HP, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer technology, and Deloitte Consulting have partnered to provide a range of products and services intended to help industrial companies to digitise their operations.
The idea of digitalisation is still something many industrial companies are getting used to, and it’s something that has yet to be fully realised.
Many large industrials, such as Siemens and GE Digital, have demonstrated various facets of what digitisation means, but the reality may be that it’s too big and complex to even describe in a short time.
But essentially some of the things it may mean are:
- making a digital copy of every single component of every machine;
- integrating real-world physics into most if not all design applications;
- digital prototypes which use real-world simulations;
- additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, for prototyping and for manufacturing of many components;
- integating those design applications into product lifecycle management software;
- integrating product lifecycle management software with customer relations management applications and enterprise resource planning applications; and
- many more things.
The truth is that it’s probably too difficult at this stage to say where this digital journey will take industry – there are so many possibilities.
For example, Siemens PLM has digital versions of humans working in digital factories, which enables designers of cyber-physical systems to evaluate a variety of options for setting up facilities.
That’s just one more example among many others.
And additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is probably at the heart of many of these new initiatives, particularly because it offers the opportunity for rapid prototyping in-house and at a reasonable cost and time-frame.
Additive manufacturing is completely the opposite of the traditional manufacturing process, which is subtractive in the sense that, until now, the only way to make something has often been to take a block of material and subtract the parts – usually through machining – that you don’t need in order to fashion the item you do need.
Additive manufacturing creates the item from the opposite direction, adding more and more material until the item is finished.
The main drawback of additive manufacturing now is that the materials available for use are still relatively limited, and the quality of finish – its smoothness and so on – is not always as good as in the traditional process.
Nonetheless, more materials are being made available, even steel – which has a melting point of around 2,750 degrees fahrenheit and must be quite difficult to work with for the average 3D printer.
Mass manufacturing will probably still be done for most products for a very long time.
But the growth of 3D printing has attracted many different companies to the market.
HP has a range of 3D printing systems which it obviously wants Deloitte to consult industrial clients about. The two companies are calling it a “first of its kind alliance to help accelerate the digital transformation of the global manufacturing industry”.
HP and Deloitte will collaborate on the implementation of HP’s 3D printing systems in large-scale manufacturing environments, applying their leading digital operations experience to help enterprises accelerate product design and production, create more flexible manufacturing and supply chains, and enhance efficiency across the manufacturing lifecycle.
This can help increase innovation, accelerate time-to-market, reduce costs and waste, and help large enterprises compete more effectively in today’s dynamic global economy.
The alliance will combine HP’s Jet Fusion 3D Printing solutions and tools, partner ecosystem, and heritage of driving digital industrial transformations together with Deloitte’s global client reach and deep manufacturing relationships, extensive digital operations experience, and proven success in supply chain transformation for some of the world’s largest companies.
Dion Weisler, president and CEO of HP, says: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us. No sector of the global economy is undergoing more radical transformation than the $12 trillion manufacturing market.
“Companies investing in digital reinvention are poised to outpace their peers. Building on our disruptive 3D printing technology, together with Deloitte, we are focused on helping customers transform and win in this new era.”
Punit Renjen, global CEO at Deloitte, says: “The digitalization of global manufacturing operations and practices will impact companies and consumers around the world, and 3D printing will play an important role in fundamentally changing manufacturing as we know it.
“This alliance comprises two exceptional brands and brings together HP’s leading 3D printing platform with Deloitte’s digital manufacturing experience and global client reach.”
HP’s 3D printing solutions have a growing list of leading global companies as clients. including BMW Group, Jabil, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, and many more, as well as a wide array of manufacturing service bureaus in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
John Dulchinos, vice president of digital manufacturing at Jabil, says: “3D printing empowers design freedom and product personalization while delivering a digital thread to transform supply chains and open the door for distributed manufacturing.
“As part of this powerful ecosystem, Jabil works with leaders such as HP and Deloitte to help customers across different industries benefit from HP’s groundbreaking Multi Jet Fusion technology to make production-grade parts in volume and ramp additive manufacturing innovations.”
HP’s end-to-end manufacturing ecosystem includes engineering, software, enterprise, and manufacturing workflow leaders such as SAP, Siemens, Autodesk, and Materialise as well as members of its “unique open 3D materials platform”, including Arkema, BASF, Evonik, Henkel, Lehman & Voss, and Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical Co.
Deloitte’s Supply Chain and Manufacturing Operations practice is a global leader in helping companies apply digital business strategy to manufacturing initiatives to drive operational excellence.
Deloitte has formed an ecosystem of digital collaborators, including Amazon Web Services, Cloudera, Dassault Systèmes, Google Cloud, SAP, and Siemens, to help clients accelerate their digital transformations.
Deloitte will play an important role in helping organizations make use of 3D printing technology in their supply chain networks – a move that has the potential to fundamentally impact the way manufacturing organizations function.
Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO, Siemens PLM software, says: “This new alliance reinforces the longstanding relationships Siemens has built with HP and Deloitte, and creates greater opportunities to digitally transform the global manufacturing industry.
“We see enormous potential in the next generation of integrated product design, engineering, manufacturing and business innovations that elevate the voxel control and production-ready capabilities of HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology.”
With the potential to lower costs, increase production speed and flexibility, minimize distribution borders, and create entirely new markets worldwide, 3D printing is helping to unlock the promise of a new global industrial revolution.
“As a long-standing partner of both Deloitte and HP, we are pleased to see the synergy of their unique strengths combined to drive worldwide adoption of 3D printing across industries,” said Dr Tanja Rueckert, president IoT and digital supply chain, SAP.
“SAP continues to accelerate efforts to drive a global, scalable, and open manufacturing business network for industrial 3D printing with SAP Distributed Manufacturing.
“HP’s disruptive Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology, Deloitte’s manufacturing domain expertise, and SAP’s global, cloud-based manufacturing business network help to deliver the power, speed, and quality of the distributed manufacturing digital transformation today.”
This alliance, which will begin in the US and expand to other geographies, is part of HP and Deloitte’s ongoing collaboration designed to accelerate digital transformation for the enterprise.
Deloitte and HP will offer solutions that combine Deloitte’s extensive business transformation capabilities with HP’s managed print, device-as-a-service, commercial mobility, and cyber-security offerings.
