Wohlers Talk

It had been some time since I last visited Israel. A recent visit reminded me of how nice Tel Aviv had become. The beach front is especially appealing, with bustling restaurants and activities for beach goers. The walkway along the coast spans as far as one can see to the north and south. I shot this picture from the Renaissance Hotel where I stayed. The ancient city of Jaffa is shown in the distance in the upper left area of the image. Jaffa was inhabited 7,500 years ago and is believed to be one of the oldest ports in the world. A friend and I followed the richly paved walkway from the hotel to Jaffa.

I arrived mid-afternoon on Wednesday of last week. I quickly checked into the hotel, dropped my bags in the room, and headed to the beach. After a short walk across the fine, white sand, I found myself submerged and relaxing in the warm and clear Mediterranean. I could not think of a better way to spend some time after being on planes and in airports for nearly 20 hours.

Israel offers some of the most interesting history anywhere and it is among the most advanced nations in the world. The Israeli people are highly educated and speak English flawlessly, even the taxi cab drivers. What’s more, Israel has more high tech startup companies than any country in the world, except for the U.S. Also, it has the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside of North America, according to Wikipedia.

I was told that Israel recently set a record for the greatest number of tourists visiting the country. I’m not surprised, given what this small but fascinating country has to offer. I did not visit Jerusalem on this trip, but I have a few times in the past and recommend it highly. Plan to spend a minimum of one day there and hire a guide. They are excellent and well worth the investment. If you’re staying near the beach in Tel Aviv, you can be standing in the Old City of Jerusalem in about an hour. And, it’s like stepping back in time thousands of years. Add Israel to your “Bucket List” if you have not done so already.

Tony Lockwood discussed the Cray CX1-iWS computer in his December 17, 2009 Check It Out newsletter from Desktop Engineering magazine. What I found most interesting is that this Windows 7 deskside workstation is available from Dell. Cray and Dell partnered with Intel and Microsoft to offer this incredibly powerful platform.

Cray Inc. has long been considered a premier manufacturer of supercomputers. Who would have thought that we would one day have a Cray running at our desks. The $39,000 price tag may deter the majority of us from buying one, but the point is that it’s available. A few years ago, this kind of power would have cost $390,000, and years before that, $3.9 million. In the future, we can expect to buy this kind of capability for $3,900.

The Cray CX1-iWS illustrates how far computing has come. According to Lockwood, the system is configured with 12 GB of memory (24 GB is optional), 4 TB of storage, and a high-end NVIDIA Quadro graphics. You or I may never own this particular system, but it’s likely that we may one day have a computer with this kind of capacity and power.

When asked if I’d come to Australia in June 2010, I said Yes. The plan was to conduct a series of conferences, workshops, and company presentations in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, and Brisbane. The tenth is on Monday here in Brisbane. By the end of that day, I will have had the privilege of presenting the “Factory of the Future” to nearly 600 engineering and manufacturing professionals from across the country.

I underestimated how demanding it would be. The “road show” began last Monday—the day after I arrived. Rest is essential when traveling to any part of the world and, thankfully, I’m getting some this weekend.

The effort began with Simon Marriott, founder and managing director of Formero (formerly ARRK Australia), who asked if I would partner with him to offer the series. The company’s headquarters are in Melbourne, with operations in the other three cities. Formero has a long history of using additive manufacturing (AM) technology for modeling and prototyping applications. Simon understands the potential of applying it to end-use part production and fully expects to help develop its use for this application throughout this distant but advanced and fascinating country.

Yesterday was one of the most interesting days of all. It began with an early morning car ride from the hotel to Sky News television studios in Sydney. I was supposed to be interviewed the previous day, but it was canceled due to nearly non-stop coverage of Australia’s first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard. With such big news, Simon and I knew the odds of a major television network covering the future of manufacturing in Australia had declined dramatically. It turned out that you can only repeat the same news so much and an appetite developed for something else. We were it.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we arrived nearly 25 minutes late. After quickly signing in, I was escorted to the “nerve center” of the studios where two live broadcasts were underway. Within a couple minutes, I was sitting in between two news reporters. No time for makeup or a dry run. We hardly had time for introductions. News reporter Carson Scott said, “It’s a shame you don’t have photographs or something to show what we’re talking about.” I told him I had a few example parts. We had about 60 seconds to retrieve them from my case. Many questions later, the interview was over. It was live and broadcast nationwide on Sky News, which I did not know 10 minutes prior to my arrival. So much for having the option of editting out the bad stuff.

I trust the television broadcast, coupled with the series of presentations, will help introduce a few new ideas on how additive manufacturing can help advance product development and innovation in Australia. The interest and feedback thus far have been tremendous. Thanks to Simon Marriott and Formero for this exciting initiative. I hope the individuals and organizations across the country will benefit and take AM technology to the next level.

I’ve been impressed by the caliber of speakers and quality of information presented at TED.com. I know little about the organization, but have learned that the 15-20 minutes presentations are well worth my time.

