物聯網革命（4）3D列印

第六章作者提到3D列印。我真的認同神奇的3D列印的發展趨勢。這部分的大趨勢, 跟作者其他章節的資本主義倒台, 物聯網的普及, 未來的大同世界, 都沒有必然的因果關係。這是一個正在發生的事實, 值得我們認真思考與期待。他需要資本投入, 需要企業經營, 也許要協同合作。我把本書看到的精華摘要如下。

 

3D列印與傳統製造業不同的7個地方(page 75~77) : 

1.需要很少人工, The software does all the work, which is why it’s more appropriate to think of the process as “infofacture” rather than“manufacture.”

2.軟體來自公開分享的來源, the early practitioners of 3D printing have made strides to ensure that the software used to program and print physical products remains open source, allowing prosumers to share new ideas with one another in do-it-yourself (DIY) hobbyist networks.

3.傳統生產用減法, 3D列印用加法, Traditional factory manufacturing is a subtractive process. Raw materials are cut down and winnowed and then assembled to manufacture the final product. In the process, a significant amount of the material is wasted and never finds its way into the end product. Three-dimensional printing is additive infofacturing. The software is directing the molten material to add layer upon layer, creating the product as a whole piece. Additive infofacturing uses one-tenth of the material of subtractive manufacturing, giving the 3D printer a substantial leg up in efficiency and productivity.

4.零組件也都自己列印, 3D printers can print their own spare parts without having to invest in expensive retooling and the time delays that go with it. With 3D printers, products can also be customized to create a single product or small batches designed to order, at minimum cost.

5.更加環保,3D printing movement is deeply committed to sustainable production. Emphasis is on durability and recyclability and using nonpolluting materials. William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s vision of “upcycling”—adding value to the product at every stage of its lifecycle—is built into the ecology of production.

6.在地化, 省去行銷成本, 舉例Rob Kalin的Etsy website, 亦有90萬商品, 6千萬客戶, a local 3D printer can power his or her infofactory with green electricity harvested from renewable energy onsite or generated by local producer cooperatives. a small 3D printing operation anywhere in the world can advertise infofactured products on the growing number of global Internet marketing sites at nearly zero marginal cost. 

7.省去運送成本, they can power their vehicles with renewable energy whose marginal cost is nearly free, significantly reducing their logistics costs along the supply chain and in the delivery of their finished products to users.

 

3D 列印已經發生了

參考 Star Trek 電影情節. In long journeys through the universe, the crew needed to be able to repair and replace parts of the spaceship and keep stocked with everything from machine parts to pharmaceutical products. The replicator was programmed to rearrange subatomic particles that are ubiquitous in the universe into objects, including food and water. (page 78)

1.Open-source 3D printing 讓3D列印機可以自體繁殖 : Adrian Bowyer and a team at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom invented the RepRap, the first open-source 3D printer that could be made with readily available tools and that could replicate itself—that is, it was a machine that could make its own parts. The RepRap can already fabricate 48 percent of its own components and is on its way to becoming a totally self-replicating machine. (page 79)

2.讓跟多人擁有3D列印機, 自己製造東西:  MakerBot Industries, financed by Bowyer, was one of the first enterprises to emerge out of the Makers Movement, with the market introduction of its 3D printer, called Cupcake, in 2009. A succession of more versatile, easier-to-use, and less costly 3D printers followed, with names like Thing-O-Matic in 2010 and the Replicator in 2012. (page 79)

3. MIT成立3D列印社群與實驗室(Fab Lab in 2005). The Fab Lab, a fabrication laboratory, is the brainchild of the MIT physicist and professor Neil Gershenfeld. The idea came out of a popular course at MIT called “How to Make (Almost) Anything.” the mission of providing a laboratory to which anyone could come and use the tools to create their own 3D-printed projects. The labs are outfitted with various types of flexible manufacturing equipment, which includes laser cutters, routers, 3D printers, mini mills, and the accompanying open-source software. Setting up the fully equipped lab costs around $50,000. There are now over 70 Fab Labs. (page 80)

