The Explosion of 3D Printing at GE

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DECEMBER 11, 2013

GE produces one of the world's most powerful engines

GE, on the hunt for ways to build more than 85,000 fuel nozzles for its new Leap jet engines, is making a big investment in 3D printing, reports BusinessWeek (Dec. 2-8, 2013). Usually the nozzles are assembled from 20 different parts. Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing can create the units in one metal piece, through a successive layering of materials. The process, discussed in Chapter 5,  is more efficient and can be used to create designs that can’t be made using traditional techniques. The finished product is stronger and lighter than those made on the assembly line and can withstand the extreme temperatures (up to 2,400F) inside an engine. There’s just one problem: today’s industrial 3D printers don’t have enough capacity to handle GE’s production needs.

“With today’s technology, it would take too many machines,” as many as 60 to 70, to efficiently make the nozzles, says GE. As part of a $3.5 billion investment in its aerospace supply chain, GE will spend tens of millions of dollars to invest in new technology and, over the next five years, triple the size of its 70-person 3D-printing staff and expand its factory floor fourfold.

The company’s embrace of 3D printing throws the weight of the world’s largest jet-engine maker behind the technology. Today, Boeing uses the process to make plastic air-conditioning ducts for its 787 jet, and Nike has a football cleat made on 3D printers. But “GE’s investment changes everything, and it’s also unprecedented,” says an industry expert. Expanding 3D printing will give GE clout with manufacturers, an opportunity to guide the growth of the industry. “There doesn’t exist a supply chain out there right now for this kind of work,” a GE VP says. “GE has to be involved in developing it.”

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.

From Navy Oil Tankers to Amazon’s Diapers

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NOVEMBER 27, 2013

8 ships returning to Caroline Islands anchorage, 1944

Amazon’s online diaper sales and the U.S. Navy’s refueling protocol for World War II appear unrelated and worlds apart. Nevertheless, they are both answers to an identical logistics problem: how can an organization shorten the time between a customer’s order and a supplier’s response?

Amazon is seeking a way to decrease its response time to online buyers. In the case of diapers, this means encouraging a supplier such as P&G to relocate its operations adjacent to Amazon’s warehouses. With co-location, both firms presumably can reduce their shipping costs, better manage their inventories, and speed up deliveries.

The Navy experienced a similar logistics problem during World War II, writesThe Wall Street Journal (Nov.25, 2013). In the early months of the war, the Pacific fleet engaged in hit-and-run tactics; it had to return to Pearl Harbor, where its oil supply tanks were located. When the Navy launched a 1943 offensive in the central Pacific, the geographical distance between consumer (fleet) and supplier (Hawaii) widened. Refueling consumed a precious commodity—time.

One  logistic solution: seize an enemy-held island, convert the island into an advanced base and construct oil-storage facilities for the fleet. That worked, but as the Navy accelerated its offensive, it outran the advanced base network. By 1944, the Navy introduced floating bases at Pacific anchorages. Commercial tankers delivered fuel oil to the anchorage, storing oil in barges. A gap, though, between oil demand and supply still persisted.

Then the Navy turned logistics on its head, dispatching 36 oilers to meet carrier task force units at prearranged locations in the forward area. Oilers now refueled fleet units on the move in “underway replenishment.” The results were dramatic. A carrier task force could remain free from a fixed base for 3 months. Fleet Admiral Nimitz termed the Pacific just-in-time supply chain as his “secret weapon.” Naval historians would describe Nimitz’s logistic plan as a “fleet within a fleet.” Amazon’s co-location has been called a “plant within a plant.”

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.

How UPS is Using Telematics to Save $50 Million per Year

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NOVEMBER 1, 2013

UPSAfter 10 years of research and development, United Parcel Service is officially launching an automated system that uses algorithms to devise optimal routes for its drivers, reports The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 31, 2013). It says the new tool will slash fuel consumption and costs, and support the creation of new services. UPS’ CIO said that the company believes that its on-road integrated optimization and navigation program—dubbed Orion—is the world’s largest operations research project. Ten thousand of its 55,000 drivers will be on the Orion system this year, and it will be fully deployed by 2017.

The effort involved a team of 500 workers. The computer scientists in the group have written an algorithm with 1,000 pages of code. It’s the largest technology project at UPS, which invests $1 billion a year in technology. First, the company had to install GPS sensors to track its drivers and vehicles, a technology known as telematics. That effort already has avoided about 100 million minutes of engine idling. UPS then devised its own mapping system, which includes about 250 million delivery points, a database that is updated continually.

The company’s operations research group devised algorithms that calculate the best route for each driver on a given day. In 2008, those calculations could take hours to perform. Now, they are done in 8 seconds.

The payoff on the investment will be measured in a variety of ways. The company stands to save $50 million a year if every driver can simply reduce the length of his or her route by one mile a day. That will help UPS reduce fuel consumption and environmental impact, while allowing drivers to make more deliveries per day. This year, technology will help the company save 1.5 million gallons of fuel and reduce CO2 emissions by 14,000 metric cubic tons.

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.