A Deeper Dive: Opportunities for 3D Printing in Higher Education
Education and academia are working more closely together than ever before to prepare the next generation for their careers. Career paths today include opportunities that have literally never existed before as the technologies of Industry 4.0, including additive manufacturing, arise with a strong need for fresh, trained talent.
We recently examined our study with Deloitte and Stratasys to discuss opportunities for higher education to embrace 3D printing; today we’re looking a bit deeper into areas of particular need.
Industry Needs
To understand educational paths to these careers, it makes sense to work backwards, starting with the real-world conditions necessitating training.
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a vast and varied field that includes 3D printing -- but not only 3D printing. The end-to-end workflow includes identifying a need, choosing a technology and material to meet that need, designing for additive manufacturing (DfAM), actually 3D printing, post-processing the 3D print, and final assembly and distribution. Along the way are also considerations such as intellectual property (IP) protection, part and material traceability, quality control, and other less tangible aspects. And of course, having an open mind and ability to “think outside the box” are highly valued in this field, as creativity continues to drive innovation and progress.
Ideally, an employee working in additive manufacturing would have a working understanding of each of these areas -- at least theoretical, if not practical. Thorough knowledge of each piece of the puzzle ensures that each member of the team can contribute as needed throughout the process with full consideration of previous and next steps.
Additive manufacturing is, to put it simply, a multidisciplinary endeavor.
Thus developing a single curriculum is a complex matter. Many courses focus primarily on the individual processes and materials making up the current AM umbrella. ASTM International currently recognizes seven 3D printing technologies, but industry is currently developing more unique processes and even within each recognized category, each supplier’s system, process, materials, and software will require variations in approach.
Career Pathways
Of course, not everyone working in additive manufacturing will be doing the same jobs. As with any industry, roles are many and are varied.
Engineers and materials scientists have, to date, had some of the most straightforward career paths into 3D printing. Their training is often rooted in traditional (e.g., subtractive; molding; casting) manufacturing, but much of this translates to the additive world -- with, of course, additional focused training efforts. Upskilling and ongoing training for working professionals remain necessary as 3D printing and the industry around it continue to mature and see rising adoption.
Technical training programs often focus on the middle steps of the AM workflow: DfAM, 3D printer operation, and post-processing. These areas are critical to successful implementation of an AM operation, representing the backbone of the workflow as well as the most visible aspects. Educational offerings may focus for DfAM on the most widely used software suites that are compatible with the most frequently used AM systems. 3D printer operation is necessarily a hands-on aspect of training, as machine operation is best learned in person with direct access to the system and real-world working environment. Post-processing as well must be tailored to each material and system (e.g., removing soluble supports from a polymer SLA print will be a very different activity to cutting metal supports from a DMLS job).
These, however, are not by any stretch the only opportunities for a career in AM.
Business aspects must also be considered, as AM is coming under tighter regulation in a number of industries. 3D printing of drugs falls under FDA regulation, for example, while the FAA is keeping tight control in aerospace, and UL is increasingly developing guidelines for workplace and material safety. Adhering to regulations put in place by the appropriate bodies is key to ongoing success as AM continues to industrialize and be used in production environments. Individuals both developing and ensuring compliance with such regulation are needed, ensuring a strong place for business-mindedness in this industry.
Lawyers are needed as well, as IP debates rage between companies with regard to proprietary technologies and materials, as well as for protected designs. Because this industry remains nascent, legal disputes are still both many and are relatively open to interpretation.
Other potential career paths include product development, project management, shipping/receiving/logistics, administration, job quoting, industry analysis, and many others.
Academic Facilities and Offerings
So how is academia rising to the challenge of additive manufacturing education?
New programs are increasingly offered at all age levels, from kindergarten to advanced degrees in higher education. These vary widely in scope, scale, and quality.
Some of the most commonly appearing educational opportunities are one-offs: either a day- or perhaps week-long training session, or virtual offerings in the format of webinars or other presentations. These are valuable resources in their own right, but certainly not for someone new to a technology to gain a full pathway into a new career opportunity, nor enough for someone even with some basis of experience to fully develop their growing skills in a significantly impactful manner. Such offerings are especially well suited to function as introductions, refreshers, or deeper explorations of a more focused area of study.
Traditional knowledge holds that it takes 10,000 hours work/exposure/practice to become “an expert” in a subject matter. This typically equates to about ten years of dedicated work. While a ten-year program is a laughable proposal, building into a ten-plus-year career path is a goal of many, if not most, students looking to embark upon a course of study.
To gain real traction, real end-to-end coursework with multidisciplinary exposure is necessary.
Academic facilities with access to real-world working conditions, such as a functioning AM lab, offer learners a fast track to understanding their chosen field of study. Gaining hands-on experience will help learners stand out from their more theoretically educated peers when it comes time to apply for jobs in a competitive atmosphere.
While there is currently a skills gap in the market that opens up plenty of opportunity in the AM industry, employers remain focused on finding the best fit new employee. With this in mind, more industrial participants are partnering with academia to ensure that curricula cater more to what they realistically need.
The below chart indicates several courses of action academia might undertake, including work directly with industry, to lead to achievable goals for learners interested in pursuing additive manufacturing.
