Additive Manufacturing (AM) is on the front line of the unfolding industrial revolution. This string of rapid prototyping technologies is replacing conventional production, and consequently, it is poised to generate substantial economic revenue by 2035—$196.8 billion. Adrian Cirlig and Teodora Gaici explain more...

The future is certainly bright, but so is the present. On any given day, manufacturers can turn to AM technology to facilitate the production of individually customized products at relatively low costs, reshape the design process, and consolidate their supply chains. 

AM will remain a particularly active architect of customer-driven design, virtual inventory, and rapid iterationsfor new product development. Yet it’s not all roses; the lack of quality consistency may slow production runs to a trickle. 

In consequence, is AM both the cure and the culprit of innovation volatility? Industry experts seem undecided in the matter as this paper from the Rand Corporation outlines. 

 

Additive Manufacturing: A Magic Bullet for Field Service Logistics? 

AM is, after all, a disruptive technology—one that comes with a learning curve. Many top-tier leaders have justifiably gauged the trajectory of additive technology, and when they sensed it had promise, they gingerly lunged for it. 

Through the use of AM technologies,anyone can manufacture products without any required tooling for production. That’s right—traditional molding techniques or large machines that have yet to be deftly transported will no longer impede manufacturing performance. Simply put, this set of powerful AM machines has the ability to fabricate a product from a digital geometry representation. Once they accurately replicate computer-aided design drawings, AM tools directly transform three-dimensional structures into functional physical prototypes and, more recently, ready-for-use products—all that in just a matter of minutes. The physical parts are built out of plastics, polymers, metals, ceramics, stainless steel, or other types of material by using a layer-by-layer printing process. A vast majority of modern AM machines print with multiple materials simultaneously and allow the development of mixed-material products.

"Manufacturers must have a plan for everything—how, when, and where they design and manufacture products rank top of the list..."

Organisations with a strong innovative culture recognize the need to facilitate on-demand production, and as it turns out, they’re growing faster and increasingly outpace their competitors.

Innovation, however, is rarely linear. In most cases, it’s a progressive affair that disrupts practically every aspect of the business

Manufacturers must have a plan for everything—how, when, and where they design and manufacture products rank top of the list. AM is already distorting modern-day manufacturers’ long-planned reality by encouraging them to rethink every design-to-fabrication procedure and go well beyond traditional manufacturing methods. Those who are up to the challenge will become the leading innovators in their market.

 

Additive Opportunities for the Taking 

The revolutionary AM technology is becoming commonplace one layer at a time. 

This significant surge in popularity may be due to the proposed benefits that are in visible contrast with those provided by conventional manufacturing operations. 

Milling, for example, can produce a large amount of unnecessary material waste. Distinct in nature, additive processes have become a statement of sustainability—both economically and environmentally. It is touted that AM technology reduces energy consumption, facilitates dematerialisation, and improves resource efficiency by using waste as an input to construct equitably personalised products in a cost-effective manner.

This type of manufacturing process also attempts to minimise the need for packaging, transportation, and storage. More than that, prototyping and building a high-value product from geometrically complex data in-house can also significantly reduce shipping costs and shorten supply chains.

Since AM machines offer complete (and highly flexible) design freedom, they allow early customer involvement in the product development process. This customer-driven design procedure helps manufacturers respond to individually customised demand wherever needed, revise and conduct timely design changes, and reduce time-to-market. Above all, manufacturers are empowered to forge direct-to-consumer relationships and prolong the lifetime value of a specific object.

"With large-scale printers being well underway, Additive Manufacturing technology will steadily extend its capabilities..."

It’s impressive, but that’s just barely scratching the surface. AM is an advocate of product differentiation—at scale!—and industry experts can take full advantage of this technology to mass-produce custom-fit objects without paying a steep price for additional workers or tooling. Manufacturing in large volumes will, in fact, reduce the cost per unit, minimise the total cost of ownership, and drive greater growth.

At the moment, AM machines can mainly print tiny (yet rather complex) items; they can briskly produce fully-functional parts in just a single production step and without the need for assembly lines. With large-scale printers being well underway, AM technology will steadily extend its capabilities to open up innovative business models across the industry.

 

Additive Manufacturing Technology Is Ripe for Investment, But the Caveats Remain 

It’s in the cards: AM tools will offer unlimited design-to-fabrication opportunities for modern-day manufacturers. The vast majority of these professionals may inevitably face certain drawbacks that can’t (and most probably won’t!) go unnoticed.

Quality consistency is one of the main stumbling blocks.

