Recently, Mr. Ma Jinsong, General Manager of Shanghai Luen Thai Technology Co., Ltd. appeared on the programme of First Financial Science and Technology Gravity Field, and explained in depth how China's 3D printing technology can gain a foothold in the world from a professional point of view!
Question:
What do you think about the evolution of the mode of production in human history?
Answer:
Over the past 2,000 years, the development of human productivity, especially the means of manufacturing products, the first is subtractive material, which is a subtractive approach to obtaining products, in simple terms, we first get a piece of blanks, eliminate unnecessary parts, and then the remaining is the parts we get. The second is the idea of iso-materials, which compared to subtractive materials, there is no consumption of material, only need to fill the material to obtain the cavity shape of the product.
But additive materials are different, as the third means of human manufacturing, mainly using additive thinking for manufacturing, through the layer by layer superposition to obtain the final product. Human beings have been using subtractive and iso-materials for thousands of years, while additive materials were only gradually commercialised in the 1980's. The main reason for this time difference is that additive manufacturing technology has been used for many years. The main reason for this time difference is that the emergence of additive manufacturing technology requires a prerequisite, namely a reliance on data, and the key to driving data generation is the maturity of the technology.
Question:
Why do you say that this period was a low point for the company when the market economy was doing better from 2005-2010?
Answer:
During the period of 2005-2010, the overall macro-economy was considerable, but additive manufacturing, as a new industry, was more obviously disturbed by the peripheral environment. Especially the financial crisis in 2008, when our customer groups are mainly some wholly foreign-owned enterprises or joint ventures, they are OEM business output, so the procurement of fixed assets was greatly affected, which also directly disturbed the performance of UnionTech at that time.
Question:
And when is the turning point for the subsequent business development of UnionTech?
Answer:
After 2010, the enterprise internal market strategy to make corresponding adjustments, the customer, the market has been repositioned; from a macro point of view, the same period of time, the global industry economy has entered a phase of rapid growth, downstream of the rigid demand began to really be awakened.
Question:
What is the competitive advantage of UnionTech to be able to grow so fast?
Answer:
First of all, the market recognition is the first condition, accurate market positioning is a prerequisite for the development of enterprises; second is the precipitation of products and technology, in the reliability of the equipment, stability and other qualities of the response is often a decision on the long-term development of the enterprise's core strengths.
Question:
What are the advantages of using 3D printing technology over traditional production processes for the same part?
Answer:
3D printing as the third type of additive manufacturing technology, from the pure manufacturing standards, in fact, there are still a lot of shortcomings, including from the material properties, degree of satisfaction, manufacturing accuracy, etc., its and machine tools, injection moulding and other traditional manufacturing methods still have a gap. But why is there still a demand for printing? Mainly due to the face of small batch production needs, the choice of 3D printing is the most appropriate, its time above the faster, the cost of moulds without the need for support is also more affordable, at the same time, in the face of the complex structure of the production of the production of 3D printing technology has its inherent advantages, these benefits also make the small batch production of 3D printing technology has a stronger dependence on the technology.
Question:
In terms of materials, not all materials can be converted from fluid to solid, so are there some limitations in the application of materials in 3D printing?
Answer:
Materials are arguably one of the biggest bottlenecks affecting the development of 3D printing, both metallic and non-metallic, and the diversity and suitability of materials are still lacking compared to traditional manufacturing. But in my opinion, the two technologies of subtractive and iso-material manufacturing have been developed for more than 2,000 years, while additive manufacturing technology is only a few decades old, so we need to give it some time to make a bigger breakthrough in technology. Once the technological breakthrough is realised, it will usher in the explosion of the whole industry 2.0.
Question:
With technological breakthroughs, will additive manufacturing outlaw traditional manufacturing processes in the future? What are the traditional areas that additive manufacturing cannot replace?
Answer:
From the trend point of view, additive manufacturing as a third technology itself has a very strong potential for explosion, such as if the first two technologies can cover all the needs of the first two technologies, then additive manufacturing technology will not be introduced. However, this does not mean that the rise of additive manufacturing will completely outlaw the first two technologies, with the future of the production requirements of the ever-changing, at this inflection point will certainly produce a large share of the tilt. From the point of view of the history of human productivity development, the industrial revolution was initially used to standardise mass production thinking, greatly improving our productivity. But now with the generalisation of overcapacity in various industries, the requirements for manufacturing have also changed dramatically. 3D printing's biggest advantage appears to be small batch, but in fact it is on-demand production, i.e. unlimited time, unlimited quantity, unlimited categories in accordance with market demand for short delivery.
