar turns to 2016, businesses should focus on digital manufacturing as a way to mass produce goods.

One major trend includes direct digital manufacturing, or DDM for short. This process allows a company to design something on a computer and then download the specifications to machines that build the prototype on the spot. The speed of the design, research and development phase shorten considerably. Costs should come down soon as patents for selective laser sintering expire, which means small- and medium-size manufacturers can purchase the necessary equipment to compete with larger firms.

The distinct advantage of direct digital manufacturing is the ultra-customizable nature of what a customer wants. If a customer needs 10 special gears made, DDM allows a company to create the item in near real-time speed, thereby cutting down on the time to market of a customer's finished product. Everyone wins when more companies adhere to a DDM model.

Additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, continues to come down in cost as more innovations and more varied printing styles develop. As costs of large printers come down, manufacturers move from the prototyping phase to full-scale production. For example, a technique created at Oak Ridge National Laboratory prints sensors on large rolls as a way to mass produce these items more quickly. Instead of paper, tiny circuits go on thin sheets of plastic rather than thicker circuit boards with wires. This type of printing makes sensors smaller and more efficient so they can fit into smaller devices.

In digital manufacturing, 3-D printing also lets companies customize orders much in the same way DDM does. Companies can tailor a cost per unit based on the time, effort and materials needed to create someone's order. The 3-D printing process affects a company's pricing model, whereas DDM dictates its overall business model. When these two aspects combine, manufacturers may lower costs even more, and these savings trickle down to consumers.

The Internet of Things brings costs and design time down even more. Tiny sensors embedded in machinery give managers and floor operators real-time information that speeds efficiency at the beginning and end of the production line. Sensors send information wirelessly to mobile devices that let someone redesign an item more quickly and on the spot, which may prevent large shut downs in the future while the R&D team figures things out for the next run.

All three of these aspects of digital manufacturing should combine to lower costs while speeding up the manufacturing process. Once companies invest in these technologies, the next revolution begins in earnest.

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