From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine
Feb. 27, 2013
Supply Chain News: 3D Printing Revolution in Manufacturing Continues On, as Nike Releases New Shoe Made from the Technique
Gains in Performance Only Possible from 3D Techniques, Nike Says; Getting "Complexity" for Free
SCDigest Editorial Staff
So called "3D Printing" -a technique in which goods can be produced by building up layers of materials in a fashion something like a laser printer works - seems very likely to dramatically change much of today's current manufacturing, and our world.
An increasingly broad array of products are being made using the process, in which three-dimensional computer drawings are produced as real objects by machines that lay down, layer by ultra-thin layer, plastics, rubber, resins and other materials, using a movable array of spray nozzles.
SCDigest Says: |
 |
"Nike is using this 'free' complexity to design the football cleats for maximum performance without being constrained by issues of manufacturability," said 3D printing web site shapeways.com |
|
What Do You Say?
|
|
|
|
But despite the tremendous growth of the technology and the rapidly increasing array of products being made with it, so far the industry is really just scratching the surface of 3D printing's future.
Case in point: a new Nike football cleat shoe that is being made in part by a 3D printing process.
The Nike Vapor Laser Talon, specially designed to shave precious micro-seconds from a football player's time in the 40-yard dash or to enable a player to accelerate faster on the field, is thought to be the first sports shoe to be made from the technique. 3D printing is used to build the bottom "plate," or what we might think of as the sole of the shoe.
To create the plate, Nike engineers used a 3D printing technique called selective laser sintering (SLS), which uses lasers to fuse small particles into the desired, three-dimensional plate. The SLS' lasers are focused onto a bed of powder and at each spot the laser is pointed, it "sinters" or melts the powder into a solid, a few microns at a time.
The 3D printing approach was essential to making the shoe do what it does for aspiring NFL players, Nike says.
"SLS technology has revolutionized the way we design cleat plates - even beyond football - and gives Nike the capability to create solutions that were not possible within the constraints of traditional manufacturing processes," said Nike footwear innovation director Shane Kohatsu on a blog post.
On the web page announcing the new cleat, Nike adds that as a result of "proprietary material selection, Nike was able to prototype a fully functional plate and traction system within a fraction of the traditional timeframe and at a fraction of the weight. The SLS process allows for the engineering and creation of shapes not possible in traditional manufacturing processes. It also provides the ability to make design updates within hours instead of months to truly accelerate the innovation process to never seen speeds."
The approach just in Nike's case alone could have a considerable effect on its supply chain. A more "make to order" model than today's "make to stock" would seem a likely potential outcome, and with that production closer to market. In other words, Nike could make the plate as needed using 3D printing say in the US for its domestic market, using US facilities to attach the upper parts of the shoe to the plate and finish the shoe.
(Manufacturing Article Continued Below)
|
Sports shoe manufacturers, it turns out, have been using 3D printing to build prototypes for years, but it appears the new Nike shoe will be the first to use it for finished product. 