Every manufacturer aims to develop consistent parts and ensure repeatable quality levels throughout their production lines. Yet no two items are exactly the same. Given that AM machines can produce parts as small as 500 nanometers, the differences may be slim or less obvious; but they exist, and a single inconsistent subset that is left unaddressed could put the brakes on the production line.

All the materials used for crafting AM-produced components should also be processed within the required quality standards and specifications, or else they might prevent objects from being recycled

"Many manufacturing and field service professionals haven’t gained an in-depth understanding of Additive Manufacturing techniques yet, let alone hands-on experience.."

The knowledge gap is another considerable barrier to the adoption of AM technology. As this study warns “[the] knowledge of AM in the industry exists in pockets.” Many manufacturing and field service professionals haven’t gained an in-depth understanding of AM techniques yet, let alone hands-on experience.

Amid global economic unrest, the lack of know-how may drive economic insecurity and hamper technology adoption.

 

Route Around the Gaps and Fortify Additive Manufacturing Innovation 

An AM-produced component may be a sure bet for unprecedented manufacturing gains. That is, of course, if manufacturers do not band-aid the inevitable caveats that eagerly come with every disruptive technology. /p>

As AM technology advances, the trick is to promptly address each limitation or potential risk and transform every temporary hiccup into an opportunity for modernisng manufacturing lines.

Capturing AM’s transformative potential is crucial for manufacturers who want to advance customer-led product development and freely reach all their revenue growth targets. 

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Further Reading: 

Adrian is the Editor for a series of key industry events with Swedish Conference Producer, Copperberg. 

• Find out more about his forthcoming event the Field Service Forum @ https://www.copperberg.com/fieldserviceforum/

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In a follow up piece to his last article for Field Service News, Copperberg's Rohit Agarwal asks how you can make the strategy personal to the workforce.

Copperberg’s Rohit Agarwal suggests that it is time to get our strategies correct before looking for excuses when it comes to misfiring service delivery...

Copperberg’s Thomas Igou outlines the four key technologies that he believes are going to be shaping the future of the aftermarket in the coming years...

As the Uber blueprint disrupts the traditional service model, firms need to keep pace with the innovation or risk losing a customer-base who expect no less than exceptional. Click Software’s Ziv Barzilay, speaking to Mark Glover, explains why...

Despite words like innovators and pioneers being regularly used to describe high profile companies, there is an argument that in business you never really want to be the first. Wang Computers released the Wang 3300 five years before the Apple 1. Friendster arrived two years ahead FaceBook. The difference between bleeding edge and earlier adopter can be critical to success as Rohit Argawal, Editorial Director at Copperberg writes...

The ‘creation of a technology’ and the ‘adoption of the technology’, what’s more important? One way to look at it is that technology prowess for an organisation helps it advance and differentiate but its scope is limited unless the technology is adopted widely and simplifies tasks or generates revenue.

Narrowing down to the Field Service Industry, keywords such as ‘Democratised Service’, ‘Augmented Workforce’, ‘Humanoid Field Workers’, are abundant and very easy to encounter today in most articles, podcasts and webinars. The hype around IoT, AI, AR and VR is causing Field Service Directors to sweat and are inducing fear of being left behind in the digitalisation race.

The major question of the hour is: has the industry crossed ‘The Chasm’ yet for digitalisation? For those not familiar with the technology adoption lifecycle curve, the curve breaks down technology adoption into five phases with respect to time. When a new technology is introduced, the innovators (read tech geeks, influencers and technology over-enthusiasts) are the first to try it. In the field service area, these innovators would be large field service companies that have an abundant budget, manpower and cushion to fail for new innovations.

Once these innovators find a use case for the technology and deem it fit is when the early adopters start using the technology. This is the make or break zone for most technology. The number of users increases non-linearly and more rapidly compared to the initial phase.

To move from the innovators to the early majority is the toughest phase for the technology and is known as ‘crossing the chasm.’ After the ‘chasm,’ the use of technology increases rapidly till peak usage when the market starts to saturate and the late majority comes in. The laggards are technophobics who are last to adopt the technology. Most field service companies that consider keeping machines up and running as important play it safe and would be in the ‘early to late’ majority category.

Coming back to digitalisation in the field service industry, the majority of field service organisations have started addressing the need for IoT and data collection to ramp up their field service offerings and have more satisfied customers. At the recent Field Service Forum 2019 in Amsterdam, Europe’s leading event for field service, more than 115 Field Service Directors came together to discuss the present trends in field service, the upcoming challenges and the future of customer satisfaction.


