Manufacturers are looking at ways to incorporate technologies like additive manufacturing (AM), artificial intelligence (AI), etc to increase productivity of the manufacturing plants. The Bangalore-based Andrew Additive - an end-to-end solution provider for additive manufacturing - is help companies to adopt AM with ease by developing indigenous 3D printers for various industries. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, Nikhil Andrew, Founder and CEO, Andrew Additive, explains the advantages of additive manufacturing and how companies can leverage it to increase efficiency.

Could you please brief us about Andrew Additive?
We are a Bangalore based start-up mainly focused on developing & manufacturing 3D printers of different technologies. We also provide reverse engineering, scanning services, AM consultation and design services (DFAM). So I guess you could say we are an end-to-end solution provider when it comes to additive manufacturing (AM).

We, as a company, are doing our best to help companies and industries to adopt AM with ease. We have our R&D facility and manufacturing unit in Bangalore. Our focus right now is to make indigenous 3D printers of different technologies for various industries and our end goal is to make AM affordable to every Indian company. We are also focused on making printers for educational institutes, colleges and schools.

What kind of changes are you seeing in the manufacturing plants nowadays?
The major changes I see when it comes to manufacturing plants these days is that many major manufacturers are moving towards digital inventory and digital twin which in turn reduces the need for big warehouses to store inventory. These manufacturers are also adopting additive manufacturing to reduce lead time and manufacture parts when needed.

All major manufacturers are looking at ways in which they can incorporate ‘AAA’ into their companies (AAA being ‘additive manufacturing’, ‘artificial intelligence’, and ‘autonomous’).

Also, all companies are trying to be energy efficient and we believe AM can provide this.

India aims to become a manufacturing superpower of the world. How important will be the adoption of modern technologies (like automation, robotics, AI, IoT, etc.) for increasing India's competitiveness?
I think it will play a crucial role in becoming a superpower with respect to the manufacturing industry. Recently, India surpassed Germany to become the 4th largest manufacturer of automobiles in the world, and I’m confident that in due time India will become the leader in this and other industries as well.

There is a lot of untapped potential when it comes to India and modern technologies (such as additive manufacturing etc) are right now only in the initial stages of adoption. As more and more industries and companies start to adopt and see its potential, we can see India leading the race in manufacturing. The problem that many companies face is the knowledge gap that exists, as a result they do not know how to incorporate these new technologies into their existing system.

How are you helping your customers to increase their efficiency and productivity?
We help our customers by providing an end-to-end solution. We provide training and educate our customers right from the ideation stage, next we assist them when it comes to design after which we manufacture the part and even in helping them with the post processing

Like I said earlier, the main problem the companies are facing is the knowledge gap. So we have teamed up with Additive 3D to provide training and workshops to help fill the knowledge gap that is present in these industries.

The main reason many companies are hesitant to change from conventional manufacturing to additive manufacturing is because they are not able to identify the right parts and develop a business case. This is where we come in. We help the customer in part screening and develop a business case for them to help ease the adoption of these new technologies. We help the customer to understand the potential and challenges faced and make it easy for them to come to a decision.

AM helps in reducing the lead time needed to manufacture a part and can help in reduction of weight. Most importantly it can also help in parts consolidation - which means parts that are manufactured separately can be printed together as a single part; thus reducing significant time in post processing, machining, etc.

"Smart" a buzzword for everything in the industry - right from factory to products to components/parts. What does "Smart Manufacturing" mean to you?
The word smart manufacturing to me means to manufacture parts without wasting excess materials and to optimise the part to make it lightweight and efficient. Many times this word gets lost in meaning because generally people consider smart to be fast and spending less time or money to manufacture a part. But whereas smart manufacturing should be defined as manufacturing a product that uses less material, which in turn reduces the cost of the product and also to find ways to optimise the parts design.

I also personally feel smart manufacturing should also compromise a digital twin. This means a company always has a digital inventory and can manufacture a product or part when needed. For instance, let’s say I am in Bangalore and I supply spare parts to a company in Delhi. Now instead of have a whole inventory of spare parts that occupy space and dust, I can have a digital inventory so when the need comes for a spare from Delhi I can either print the part immediately and send it to them or if I have a network of printers around India then I can print the part in the closest place to the customer and send it to them. This is what I call ‘Smart Manufacturing’.

How can SMEs contribute to make India a manufacturing superpower?
I think SMEs will play a great role in making Indian manufacturing into a super power. When you take legacy manufacturers, it will be quite a tough task to change their operations as they would have to change an already established manufacturing plant and many processes. On the other hand, SMEs have the flexibility and agility to change their manufacturing ways to increase efficiency and try new things out.

What are the key hurdles in the adoption of modern technologies in the SME sector? What are solutions to overcome these hurdles?
The key hurdle will be the understanding of the opportunities and challenges of the new technology and how to integrate it into the existing manufacturing cycle. To overcome this, the technology must be well taught right from the school/college levels because these modern technologies are going to control the world possibly for the next 15-20 years minimum so students and young professionals need to be educated right from the very beginning on these technologies.

The next hurdle will be to make a good business case for the company that will justify the procurement of the technology and generate RoI for the company as well. For this hurdle, the companies should have a good team of employees who are well educated in this field and can help in the adoption of these technologies.

Today the high cost of machines and raw materials also becomes a hurdle.

Are there cost-effective ways for SMEs to make manufacturing more efficient/smart?
That depends on which sector the company is in. Now let’s consider a company that does small scale manufacturing of highly precise products, then AM is the best solution for them as they can scale up from there. But for large companies that would be a tough task. The way SMEs can make smart manufacturing is through having digital inventories and digital twins. This way any part can be manufactured at any given point at any given time and scale.

Any plans to launch new products/services in the near future?
Yes, following the launch of the KALAM series (indigenous extrusion printer) in August, we are planning to launch our food printer very shortly. The recently released KALAM 300 printer has a much sleeker look and has an option of including Wi-Fi printing and camera. Later next year, we will also be releasing a version 3 of our KALAM series printer which will support dual extrusion printing and composite printing.

What are your growth plans?
We are always looking to innovate and make new and exciting printers for our customers. We are integrating IOT to all our machines in the near future, which will help manufacturing semi-autonomously. We have partnered with Additive 3D to help promote AM Labs which is an excellent initiative that helps bring AM to educational institutes and offers certified training, courses and projects.

We plan to make an education version of all our printers for schools and colleges that will be user friendly and easy to learn for the students. We are also working with some colleges to help them in their projects. We have collaborated with Aerone, which is a drone manufacturing start-up in Chennai, to help develop a frame for their delivery drone. We also have a R&D center that helps customers reverse engineer and develop new products.