Apr 2019

3D PRINTING REVOLUTION

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has the potential to democratise the production of goods, from food to medical supplies, to great coral reefs. 3D printing machines have made their way into homes, businesses, disaster sites, and even outer space.

Here at CTD we have embraced the potential this brings to the company and have invested in a new DMC

(Digital Manufacturing Centre) as part of the R&D lab.

3D printing or Additive Manufacturing is classed as a process

where material is added sequentially to create a final component.

This differs from:
• Formative Manufacturing (Injection Moulding)
• Subtractive Manufacturing (Drills, Lathes, Saws etc..)

Current investments in this area consist of three 3D printers and one Craft Cutter.

With this machinery over the last 6 months the DMC has produced:
• 340 build requests
• 2,900 components fabricated
• 2km of plastic filament deposited
• 70,000 resin layers printed
• 30 projects accelerated

FIRST YELLOW BELT GRADUATION

In a great example of collaboration between CTD and the Motion US quality team we hosted 16 hours of training on Lean Six Sigma – 3Q6S.

This entry level course was hosted by Fidel Gutierrez and Joe Cahill and was undertaken by 13 members of staff across a number of departments. All of the entrants passed with flying colours and have earned the accolade of their “Yellow Belt” qualification.

It is anticipated that a number of these will look to progress to the next level and earn their “Green Belt”. We are already planning to run the same course again and strengthen the methodology of continuous improvement across the business.