         "To move from the innovators to the early majority is the toughest phase..."


Most of them agreed that IoT and data will have a major impact on service businesses and that they need to start small, arrive at results and then move forward. They acknowledged the speed of technology development today and also benchmarked their own services to the standards set by the keynote speakers. Acknowledgement of the impact of the technology by the wider audience and relating to case studies show that IoT has crossed the chasm and reached the early innovators. All those not on board the IoT bandwagon are now scurrying to do so.

According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2018 report, IoT platforms will reach their plateau of productivity in the next 5-10 years. The Field Service Directors who have adopted IoT and data collection reflected that tech trends can be misleading and that they should rather focus on business problems. Translating the data to meaningful insights that can lead to better business decisions. There was also contemplation and debate on whether machines could take over humans in the workplace, though the consensus was that it wouldn’t be likely.

One technology that can help in this data processing and generating insights is AI. However, only the early innovators and technology leaders have tested it so far. Has AI jumped the chasm in the field service industry? Not yet.

Most innovators are still creating use cases and the projects are on test-beds. The majority of field service leaders are starting to see the potential and value in using AI in their data processing, but then the implementation, adaptation and ROI are a long way down the path.

Another technology that is premature but is deemed to have high value is augmented and virtual reality. The potential to have an experienced technician assisting a new line of the on-field workforce is very appealing but will the customer be satisfied and confident with the blunt show of inexperience? Will the chances to have faulty repairs increase once the technology is out of test trials or on the field?

There is always a debate about technology, its potential forecasted and the actual benefits derived. Over the next few years, we will realise if these technologies will jump the chasm and go on to become basic necessities in the field service business.

To be involved in the Field Service Directors Community, pre-register here for the Field Service Forum 2020. 

Rohit Agarwal, Editorial Director with Copperberg, shares his reflections on a series of discussion groups he recently co-chaired with Field Service News’ Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland at the Field Service Summit, where over 120 senior field service leaders came together to discuss what the Experience Economy means for field service organisations...

Would you walk into a pub that served you a warm beer the previous time? Or, go back to this fine dining restaurant with your partner if it was noisy and unclean? One word that can make or break it for the service business is ‘Experience’.

With customer satisfaction being the buzz word in the past years, now the new trending words are ‘Experience Economy’, ‘Customer Delight’, and ‘Good-feel Service’. The trend is very common in the B2C sector which has led to terms like ‘Uberized Service’, ‘Amazon like Delivery’ or ‘Disney like Experience’.

This wave of keeping customers happy and providing them with a great experience has to become a priority on the list of the majority of Field Service Directors today. With the quest to create the perfect value proposition and customer experience comes in the various challenges that these leaders in manufacturing face today.

Recently, I had a fantastic opportunity to moderate a round-table discussion along with Kris Oldland, Editor of Field Service News about the Challenges that Service Leaders Face today and the future technologies in Field Service and Spare Parts at the Spare Parts Summit Summit in Coventry, UK.

One important observation was the interlinking of issues with spare parts and field service. The service leaders faced challenges in obsolesce management, spare parts management, data collection, utilisation and analysis along with field workforce training and planning.

With the advent of digital tools, faster production and time to market, one big challenge for Service Leaders today is obsolescence management as it has become increasingly challenging to predict and prepare for the future. IoT and connected machines have made predictive maintenance easier and helped the service organisations to move into the proactive space than the reactive space. One challenge still remains with break-fix due to user mismanagement, negligence or insufficient training.

Although IoT allows companies to note some cases of misuse and offer training proactively preventing damage to the machines and need for servicing prematurely. The service leaders have accepted that there will always be break-fix with machines whether it is due to an unforeseen circumstance or a user issue. So the goal in these instances is to have enough data to be able to get a technician with the right spare parts to the location and get it fixed immediately.

"One important observation was the interlinking of issues with spare parts and field service..."

This is a shift from the older model of a technician visiting to collect information, making a fault report to get the spare parts and revisiting the customer to fix the issue which is a higher cost for the service company and loss in uptime for the customers. Tracking of spare parts and more specifically ‘Having the rights parts at the right place’ is also an issue being tackled currently by the service leaders.

Some leaders are concerned about the tracking of spare parts as they become ‘lost’ with technicians, in spare part boxes or in inventories. Technologies like RFID readers, GPS tags could play a big role in actively tracking the spare parts to make sure the parts can be delivered to the right place when required.

