astm 3d printing standardized test .stl files

Naval ships like carriers, forward bases in Afghanistan and even the international space station have all started using additive manufacturing (AM) to shorten their supply lines and speed repairs. In response, many have called for shorter, more local supply chains or a redundant suppliers and higher levels of physical inventory.Īn alternative method of improving the resilience of some segments of the supply chain can include the use of 3D printing as a virtual warehouse of many replacement parts for businesses and fabs, greatly reducing down times for key tools and facilities. 3D printing is also an ideal tool for speeding development and prototyping, capable of fabricating cavity packages for sensors and even structured MEMS wafers from a wide spectrum of materials. The DoD and NASA were some of the early adopters for using 3D printing in remote applications. Traditional JIT relying on international supply lines failed in the COVID-19 pandemic. Fabs in Malaysia and the EU reported temporarily reduced production and staffing during peak infection/lockdown periods earlier this year. While large fabs typically have significant spare parts on hand, smaller fabs, often MEMS fabs, rely on a Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory management approach. If a fab tool goes down and requires a part, it is ordered and shipped to the facility. Ideally the part arrives in a few days, but in some cases for older legacy tools this can take weeks. During 2020, due to travel bans, this lag could be months if the part had to come from another country. As employees fell sick and quarantines tightened, work slowed in affected regions.

Early 2020 was fraught with supply chain problems for wafers fabs, electronic assembly sites and micro-nano businesses as COVID-19 shut-down international travel, suppliers and customers.

Astm 3d printing standardized test .stl files