The government manufacturing revolution

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a massive evolution and change thanks to a new generation of disruptive technologies that are having a massive impact on how we design and fabricate products and parts.

New digital design solutions and software platforms are opening the door to AI-assisted design capabilities – such as generative design – which take a very organic and biological approach to product design. Simultaneously, new additive and subtractive manufacturing tools and capabilities are redefining the processes that manufacturers follow to bring these designs to life.

Together, these technologies have redefined where, how and how long it takes to make things, while simultaneously making new, more advanced designs that were previously impossible to efficiently fabricate possible. And that is particularly exciting for government agencies, which have a significantly larger product manufacturing requirement than many would realize.

To learn more about this revolution in government manufacturing, we recently sat down with Caleb Funk, a solutions consultant with IMAGINiT technologies specializing in manufacturing software. During our discussion, we talked about the changing manufacturing landscape and the impact that new technologies are having on how the government makes things.

Here is what he had to say:

GovDesignHub: Why are these interesting times for manufacturing? What new technologies/innovations are entering the space?

Caleb Funk: Manufacturing is always trying to answer the same questions: How do we decrease time to market, improve product quality, and decrease the amount of weight and scrap? 

Generative design is one tool that manufacturers are leveraging to provide an answer.  Generative design allows engineers to create an initial design, specify crucial points and features and leverage software to iteratively create new concepts.  This is combined with finite element analysis in order to generate design options that can perform under required loads with the least amount of material possible.

In terms of improving time to market, additive manufacturing leads the way.  One of the bottlenecks of any design is the prototype phase.  While 3D modeling is useful in creating a digital prototype, a physical prototype is nearly always required.  Additive manufacturing allows the designer to print 3D models of their protypes with polymers or even metal.  This is a huge advantage over having to create castings or molds that may be used a single time.

GovDesignHub: What role does digital design have in enabling these new manufacturing methods?

Caleb Funk: Digital design allows users to iterate quickly and interface with a wide variety of manufacturing tools.  Instead of drafting, we can now model the product and pass that information on to Computer Aided Manufacturing or 3D printing software.  Those tools can be used to quickly create protypes, or possibly even go right to production.

I mentioned the idea of a digital protype earlier, and I want to point out what a key role that plays.  Creating a complete 3D model allows designers to review interferences, ranges of motion, and even physical properties such as weight and material strength before a physical part is created.  Digital design enables these different manufacturing methods, but it also reduces the amount of protypes necessary before going to production.

GovDesignHub: When people think of government agencies and organizations, they probably don’t think that they have significant manufacturing requirements. What types of things do government agencies/organizations need to manufacture?

Caleb Funk: It may seem counterintuitive since many people would think of government agencies as strictly consumers or acquirers of manufactured goods, but there is a huge demand across all levels of government to manufacture things.

Many of the national labs manufacture devices that detect radiation or other energy emissions, as well as simple test fixtures and jigs.  Transportation agencies may manufacture racks for crash test dummies.  Air Force engineers are tasked with designing and manufacturing everything from communications gear to test cells for jet engines.  And Army bases often manufacture spare parts on an as needed basis. 

From state and local government, to federal civilian agencies, to defense and homeland security organizations, there is a massive manufacturing requirement in practically every government entity.

GovDesignHub: What about these new manufacturing tools/methods make them particularly exciting for government users?

Caleb Funk: Generative design, the ability to try different designs via 3D printing, and digital prototype testing are all tools that allow users to find the best way to manufacture a product before a tool touches the raw material. This helps to reduce the time needed to design and manufacture a product, while also making manufacturing better and cheaper.

GovDesignHub: What is the Product Design Manufacturing Collection (PDMC)? What does it offer that traditional solutions – such as AutoCAD – don’t offer? What capabilities does it have that aren’t available in other design solutions?

Caleb Funk: AutoCAD is applicable to many drafting needs, but that ability to be anything can also be a constraint.  Other industry-specific tools allow the user to work much more efficiently and quickly.

The PDMC has manufacturing-specific workflows that allow the different products to interact with each other and that streamline the design and manufacturing process. This ecosystem of design is what makes Autodesk products stand out.

GovDesignHub: Have government users transitioned to the PDMC? Why do you think that – despite the benefits of switching – they’re reticent to make a change?

Caleb Funk: It is easy to keep doing things the way that you have always done them.  And change can be both scary and expensive. I think it’s these concerns around the cost of change – both the financial cost and human cost of learning new software- that keeps government users from making that move towards these new, more efficient tools.

But this is where industry partners – such as IMAGINiT – can assist the government. Industry partners can help to flatten the learning curve so that government users can quickly get the most out of their software investment. This can help assuage some of those concerns and get more efficient tools into the hands of people that design and make things for the government more quickly.

For additional information about IMAGINiT and how they help the government make things, click HERE.