I’ve become an admirer of James Cameron. This came after hearing him speak at SolidWorks World 2010 and later talking with him in early February. Avatar had been out for about six weeks at that point, although I had not yet seen it when I met him. Of course, I did not tell him that, but I did congratulate him on the success of the film.

Cameron gives a fascinating speech at TED.com. He talks about his experiences in the deep sea, which I found interesting, given that I’m also an avid scuba diver. (He has spent 2,500 hours scuba diving and 500 hours in submersibles.) His work at great depths has become even more meaningful, now that he and a team of experts are proposing solutions to the BP oil disaster.

Cameron is also the producer of Titanic and gave some insight into his initial motivation for making the movie. He admited, “Secretly, what I wanted to do is dive to the real wreck of Titanic. And that’s the truth.” Six months after proposing the movie, he found himself in a Russian submersible 2.5 miles down in the North Atlantic looking at the real the Titanic.

If you have not viewed a TED.com speech, now may be the time. Cameron is an intriguing individual and speaker. He makes movies and documentaries, but his passion for the sea, space exploration, computer graphics, engineering, and manufacturing are what I find most captivating about him. I hope you agree that his views and experiences are engaging.

The additive manufacturing industry’s first CEO Summit was held on May 19, 2010 in Anaheim, California. It coincided with the RAPID 2010 and 3D Imaging Conference & Exposition. The Summit was originally scheduled to be held on April 21 in Leuven, Belgium at the Materialise World Conference and Visionary Summit on Additive Manufacturing. Dust clouds from the Iceland volcano prevented most CEOs and others from traveling to Belgium, so it was postponed until last week.

The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm ways in which the major stakeholders in the additive manufacturing industry could create greater awareness of the technology and collectively expand the market. The initial consensus was to explore the possibility of securing a world-class public relations agency that could represent the industry.

I truly hope that this event marks the first in a series of meetings where top managers work together, at some level, to expand the market. For many years, these companies have competed, some aggressively, but have done little to cooperate. I believe they can do both.

Among those in attendance were CEOs from Arcam, Envisiontec, EOS, Stratasys, 3D Systems, and Z Corp. Wilfried Vancraen, managing director and chief executive officer of Materialise, organized the meeting and led the discussions.

I am relieved to have published Wohlers Report 2010, our annual industry report on additive manufacturing (AM). This edition marks the 15th consecutive year to publish the report. I’d be lying if I said it is getting easier to produce each year, because it’s not. From January until very recently, many people from around the world gave a great deal of time and energy toward the creation of this 250-page publication.

Fifty-four co-authors wrote sections of the report. Some wrote a page or two, while others accepted responsibility for considerably more. I am especially thankful to Bill Beaver of York Technical College, Ping Fu of Geomagic, Ismail Fidan of Tennessee Tech University, Tim Gornet of the University of Louisville, Tom Mueller of Express Pattern, Michael Siemer of Mydea Technologies, and the teams at Loughborough University, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Utah State University. All 54 contributors are named here.

I’m also appreciative of the 64 service providers and 33 system manufacturers that provided information, much of which is considered confidential. I am grateful for their trust and understanding of how the data is used to create composite totals on the current state of the industry. These totals allow us to produce charts and graphs that show overall trends and where the industry is headed.

My sincere thanks to all of these individuals and organizations. Without their help year after year, the report would not provide the degree of qualitative or quantitative analysis that we believe is important for any industry to better understand itself and advance to the next level.

On February 28, 2010, The Washington Post published a story titled “There’s a new Red Scare. But is China really so scary?” After having been to the country a few times, I’m gaining an understanding of the strengths and limitations of Chinese. This article does an excellent job pointing out some of them and gives a seemingly realistic view of where China stands today.

I’ve learned that there are many differences between the Chinese and the U.S. governments. One is that many of the leaders in China are engineers or have a technical background. Meanwhile, our government is largely ran by lawyers and others with little or no background in science or technology. One can guess how the decisions made by these two groups would differ when developing policy.

Over the last few years, U.S. journalists have pointed out the dramatic difference between the number of engineers graduating from Chinese colleges and universities compared to those in the U.S. The flurry of articles have gotten a lot of attention. An article published in the New York Times stated that 600,000 engineers graduate per year in China compared with just 70,000 in the U.S. This article, nor any of the others that I’ve read, explained that Chinese statisticians count car mechanics and refrigerator repairmen as “engineers.”

The Post article goes on to discuss how the U.S. was once obsessed with another developing giant in Asia: Japan. Indeed, the Japanese offer some of the top brands in the world, but Japan has not brought an end to U.S. product development and manufacturing.

The article is here in its entirety. I recommend that you read it, if you have not already. It provides everything one would expect in a “CliffNotes” version of a good book on China.

