Smart manufacturing refers to multiple ‘new normals’ in the context of manufacturing – that is, how industry will leverage the application of new disruptive technologies such as ‘Artificial intelligence’, ‘Edge computing’, ‘Robotics’, ‘Additive manufacturing’ (3D printing), ‘Gene editing’ and the ‘Internet of Things’, to change the face of traditional manufacturing. Smart manufacturing has been described as a “fusion of the digital, biological and physical world”[1] and represents a change that is so significant that it is sometimes referred to as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’.[2] Smart manufacturing could represent an important opportunity to boost sustainable manufacturing and, as its implementation expands, it will be essential to develop a better understanding of how it can contribute to sustainable development while improving system efficiency.[3] Below, we explore one industry that will hopefully benefit from smart manufacturing to increase sustainability (the plastics industry), and one key enabler of smart manufacturing that is undergoing rapid development and expansion (additive manufacturing).
Technology trends
Today’s plastics, with a predominantly linear material flow, unquestionably face challenges, both regarding CO2-emissions due to their fossil-basis, and to plastic pollution (unintended leakage and subsequent accumulation of plastics in the environment or even the human body). The question is, how will we ensure we have the materials for the future without compounding these problems?
Many companies are developing alternatives based on renewable, biomass materials, including e.g. flax, mushrooms, and shrimp shells.[4,5] The formulation of existing plastics can also be changed to make them more degradable[5] and, finally, innovations in recycling technologies will make manufacturing the materials of the future more sustainable.
As one of the largest sectors in the manufacturing industry, innovations in plastic production systems themselves are also a key driver of change. The data collected by more efficient sensors and smart machinery (see ‘Internet of Things’) can improve the consistency of products, limiting defects (and ultimately reducing plastic pollution), reducing energy consumption and costs, and improving competitiveness.[6,7]
Related trends
News stories
- Published 41 Standards | Developing 17 Projects
- Plastics — Determination of specific aerobic biodegradation rate of solid plastic materials and disappearance time (DT50) under mesophilic laboratory test conditions
- Plastics — Industrial compostable plastic shopping bags
- Plastics — Industrial compostable plastic drinking straws
- Plastics — Ecotoxicity testing scheme for soluble decomposition intermediates from biodegradable plastic materials and products used in the marine environment — Test methods and requirements
- Plastics — Biobased contentPart 1: General principles
ISO/CD 16620-2[Deleted]Plastics — Biobased contentPart 2: Determination of biobased carbon content- Plastics — Biobased contentPart 3: Determination of biobased synthetic polymer content
- Plastics — Biobased contentPart 4: Determination of biobased mass content
- ISO/AWI 16620-5 [Under development]Plastics — Biobased contentPart 5: Declaration of biobased carbon content, biobased synthetic polymer content and biobased mass content
- ISO/FDIS 16623 [Under development]Plastics — Marine biodegradation testing — Preparation of optimized intertidal seawater and sediment
- Plastics — Organic recycling — Specifications for compostable plastics
- ISO/DIS 18957 [Under development]Plastics — Determination of the aerobic biodegradation of plastic materials exposed to seawater using accelerated conditions in laboratory
- Plastics — Determination of the degree of disintegration of plastic materials under composting conditions in a laboratory-scale test
- Plastics — Carbon and environmental footprint of biobased plasticsPart 1: General principles
- Plastics — Carbon and environmental footprint of biobased plasticsPart 2: Material carbon footprint, amount (mass) of CO2 removed from the air and incorporated into polymer molecule
- Plastics — Carbon and environmental footprint of biobased plasticsPart 3: Process carbon footprint, requirements and guidelines for quantification
- Plastics — Carbon and environmental footprint of biobased plasticsPart 4: Environmental (total) footprint (Life cycle assessment)
Additive manufacturing produces objects through a process of layering together raw materials. This is different to traditional (subtractive) manufacturing, which creates parts out of raw materials.[8] Additive manufacturing is widely known as ‘3D printing’, but this style of manufacturing also Includes ‘4D printing’, an emerging approach that allows the manufacture of products that respond to things like heat, light, and the passing of time.[9]
The use of additive manufacturing is expected to increase, with many new applications for both commercial and personal use. The ability to print products for personal use will open markets for blueprints and designs, while increasing the customization options available to consumers (see ‘Customized products’). A potentially endless range of products could be manufactured using additive methods, including machinery parts, consumer goods such as shoes and furniture and healthcare products like hearing aids and prosthetics.[8,10]
If additive manufacturing grows, we can expect an increased impact on trade – perhaps a reduction in the transport of goods, along with an increase in the transport of raw materials. Overall, this would be expected to reduce global freight volume.[8]
Of course, additive manufacturing has some challenges, such as ensuring cybersecurity and management of intellectual property. Companies and governments will need to be attentive to emerging issues to ensure the benefits of additive manufacturing are enjoyed by all.
