Closed Loop Additive Manufacturing

Introduction

With the advent of the Steam Camp initiative, additive manufacturing, or 3d printing, is becoming more accessible to interested parties.

Once we know how to design, make, and use a 3D printer, a next logical step is how to provide additive manufacturing services and products to local communities in a decentralized, efficient, and sustainable way.

The purpose of this page is to lay this ground work.

Potential Audiences and Target Markets

I see two potential audiences or target markets for such a system, and it could be helpful if OSE collectively targets one audience to start:

1. Local village-scale communities (e.g. eco-villages, survivalists, rural areas)

2. Mainstream society (i.e. "normal everyday people" living in cities and suburbs)

These audiences would be interested in different products.

For example, a survivalist might be interested in 5 gallon buckets, small miscellaneous parts for off-grid systems, rain-water harvesting equipment, etc.

While mainstream society might be interested in cell-phone cases, head-phone buds, wallets, etc.

I imagine local village-scale communities is our ideal target market, but it could be helpful to target a mainstream audience to drive greater interest and publicity towards OSE, and thus funding and livelihood for OSE developers.

Product Catalog

Once an audience or target market is defined, we can then define a product catalog.

The importance of doing so has multiple factors.

Ensure Quality

Every 3D printer model is unique.

In order to print quality products, you need to tune and adjust the settings of the printer appropriately.

OSE can standardize on a printer like the D3D Pro and have a suite a quality-controlled products with the appropriate printer settings already figured out.

Web Catalog

Then interested community members can browse this product catalog through an online web-interface, place an order, initiate some means of delivery, and have confidence they'll receive a quality product.

See also Open Source Everything Store.

Efficiency and Automation

The audience and target market plays into the efficiency and automation aspects of the system as well.

In one sense, we want the system to be as efficient and automated as possible.

1. A person browses the online product catalog, and places an order

2. We automatically find an available printer, or place the job in queue, and start printing when a printer is available

3. Once complete, a mechanical robot arm detaches the part from the heated bed, packs it in a box, and places it in a defined location for transport

• This step is advanced and will likely be manual, and only semi-automated for first iterations.

4. An autonomous drone picks up the box, and delivers it to the person's residence

I could see a mainstream audience loving this. "Wow! It's so efficient, automated, and hi-tech".

However, I could see people in eco-villages having serious concerns:

1. Some people are weary of technology, automation, and are even opposed or anti in some cases.

2. An automated process de-personalizes the exchange leaving little or no interaction between the consumer and producer

3. Not everyone wants autonomous flying drones, or autonomous cars going around delivering things automatically

• Noise pollution concerns
• Safety concerns
• Just not comfortable with the idea

See also Mechanized Execution System or MES.

Localized or Globalized Distribution, Shipping, and Logistics

I feel like we should focus on localized distribution, shipping, and logistics.

However, we could also do globalized distribution, shipping, and logistics like the rest of mainstream society, and there are pros and cons to both.

This decision will influence the technology stack, and be influenced by the target audience.

If it's localized, and decentralized, then we'll likely want to experiment with decentralized technology, like blockchain, Ethereum, Holochain, and decentralized apps or "Dapps".

If it's globalized, then we can leverage AWS, Google Cloud, Amazon Prime, FedEx, UPS and other mainstream centralized technology and distribution services.

There's more a niche market with the localized approach, and the globalized approach appeals to a broader audience.

Product Lifecycle Management

The real advantage of this system, and what sets this apart from the manufacturing system we have today, is that each product in the product catalog can have a defined life-cycle and process for re-use, re-purposing, and recycling.

If the distribution, shipping, and logistics is local, then it'll be more sustainable and effective to transport products back to the producer for recycling via the Precious Plastic Shredder and Precious Plastic Extruder.