Old habits die slowly. Case in point: Transitioning to the term “additive manufacturing.” That’s now the official name of what some refer to as rapid prototyping, freeform fabrication, and a host of other names. Additive manufacturing (AM) is the official name …. according to who? ASTM International F42 Committee on Additive Manufacturing Technologies. The group put a lot of thought into it, first selecting AM as the favorite for the name of the committee. It then carefully defined it. The term was not my first choice, but I made the decision to accept, use, and encourage others to use the term, which was decided by consensus—a standards-making process that ASTM has refined over the past 100 years. I decided that if scores of professionals across four continents can agree on it, the term should hold weight and be take seriously.

Defining AM required input, changes, constructive argument, more changes, etc., etc. Eventually, the members of F42 voted on and approved the following:

                       Additive manufacturing (AM), n—process of joining materials
                       to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer,
                       as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies.
                       Synonyms: additive fabrication, additive processes, additive
                       techniques, additive layer manufacturing, layer manufacturing,
                       and freeform fabrication.

The definition includes all applications of the technology, including the making of models, patterns, and prototypes for form, fit, and function; mold, die, fixture, and assembly tooling; and custom and limited-edition products, replacement parts, and short-run and series production. Rapid prototyping is the most popular application of AM technology, but it is only one of many.

I hope you can be a part of this change. If you’re uncertain, ask, “Do I want to be a part of the past or a part of the future?” Someone once said that the use of “rapid prototyping” as the generic term is so “1990s,” which is true. Join the 21st century and also consider joining the ASTM F42 standards effort. The group has identified, defined, and approved 28 AM-related terms, but this is only a start. If terminology is not your thing, consider getting involved in one of the other F42 activities. They include the development of standards around test methods, processes, materials, and design (including data/file formats). Retire old habits and help advance the additive manufacturing industry to a new level.

In January, it was announced that Stratasys would manufacture a 3D printer for Hewlett-Packard, a product that would carry the HP brand. The announcement got a lot of attention because few large, well-known companies have entered this business. HP will initially target mechanical designers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK with the new product. If the roll-out goes well, HP expects to sell the product in other countries.

For many years, industry observers have considered the idea of a large document printer company getting into the 3D printer business. As developed as some additive manufacturing (AM) companies have become, none touch the name recognition or the marketing force of HP, a $114 billion conglomerate.

Will HP’s involvement help grow the market and industry? It certainly should. The company has reach that’s beyond anything else in the AM industry. Will the partnership be successful? I believe there’s a good chance of success, but there’s no guarantee, especially in these uncertain times. It’s difficult to know what might be ahead for any company, large or small.

In March 2001, Xerox Engineering Systems, a subsidiary of Xerox Corp., announced that it had formed a partnership with Z Corp. to promote and sell Z Corp.’s 3D printers in the U.S. One month later, Z Corp. reported that Xerox employees had completed training in the Chicago and Detroit areas and “all systems were go.” A short time later, changes in Xerox upper management caused the deal to unravel.

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur is written by British industrialist Sir Richard Branson. He is responsible for launching 360 companies under the Virgin brand over the past more than 30 years. At the time of the book’s publication (copyright 2008), the Virgin Group was valued at an estimated 12 billion British pounds. In today’s dollars, that’s more than $18 billion. Not bad for a guy who left school at age 16 and never attended college. He is the 261st richest individual worldwide, according to Forbes’ 2009 list of billionaires.

I met Branson, sort of, at SolidWorks World 2009 in Orlando, Florida. He spoke to those attending the event in a keynote session and then answered questions at a press conference that I attended. The guy comes across as being genuine and humble, both in person and in the book. That’s when I got a copy of Business Stripped Bare, compliments of Branson himself, and I finally got around to reading it.

Like a dose of Ambien, some books put me to sleep. Not this one. It is anything but dry and had my attention from start to finish. The writing is excellent, to Branson and his editor’s credit. He writes in first person and shares intriguing, often gripping, stories and anecdotes about his business dealings and some of the astonishing people he has met.

Branson talks mostly about his companies, nearly all of which are relatively small. He said he never wants to run a large corporation. Branson takes risks and often uses his natural instincts to make important business decisions. As one would expect, Branson presents most of his Virgin companies, employees, and culture in a favorable light, yet he did not come across as boastful in the book. The 330 pages convinced me that his companies offer some of the best products and services that money can buy.

Not all is rosy at Branson’s companies, however. Last Thursday, I read a USA Today article about some very unhappy passengers aboard a Virgin America flight from Los Angeles to New York’s JFK. The flight circled New York for two hours due to bad weather and then was diverted to Newburgh, New York. After landing, the 126 passengers were kept on board for 4.5 hours, and then the flight was canceled. Passengers were livid and said they were treated rudely by the flight crew.

Overall, I believe Branson and the Virgin Group are top notch. His recent work on attacking HIV/Aids and climate change is noteworthy and he’s done a remarkable job creating the Virgin brand. He offers helpful words of advice to entrepreneurs and is a source of inspiration when encountering challenges and taking risks. I found the book entertaining and stimulating. Get it and read it. You’ll be glad you did.