Additive manufacturing (3D printing) large-scale items is a new mysterious marketplace. There are many startups printing cars, houses, and boats, but all without efficiency or economies of scale. Though many innovations are happening daily, additive manufacturing is the future for creating our physical world. It allows for essentially no waste, easy and fast iterations in production, and a cut back in costs. While this sandbox problem was very broad and allowed for much freedom, it was difficult to narrow it down to a specific problematic. Early in the process, I conducted research on additive manufacturing, conducting surveys, interviews, and ethnographic research. Which brought me to the problematic, creating and deploying a business model to produce easily customizable and sustainable furniture.
In partnership with Cincinnati Inc. and the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, this project seeks to disrupt the current additive manufacturing industry. Cincinnati Inc. currently produces and uses these large-scale additive manufacturing machines, the BAAM and MAAM, in the automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries but wants to branch out to other sectors. Cincinnati Inc. will soon be coming out with the BAAM 2.0 which will be capable of printing at a rate of 240 pounds of filament per hour. As well as having a modular print area allowing the machine to be extremely customizable. But currently have the MAAM (Medium Area Additive Manufacturing) and the BAAM (Big Area Additive Manufacturing) and want to market these machines to new industries.
Additive manufacturing is the process of printing layers of material on top of each other while fusing the layers together to form a 3-dimensional object. Applications for this technology are limitless and only confined by imagination and current technology. This type of manufacturing is still a fuzzy subject for a lot of the general population though. Out of the 94 precipitants I surveyed 63 rated their knowledge of additive manufacturing as a three or less out of ten. While only six participants rated their knowledge of additive manufacturing a seven or above. This shows our first problem; the publics’ large gap in knowledge of additive manufacturing.
The concept of furniture dates to the Neolithic period where the first items created for homes were made of stone. As humans became more sedentary and less nomadic, furniture and living areas become more important. In the last 5,000 years, furniture has become an eclectic form of beauty and functionality. With an extremely wide range of materials, prices, and qualities to choose from, it can use disruption in the market.
Today the furniture industry is a 600-billion-dollar market and growing. Furniture has become less of an investment and more of a temporary piece in people’s lives. In the US alone over 12 million tons of furniture waste go into landfills each year. This is a result of several trends in the furniture industry: the manufacturing of “fast furniture,” (cheap products not intended to last long) and a preference, especially with millennials, to move frequently and not want to haul their furniture around (Waste 360). With this in mind, the target audience was established; renters and homeowners, focusing on two separate groups and their different buying tendencies and preferences.
After determining my scope and funneling down my objectives of the project more research was done including:
- Ethnographic observations where I sat at multiple locations throughout an IKEA store and observed how people interacted with the spaces and the furniture in that space. I also investigated who was shopping for furniture and how they interacted with each other.
- Unstructured interviews with couples and individuals shopping for furniture at IKEA, in these interviews I asked them questions about 3D printing and their knowledge of the field. I also asked them questions about furniture and 3D printing it.
- A new survey to collect data quantitative data on consumers perception of additive manufacturing and their desire for 3D printed items in their homes.
- A two-part co-design research session done with two different demographics; homeowners and home renters. Four different interactive activities were done and then results where compared between the two different groups.
In the survey, I received 94 responses from a large demographic of teachers, novelists, students, doctors, and more. I asked them specific questions about additive manufacturing, their knowledge of it, and their thoughts on its future. After analyzing the data, I concluded that the vast majority of people don’t know anything about additive manufacturing. Another question was asked If they could 3D print anything what it would be and why. For this, I got an eclectic number of responses, ranging from golf clubs to a surfboard. I did get a lot of people saying they would print furniture, out of the 94 responses 10 said they would print some type of furniture. While that doesn’t seem like a lot, the question asked if you could print anything you wanted, furniture was the biggest response.
In my co-design research sessions, I wanted to divide two groups with specific demographics. The first group was homeowners; this group was represented by older individuals that have chosen a place to settle down in their lives and have a permanent residence. I guided them through four activities to get a better understanding of how they feel about the furniture industry and 3D Printing. In the second session, I have individuals who currently are renting their homes. This group consisted of younger adults aged 20-24. I wanted to see the difference in the mindset of young renters and older homeowners. One big differentiator I discovered was the importance of after-market value. In the older group, aftermarket value was one of the most important qualities they looked for, while in the younger group that was one of the least important.
I then conducted unstructured interviews with some people shopping around IKEA. This was very helpful because these people are my target market for the business that I will later create. I asked individuals questions about their knowledge of 3D printing and if they would ever buy 3D printed furniture. I asked an individual how much she knew about 3D printing she responded with, “Not much at all, I know it’s gained in popularity over the years. It’s an engineer’s thing.” This stuck out to me because she put 3D printing in a box, stating that she shouldn’t know anything about it it’s only for engineers, which is not true!
Supplementing all this research, a lot of secondary research was done as well. Since this sandbox topic was so broad, I started my research holistically, focusing on learning as much as I can about additive manufacturing and all the innovations surrounding the field. I then tried to funnel my research into specific topics, going from skatepark manufacturing to concert tours and stadiums, but ultimately landing on furniture. Furniture design and manufacturing offers a broad scope that can easily be narrowed into specific aspects of improvement potential. The furniture industry is a 600+ billion-dollar industry with many challenges and shortcomings. There is a growing number of companies selling very cheap furniture that is essentially made to throw away. This results in massive waste that seldomly can get recycled and ends up in the landfill. This is a large pain point that needs to be addressed.
Another problem is spaces and the emotions connected to them. I did secondary research on the psychology of space and how interiors impact our mood and behavior. “With the rise of functionality in the last decades, space became a mere reflection of the program it holds,” (Harrouk) Furniture, light, colors, and layout all play a large role in our psyche when we walk into a room. Space psychology can lead to many improvements in life for individuals that constantly go into these spaces. Through additive manufacturing, I hope to develop a cheaper sustainable alternative for individuals and companies to create their desired spaces.
The biggest benefit of large-scale additive manufacturing is the opportunity for mass customization. Meaning consumers can customize what they purchase as much or as little as they would like. This cannot be done with any other manufacturing method, besides handmaking something. Allowing a consumer to easy customize something and then have it ready the same day is an amazing innovation that needs to be explored. The biggest drawback of additive manufacturing currently is the barriers of entry. There are multiple software and processes you must learn before you can 3D print anything.
environmental impact is also drastic. Less than 30% of a tree goes into the furniture when it’s made of solid wood. That is a lot of wasted material. Additive manufacturing solves that, since it is additive and not subtractive, there is essentially no waste making it extremely environmentally friendly. Also, Cincinnati Inc. is on being able to reuse the material that was printed, so it can live on forever in a closed-loop system. This will allow for a finite amount of material to be in circulation.
Sources:
https://www.waste360.com/waste/tackling-multi-million-ton-furniture-waste-problem
https://3dprinting.com/3d-printing-use-cases/how-the-furniture-industry-benefits-from-3d-printing/