The manufacturing, service and aftermarket space today is in a fantastic rush for data and today is commonly referred to as the new gold or oil. Kris Oldland had an interesting take on how this gold can be dug out but will still be useless unless refined and put it in the right form. One challenge with data is also getting data from the right source.

Similar to ores to extract gold, if the content of the ore is bad, the gold will be very expensive to extract and the return on investment will be low or negative. Data has a similar proposition today. Companies have started asking, how much data is enough data and which data is good data. With better data processing, artificial intelligence and machine learning making progress, the data analysis and processing woes should be answered more effectively in the near future.

The challenges cannot be addressed with a magic wand or just ignored, but being able to address them is a progressive first step. Collaboration with the customers and getting them involved in the whole process of solving the challenges can also boost progress for the service organisations.

To sum it up according to a Forbes quote,’An experience is not an amorphous construct, it is as real an offering as any service, good or commodity.’ 

Copperberg’s Thomas Igou reflects on some of their most recent research that outlines how although most companies within the field service sector on a program of digitalisation to leverage emerging technologies to improve the efficiency of their service operations both in the office and out in the field, almost half of companies cite adapting current IT infrastructure for Future Digital Strategy as one of their biggest challenges...









Field Service Organisations today would like to move into predictive maintenance, connect the back office to the front and augment knowledge virtually to field technicians through digital devices to boost productivity, increase profitability and stay ahead of the competition.

However, according to the Copperberg Research’s Annual Field Service Report conducted with over 120 FIeld Service DIrectors in 2019, 42% of the respondents listed adapting current IT infrastructure for Future Digital Strategy as one of their biggest problems. There are so many technologies to implement yet having a unified IT infrastructure for these systems and platforms is no easy task, and can make or break a Digital Strategy if the data between systems cannot speak to each other.

With the advent of numerous sensors, faster data capturing and transmission, sorting, processing and making use of all the data can be a big challenge requiring a massive investment in upgrading IT departments. Most companies in the field service domain are just getting started on the digital journey where going fast could be useful, but the important question to ask is if it is worth going faster than your customers? Or, is the best approach to take is one of step by step collaboration with partners, suppliers and customers. According to the survey, the next big challenges according to 30% of the field service directors is deciding on the digital transformation tools along with workforce planning and scheduling (32%). However, the important observation from the survey is one about change management.

To be able to implement the digital tools and keep pace with the industry, change management is crucial, which has to trickle down from the company strategy through the top management to the field service engineers. Michael Porter famously said, ‘’Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different’’.

Industrial organisations are fighting their own internal struggles of moving away from the traditional transactional business model they have been running on since their p77 inception towards a different one more adapted to today’s Experience Economy based on partnerships, value creation, subscriptions, outcomes and productivity. 53% of respondents in the survey claimed that only top management makes the decisions which could be a double-edged sword in today’s dynamic industry.

Strategies have been imperatively flowing top-down in organisations but might offer a challenge to adoption at the bottom level as they will be the ones using the deployed technology. Most leaders today are discussion preventive maintenance and some about building machines that will not break down avoiding maintenance operations and associated costs. 31% of the industry is still stuck in reactive maintenance which is concerning given the plethora of tools, case studies and resources available to move into proactive maintenance are available and have been publicised over years now.

Having the field service workforce motivated to pitch into the companies strategies will lead to motivated technicians. Top management has to involve the technicians when deciding on new digital tools, continuously train them and have the technicians help each other to understand the new technology.

This will help the younger technicians learn from experienced ones and also make the older technicians easily ask the young workforce on adapting to the new technology, bridging the competence gap. In the Survey, 80% of leaders rate their field service workforces adaptation to new tech, helping each other and providing feedback as average with only a very small number rating it as high. Competence Development of Field Workforce tops the list of priorities for field service leaders in the next 5 years.
Jim Baston, of BBA Consulting Group Inc. has a different take: ‘‘It is interesting to note the growing place that technology plays in field service. With remote diagnostics, artificial intelligence and visual reality, as well as embedded intelligence in the serviced equipment, the technical competence of the service person, will become less important. As they rely more on their tools to troubleshoot and repair and less on their experience, it opens up the door for less qualified individuals who will be able to give comparable levels of technical service.’’
In conclusion, to connect all three aspects of digitalisation, strategy and competence management, Adam Neale of Arqiva group states, ’’We will see a significant reduction in the number of highly skilled Field Engineers. We will be more low-skilled with 3rd line support assisting with technology such as Augmented Reality. Without great employee engagement, you will not succeed. Your employees build your customer reputation which can be positive or negative. If they were engaged with what your company does each and every day, then they will deliver high standards.’’
The quantitative survey conducted by Copperberg Research had over 125 respondents reflecting the state of the current field service industry. Field Service Organisations are trying to balance the growing customer expectations and associated challenges that implementing new digital tools are bringing along. The survey brings to light the major challenges the industry faces, the tools that will be important to implement in the next 5 years along with addressing the needs for Field Service Engineers.
The survey is divided into three chapters: Digital, Workforce and Strategy to streamline the needs in these three spheres complimented by insights from industry experts. 
You can download the report here.

