Driving Innovation in Product Design and Manufacturing Using 3D Printing

An article by: Dr. Carlo Cella, Dr. Francesco Cella, Dr. Edoardo Cella

The transformation underway in industry is fundamentally changing the way products are designed and manufactured, and what these products can do. In old industries such as the Lime Industry, innovation faces many obstacles.

By overcoming many challenges, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Advanced Manufacturing will move the Lime Industry into new levels of efficiency and productivity:

New generation state-of-the-art sensors can capture a much more granular level of operational data and can operate more reliably under harsh process conditions (i.e. a combustion chamber scenario);

New production techniques, like 3D printing of sensors and devices, will enable the production of prototypes faster, at lower cost and with major flexibility.

Machines today are designed with corresponding virtual representations. The physical and digital counterparts exchange data, which is constantly captured by sensors. This way, companies can detect faults earlier in the development phase — and even monitor machinery and components after distribution. This article explores, in a real world example, the ability to digitally link together design, product engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution, and remanufacturing (or servicing) into one cohesive, intelligent system — indeed, a level indicator sensor that helps to prevent inefficiency and downtime in a plant that has to run 24/7 on a continuous basis.

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