*Additive Manufacturing (AM) –  one of several core digital technologies in “Industry 4.0” – is increasingly being deployed in industrial-scale contexts. The successful serial production of functional, end-use metallic components has demonstrated the possibility of AM as a primary production process in high-value engineering applications. However, AM’s current uses remain limited to specific industries and application scenarios. One of the principal challenges to greater adoption is a lack of organizational mastery over AM’s implementation in production contexts, and, more specifically, the absence of clear decision-making tools to facilitate exploration of implementation scenarios. To this end, this work proposes the use of a discrete-event simulation-based software modeling tool to investigate the influences of different facility-level planning decisions on techno-economic characteristics of the system’s performance. By changing key parameters, this tool enables users to observe variations in cost (both for the overall production system, and per unit produced), identify the contributions of individual system elements to those cost categories, and assess overall system throughput. The tool enables users to identify locally optimal solutions and make corresponding planning decisions. This work demonstrates the utility of the model via experimental results which illustrate the relationship between facility parameters and system performance variation.*

*This work aims to develop a simulation-based cost model, which can be used as an instrument for comprehensive techno-economic analysis of a proposed configuration of an AM production facility which utilizes SLM equipment for component printing. Certain characteristics of the AM production process (e.g. staffing levels, shift patterns, or build time) have been investigated previously. However, past work is limited in scope. Previous studies have historically ignored the cost and schedule implications of post-processing activities. Post-processing is a catch-all term used to describe secondary activities performed after the printing step. The term post-processing describes tasks that range from thermally relieving printed components to surface finishing those components using different methods. In the SLM process specifically, a stress relieving heat treatment cycle is required for each component (which may be batched into a single furnace cycle). In addition, SLM components typically require a large quantity of sacrificial “support” geometry. Support geometries are comprised of the same material as the printed component, and therefore require a manually intensive removal process. Finally, other finishing steps may be taken to improve the part’s surface properties (e.g. sanding, blasting, tumbling) or its mechanical and metallurgical properties (e.g. hot-isostatic pressing). The cost and duration of post-processing tasks are a necessary inclusion in any robust model of the SLM process, and an important contribution of this work to the field.*

*This work concludes with an identification of the limitations in the current modeling approach, and proposes additional directions for future study.*


Simulating the AM Production Facility: a Configurable Software Tool for Strategic Facility-Level Planning

Division / Sponsor: 
Manufacturing Engineering Division (MED)

International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference - Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/MSEC/MSEC2020/volume/84256

JSME 2020 Conference on Leading Edge Manufacturing/Materials and Processing - Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/lemp/LEMP2020/volume/83624

MSEC2020 - Virtual Conference, LEMP2020 - Virtual Conference

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