4. 全錄提供3D列印太陽能版與電路板, Xerox is developing a special silver ink that could be substituted for the silicon that is currently used as the semiconductor within photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. The silver ink melts at a lower temperature than plastic, which could allow users to print integrated circuits into plastic, fabric, and film. DIY printing of paper-thin PV solar strips could allow anyone to produce their own solar harvesting technology at an ever-diminishing cost, bringing solar energy a step closer to near zero marginal cost. (page 80)

5. 在沙漠中聚焦太陽光把沙子3D列印成玻璃: Markus Kayser, a graduate student at the Royal College of Art in London, has invented a Solar Sinter 3D printer that prints glass objects from sun and sand. The Solar Sinter, which was successfully tested in the Sahara Desert in 2011, is powered by two PV panels. It is also equipped with a large lens that focuses the sun’s rays to heat sand to a melting point. (page 81)

6. 3D印家具或小東西不希奇, Khoshnevis在國防部與NASA支持下實驗印建築物, His team has already successfully constructed a wall that is 5 feet long, 3 feet high, and six inches thick using a 3D printer. He believes that 3D-printed building construction will be the dominant industry standard by 2025 around the world. Janjaap Ruijssenaars, a Dutch architect, is collaborating with Enrico Dini, chairman of Monolite, a

U.K.-based 3D printing company. The two Europeans have announced that they will print out six -nine-foot frames made of sand and inorganic binder and then fill the frames with fiber-reinforced concrete. They hope to have a two-story building up in 2014. (page 81)

7. 3D列印汽車 Urbee 已經在測試了: The Urbee was developed by KOR EcoLogic, a company based in Winnipeg, Canada. The automobile is a two-passenger hybrid-electric vehicle, which is designed to run on solar and wind power that can be harvested in a one-car garage each day. The car can reach speeds of 40 miles perhour. If long driving distances are necessary, the user can switch over to the car’s ethanol-powered backup engine. …Most of the parts in the car are made with 3D-printed plastic, with the exception of the base chassis and engine.28 The rest of the car is produced in layers, which are “added” one onto another in a continuous flow rather than being assembled together from individual parts, meaning less material, less time, and less labor are used. A six-foot-high 3D printer poured out Urbee’s shell in only ten pieces, with no wasted material. (page 82)

 

作者推崇甘地的經濟觀: Not mass production but production by the masses. 這段話也成為這一章的副標題。作者認為甘地的觀念跟他的TIR(third industry revolution)的理念很像, 許多觀點在IoT & 3D列印出現後, 都逐步呈現了。只可惜他太前衛了, 在50年前就看到這種collaborative commons的趨勢。

(1)The capitalists’ desire for efficiency and productivity would result in an unyielding drive to replace human labor with automation, leaving more and more people unemployed and without sufficient purchasing power to buy the products being produced. Gandhi’s alternative proposal was local production by the masses in their own homes and neighborhoods—what he called Swadeshi. The idea behind Swadeshi was to “bring work to the people and not people to the work.” (page 88)

(2)His philosophy emphasized decentralized economic production in self-sufficient local communities; the pursuit of craft labor over industrial machine labor; and the envisioning of economic life as a moral and spiritual quest rather than a materialist pursuit. For Gandhi, the antidote to rampant economic exploitation and greed is a selfless commitment to community. (page 89)

(3)He believed in a virtuous economy in which the community’s interest superseded individual self-interest and argued that anything less depreciates the happiness of the human race. For Gandhi, happiness is not to be found in the amassing of individual wealth but in living a compassionate and empathic life. He went so far as to suggest that “real happiness and contentment …consists not in the multiplication but, in the deliberate and voluntary reduction of wants,” so that one might be free to live a more committed life in fellowship with others. (page 89)

(4)Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not enough for every man’s greed. Gandhi’s belief that nature is a finite resource imbued with intrinsic value that requires stewardship rather than pillage fits the new realization that every human being’s life is ultimately judged by the impact of his or her ecological footprint on the biosphere in which we all dwell. (page 90)

 

總之, Maker movement (人人都是製造者)的四大原則: the open-source sharing of new inventions, the promotion of a collaborative learning culture, a belief in community self-sufficiency, and a commitment to sustainable production practices. 而3D列印技術, 將是未來個人化製造新產品的趨勢。