Related trends
News stories
- Published 45 Standards | Developing 20 Projects
- Additive manufacturing — General principlesPart positioning, coordinates and orientation
- Additive manufacturing — General principles — Fundamentals and vocabulary
- Additive manufacturing — General principles — Requirements for purchased AM parts
- Additive manufacturing for medical — Data — Optimized medical image data
- ISO/ASTM CD TR 52918 [Under development]Additive manufacturing — Data formats — File format support, ecosystem and evolutions
- Additive manufacturing — Qualification principles — Requirements for industrial additive manufacturing processes and production sites
- Additive manufacturing — Environment, health and safety — Test method for the hazardous substances emitted from material extrusion type 3D printers in the non-industrial places
- Additive manufacturing for construction — Qualification principles — Structural and infrastructure elements
- Additive manufacturing for aerospace — Process characteristics and performancePart 2: Directed energy deposition using wire and arc
- Additive manufacturing for automotive — Qualification principles — Generic machine evaluation and specification of key performance indicators for PBF-LB/M processes
- Additive manufacturing — General principles — Overview of data processing
- Additive manufacturing for aerospace — General principlesPart classifications for additive manufactured parts used in aviation
- Published 3544 Standards | Developing 522 Projects
- Information technology — Medical image-based modelling for 3D printingPart 1: General requirements
- Information technology — Medical image-based modelling for 3D printingPart 2: Segmentation
- ISO/IEC DIS 8801 [Under development]Information Technology — 3D Printing and Scanning — Data Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
- ISO/IEC DIS 8803 [Under development]Information technology — 3D Printing and scanning — Accuracy and precision evaluation process for modelling from 3D scanned data
- ISO/IEC DIS 16466 [Under development]Information Technology — 3D Printing and scanning — Assessment methods of 3D scanned data for 3D printing model
- Information technology — 3D printing and scanning — Framework for an Additive Manufacturing Service Platform (AMSP)
- Published 320 Standards | Developing 52 Projects
- ISO/WD 21763 [Under development]Guideline for Smart Manufacturing in Iron and Steel Industry
- Published 41 Standards | Developing 17 Projects
- Specifications for use of poly(lactic acid) based filament in additive manufacturing applications
- Published 173 Standards | Developing 45 Projects
- ISO/DIS 5092 [Under development]Additive manufacturing for medical — General principles — Additive manufacturing of non-active implants
- Published 914 Standards | Developing 60 Projects
- General requirements for cyber-physically controlled smart machine tool systems (CPSMT)Part 1: Overview and fundamental principles
- General requirements for cyber-physically controlled smart machine tool systems (CPSMT)Part 2: Reference architecture of CPSMT for subtractive manufacturing
- General requirements for cyber-physically controlled smart machine tool systems (CPSMT)Part 3: Reference architecture of CPSMT for additive manufacturing
- ISO/CD 23704-4 [Under development]General requirements for cyber-physically controlled smart machine tool systems (CPSMT)Part 4: Requirements and guidelines for implementing reference architecture of CPSMT for subtractive manufacturing
- Smart manufacturing standards map (SM2)Part 1: Framework
- Smart manufacturing standards map (SM2)Part 2: Catalogue
- IEC/CD TR 63319 [Under development]A meta-modelling analysis approach to smart manufacturing reference models
- Unified reference model for smart manufacturing
- Published 68 Standards | Developing 9 Projects
ISO/TMBG/SMCC Coordination Committee on Smart Manufacturing
- This white paper is aimed at people who are curious about smart manufacturing, searching for generic information about the concept, and/or trying to get …
References
- Foresight Africa. Top priorities for the continent 2020-2030 (Brookings Institution, 2020)
- White paper on smart manufacturing (ISO Smart Manufacturing Coordinating Committee, 2021)
- Sustainable and smart manufacturing: an integrated approach (Sustainability, 2020)
- Ten trends that will shape science in the 2020s. Medicine gets trippy, solar takes over, and humanity—finally, maybe—goes back to the moon (Smithsonian Magazine, 2020)
- Global trends to 2030. Challenges and choices for Europe (European Strategy and Policy Analysis System, 2019)
- Smart Manufacturing in Plastic Injection Molding (Manufacturing Tomorrow, 2017)
- Eight ways smart manufacturing is moving into the mainstream in 2021 (Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, 2021)
- Global connectivity outlook to 2030 (World Bank, 2019)
- 2021 Tech trends report. Strategic trends that will influence business, government, education, media and society in the coming year (Future Today Institute, 2021)
- Global strategic trends. The future starts today (UK Ministry of Defence, 2018)