New report: Mass customisation governance

We’re pleased to be able to share the final project report from the feasibility study led by Dr Phoebe Li at University of Sussex. “Mass customisation governance: regulation, liability, and intellectual property of re-distributed manufacturing in 3D bioprinting” describes results of their work undertaken during the 2016 round of 3DP-RDM feasibility studies. The results of this project were presented at the 3DP-RDM event 3D Printing Where and How on 31st January 2017 at the IfM in Cambridge.

Abstract

Phoebe Li, Alex Faulkner, James Griffin and Nick Medcalf

The feasibility study assesses the impacts of existing legal regimes on re-distributed manufacturing (RDM) in 3D printing (3DP). It investigates the viability of an embedded watermarking system into mass customisation governance of RDM as part of the potential impact of the three most important regimes on 3DP – regulation, liability, and intellectual property (IP) – in order to secure safety, quality control, surveillance, and traceability.

Download the report

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Event: Going for Gold: 3D Printing, Jewellery and the Future of Intellectual Property

Date: Friday 24 March 2017

Time: 10.00am – 5pm

Venue: EB708, Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University

Register here

Additive Manufacturing or 3D printing as it is more commonly known, continues to push the boundaries of Intellectual Property (IP) law whilst raising questions relating to the protection and exploitation of IP.

This challenge, which extends to the lucrative jewellery sectorraises further questions in relation to creativity, design, copyright and licensing.

This event, which builds on the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) Commissioned Study on 3D Printing and IP law, led by Bournemouth University (BU) during 2013-2014 (reports published in 2015), will explore some of these questions by bringing together experts from the cultural and business sectors including designers, manufacturers, distributors, policy makers and legal professionals.

The event will also provide the platform for a discussion of the ‘Going for Gold’ project carried out by researchers at CIPPM (Bournemouth University) in collaboration with Museotechniki Ltd and Uformia AS.

This multi-disciplinary event will be complemented by an exhibition of 3D printed jewellery artefacts which will be on display at the event.

Register here

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Event: Identifying and Developing Additive Manufacturing Skills for UK Industry

31st March 2017,  10:00 – 16:00

The Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry (directions here)

Register your place

Investment in education and training leading to the provision of the right skillsets at the right time will be key if UK industry is to capture the opportunities afforded by the adoption of Additive Manufacturing technologies.

This event aims to bring together those with insight into how Additive Manufacturing technologies will develop and can be most effectively deployed by industry in order to advise Additive Manufacturing UK of the nature of future skills needs. Outputs of this event will be used to inform recommendations for action and will support ongoing work with the UK Government and wider stakeholders. The aim is to ensure that the implementation of the UK Industrial Strategy delivers the skills necessary for the on-going success of the many sectors now adopting Additive Manufacturing within the broader changes being realised through the diffusion of Digital Manufacturing.

The conference will cover topics ranging from how to increase general awareness of the practicalities of adopting Additive Manufacturing, through to the development of specific skills and competences in design and manufacturing for both new entrants to the workforce as well as those already in work. Participants will include organisations wanting to develop the Additive Manufacturing skills and competences of their current and future workforce, as well as organisation providing Additive Manufacturing awareness raising and training courses at all levels. We anticipate that the event will lead to a better and more inclusive understanding of the changes necessary to the education and skills of current occupations as well as potential new roles, and understanding of the timing and scale of such changes in demand.

Register your place here.

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New Bit by Bit visitor: Cecilia Maria Angioletti

We’re pleased to welcome Cecilia Maria Angioletti as a visitor to the Bit by Bit project to continue investigations into the sustainability implications of 3D printing.

Cecilia is currently undertaking her doctoral studies in Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. She gained her Master’s degree with specialisation on production engineering, operations management, corporate strategy and economics. In her Master’s thesis she investigated the location choices of foreign multinational companies through greenfield investments. The implementation of an econometric model supported the empirical analysis.

In her current research Cecilia is looking into how industrial systems can become more resource efficient and sustainable. Specifically, she is focusing on the opportunities for improvements offered by additive manufacturing technologies and how adopting these technologies could enable the implementation of the circular economy paradigm. The promise of additive manufacturing can be seen throughout the product lifecycle: it is claimed that it can reduce energy and material consumption through maintenance, re-use, rework recycling, waste reduction strategies that close the loop. For manufacturing firms, it is thought that adopting additive manufacturing technology will provide an opportunity to enhance their sustainability performance through efficiency improvements that both reduce operating costs and improve competitive advantage.

Despite the significant body of research and evaluation methodologies for sustainability, including life cycle analyses, process optimisation, waste management and environmental protection, there remains scare concrete evidence of the resource efficiency benefits of additive manufacturing. Accordingly, Cecilia is probing into these claims, and in her current project she developed a quantitative assessment tool. While she’s with us in Cambridge she’ll use this tool to analyse to what degree the adoption of additive manufacturing supports the more efficient use of materials and energy.

[Image source: Cecilia Maria Angioletti]

2017 World Mass Customization and Personalization Conference

Our friends at RWTH Aachen University are hosting the 2017 World Mass Customization and Personalization Conference (WMCP2017) in Aachen, Germany from 19th-21st November 2017.

The Call for Papers is currently open, and invites work from those with academic or practical backgrounds within four broad tracks:

1. Customization & personalization via smart products
2. Digital manufacturing
3. Sustainability and mass customization
4. Mass customization & personalization success factors

Abstract submission is optional by 1st May, with full papers to be submitted by 1st July.