Now in its seventh year, content at The Spare Parts Business Platform continues to reflect the changing trends in what is for the service sector a strong source of revenue. But with disruptive technologies such as Aritificial Intelligence and blockchain starting to have an impact on the supply chain – along with Brexit - what did delegates take away from this year’s gathering in Stockholm? Mark Glover finds out more...

Skype, the VOIP service released in 2003, the pre-cursor to video-calls over the web is now taken for granted. A true game changer, the application means business meetings can take place in one room with worldwide attendees interacting in real-time; friends and family can keep in touch from both sides of the world. In technological terms, it was disruption on a huge scale. It seemed appropriate then that one of the creators of Skype, Jonas Kjellberg, should present a keynote at this year’s Spare Parts Business Platform.

Delegates packed into the main conference room to hear how the Swedish entrepreneur disrupted and continues to disrupt in pursuit of constant innovation. Billed as part of the event’s Service Mastery Day, Kjellberg’s hour-long presentation urged delegates to bring this culture of disruption to their business framework. Once the cash cow of the service sector, spare parts has perhaps remained stagnant in its outlook and, Kjellberg, suggested disruptive elements such as AI, drones and 3D printing should be welcomed and embraced.

However, political upheaval through Brexit is creating a type of disruption a long way from the technological and business sort that drives innovation. Indeed, as I write this the EU has just agreed an extension to the UK’s departure, pushing the exit day back to 31 October. A major thread of negotiation and debate is the movement of goods in the EU and any tariffs imposed will inevitably have an affect on the supply chain. In a fascinating presentation towards the end of the first day, Lars Karlsson, CEO and Managing Director at KGH Global Consulting and an expert in customs warned delegates about the impact that the UK’s withdrawal could have on logistics. Karlsson, who was commissioned by the European Parliament Constitutional Committee to suggest possible border-solutions post-Brexit shared his thoughts on the impact of import and export between the EU and UK. Of course, while businesses are doing everything they can to prepare for all Brexit outcomes, until politicians come to an agreement we can still only speculate on what sort of mark Brexit will leave.

"Once the cash cow of the service sector, spare parts has perhaps remained stagnant in its outlook..."

One future trend that could impact positively on the supply chain is 3D printing and on day two of the conference, Atanu Chaudhuri from Aalborg University – and recent guest on the Field Service Podcast – presented case studies from two Danish manufacturers to delegates on selecting suitable spare parts for 3D printing (or additive manufacturing to give it its other term). Adopted within the medical, automotive and aerospace sectors additive manufacturing is yet to truly take-off in service, due in-part to the lack of a solid business case being waved in front of a perhaps cynical industry. However, as part of Atanu’s presentation, Mads Blaabjerg Uhre from Nilfisk, a supplier of professional cleaning equipment, and an advocate of 3D printing took part in a far-reaching Q&A on the subject, which may have persuaded some of those in the audience to re-consider their view on the subject.

Elsewhere on day two, sessions straddled warehouse management, digitization and stock optimisation. On the latter, Andrea Capello, Head of Parts BU at Ariston Thermo, a producer of thermic comfort products for commercial and industrial use, was able to share some of the guidelines that he uses to check stock-level by cluster and some of the tools used in this process. He outlined the importance of having a clear understanding of stock-balance, including inventory and location and affirmed that only then can you be fast and responsive to the customer.

Delegates left the two-day event enriched with new ideas, contacts and an accurate overview of where they and their business sit in the spare parts world. Thomas Igou, Editorial Director at Copperberg, the organisers behind the event, said this year’s conference had been a success and he looked forward to the next gathering. “With over 150 participants from all corners of Europe,” he said, “and across the manufacturing sector, 12 partners including the leading solutions providers in the sector, and high profile speakers that included the co-founder of Skype, the event was two intense days of knowledge sharing. I look forward to the next edition in February 2020, this time in Germany.”

A year is a long time in field service and 2020’s Spare Parts Business Platform, I’m sure, will reflect the trends of a dynamic and constantly moving industry.