Warwick Downing, a director of Rapid Advanced Manufacturing.
What do you do at RAM?
RAM is a commercial service provider for metal additive manufacturing. Most people will recognise additive manufacturing under the term 3D printing, which generally people associate with plastics. However we've focused on the metal side of things, and our machines work very differently from the kind you see in appliance stores. Our machines use high powered lasers and we're creating parts that are similar, or certainly equivalent to, those made from metal that's been machined.
When did you first start working with these printers?
About six years ago I was involved in bringing a printer into New Zealand, which was part of a partnership between TiDA [the Titanium Industry Development Association] and [dental technology firm] Triodent, and that was one of only a handful globally that could print titanium at the time. RAM was established three years later to purchase extra machines and build a business around the technology.
Like many people we thought 'this will be easy - you buy a machine, you plug it in and away you go' but then we discovered just how complex it is. We've had to learn a lot about things like lasers and working with metal powders, so it's been a massive learning curve for us. With three machines on site and another on its way, we're actually now regarded globally as a leader in understanding how to use and apply this technology.
What do you think has helped you reach that position?
A big part of it is RAM has always been commercially focused. Just about all the early machines went into universities, and that's fine and good, but the problems we've come up against while using them commercially are quite different.
We're doing reasonable volumes and a lot of the challenges we've had to overcome have arisen from using the machines 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as opposed to just once in a while. In some cases we've modified the machines, and we certainly design the way the lasers work with them, and that's given us a good reputation for advancing the technology.
Who are the commercial clients using your services?
It's been growing quite quickly in terms of the scope and it ranges from defence companies to providing some medical components, but producing industrial parts is probably still the biggest part of what we do. The beauty of this technology is it's highly design focused, so we work with a lot of designers.
If someone has a good understanding of design and engineering they can make things that weren't possible before, and they can be cheaper to make than machined parts. People think of 3D printing as just a prototyping technology, but it's not; increasingly we actually do production.
New Zealand has a reputation as a producer of niche goods and services, so do you think this technology could play to our traditional strengths in business?
This is where a lot of manufacturing is heading - into mass customisation. I think that plays well to New Zealand's strengths, not just because it changes our ideas of volume in manufacturing, but it's about using technology to produce clever products that are cost competitive globally. This technology is not about making everything the cheapest; it's about making things with value and adding that value with design.
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What are the major opportunities you're wanting to seize as a business with this technology?
I think there's a lot more development in the defence sector yet and a lot of opportunity in the medical sector. Medical is a challenging area to work in but ultimately 3D printing has the ability, through using semi-customised or customised components, to actually lower the total cost of doing implants. We've done some work with Massey University vets and a company in Napier called Axia on this, which has found that having well designed implants reduces the need to replace them, and reduces operating time. Ultimately it's going to result in better outcomes for patients.
But the technology in this area has really only just begun. We're working on some projects in the medical field that are going to be very exciting and hopefully we're not too far away from a human implant scenario. I think those advances will have major impacts in the medium and longer term on outcomes for patients, but as a business I think it will also provide some global opportunities.