CNCTimes in conversation with, Ankit Sahu, Director, Objectify Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2019-04-30 09:53:00

About: Mr. Ankit Sahu, Director, Objectify Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Ankit has pursued his Bachelor of Engineering in 2010 in Mechanical Engineering from RV College of Engineering, Bangalore and his Master of Science in Manufacturing Technology Engineering, 2012 from Warwick University, UK. He is the founder of Objectify Technologies at SIIC Incubation Centre at IIT Kanpur

Mr. Ankit Sahu, in conversation with Avinash Pandey, Assistant Editor, CNCTimes.com

Please tell us about your company and its product range and solutions.

In early 2013, Objectify Technologies was started as a hobby FDM printing start-up for making customized parts and models. Soon we found the gap in Indian manufacturing scenario for prototyping and hence shifted our focus to 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping. This led us to purchase more efficient and industrial 3D printing systems and equipment. Now, we are India’s only metal and polymer 3D Printing/Additive manufacturing company serving industries such as Automotive, Aerospace, Space, Tooling, White Goods and medical industry. Our 360-degree approach to Additive Manufacturing services gives our partners the edge they need to ease their manufacturing cycle. Being a pioneer, we as an AM-ESP (Additive Manufacturing Engineering Service Provider) offer Rapid Prototyping, DFAM (Design for Additive Manufacturing), Small batch production, AM Facility setup consultation, and Conformal Cooling.

With dedicated engineers on board, we help customers at all the stages of their component production cycle, be it ideation to design, to actually building the part. We have a wide range of solutions to help in simulation, accuracy testing, post-processing, and building of the components.

What are the top trends in the Indian Manufacturing industry?

Awareness regarding the technology in India is finally getting better with many companies adopting/entering the domain. It's no more an unknown technology. Indian manufacturing industry seems to have finally realized the benefit of additive manufacturing and exploring further. However, more education is required in terms of adoption, ROI, etc.

Hybrid manufacturing is the talk of the town. Machines that can perform additive and subtractive manufacturing both are gaining popularity in the Indian market.

Mixed-material printers are also gaining popularity. It was not long ago when printing a part with two different materials was considered a challenge. But now there are printers that can manage to print with more than one material and this could be the global trend in the Additive Manufacturing technology.

Metal printing is finally catching up. Between 2017 and 2018, a 3D-printing industry survey showed that although plastic continues to be the most common material, its share in 3D printing fell from 88 percent to 65 percent in that single year. The share of metal printing rose from 28 percent to 36 percent that year. At that rate, it is quite probable that metal will overtake plastic and represent more than half of all 3D printing as soon as 2020 or 2021. This shift can be seen in India as well.

A more recent technology called binder jet metal printing, which has the capacity to cut down 50 percent of the time required to produce each part, is poised to become widely available in 2019. It might take some time for this to come to India though.

Not only are 3D printers getting faster, but their build volume—the printable objects’ size—is growing. In 2019, multiple printers are available with a 30 x 30 x 30-centimeter volume, or nine cubic liters, which was not the case a few years ago.

Finally, some large companies are entering the 3D-printing market, validating the space and pushing the overall industry to innovate faster.

What do you feel is the future of Additive Manufacturing?

In the last couple of years, the industry has witnessed commendable growth in terms of usage of materials and boosting the speed. With this kind of growth, it can be comfortably assumed that the future of AM is bright. It’s been referred to as ‘Future of Manufacturing’.

We see the technology gradually shifting from prototype to production. Till now, AM was mainly used in prototype building, but in the future, we will see companies are benefiting from AM technology in actual production. With the advent of hybrid manufacturing, it becomes even more relevant to the mainstream production environment.

Coming to the Indian market, with the kind of growth we have witnessed in the Indian market since our inception, we are very confident about the future of AM. Not only large automotive and aerospace OEMs, but small players operating in tooling and component manufacturing are taking interest in AM.

What are the challenges faced by the Indian industries in adopting Additive Manufacturing technology?

The Indian manufacturing industry is in the process of shift from conventional to modern technologies. India has always been late in adopting the latest technologies, however, we can see huge progress in the area of technology adoption in the last few years. Indian companies are not only looking for better technologies but have also become very demanding in terms of ROI on any purchase. Additive manufacturing is at a nascent stage in India. There is a  lack of awareness about the applications and benefits among the manufacturing fraternity, which is one of the main reasons the adoption has been slow. Having said that we have seen a huge improvement in approach towards Additive Manufacturing in the last couple of years. Now companies are not only aware of the technology but are exploring how it could complement their existing manufacturing process.

Additive manufacturing has always been compared to conventional manufacturing processes such as machining, injection molding, casting, etc. For batch production, conventional methods are still cheaper. We have to understand that all these technologies have different applications and benefits. They are not going to replace each- other but rather complement each other. Companies need to understand what area of manufacturing certain technology is needed.

Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing in India has recently taken its foothold and now it’s time for it to proliferate. 3D Printing isn’t here to replace conventional manufacturing processes, rather act as a catalyst to the production process as a whole. As emerging industries have a constant need to re-engineer and develop new products, 3D Printing comes as a boon by reducing the cycle-time by fractions. The primary barriers for the Indian industry are acceptance, ill-information, and adaptation to change.

What are your future plans?

With our continuous effort and dedication, we have become India’s largest Additive Manufacturing solution providers with capabilities in both polymers and metal. We are an engineering driven company and always aim to provide best-in-class services to our customers. In just 6 years since our inception, we have been able to serve some of the biggest names in the industry and also a range of industries.

After gaining a considerable foothold in the Indian market, our aim is to taste international shores. We have already started participating in international exhibitions and conferences. Our immediate goal would be to tap customers from developed markets such as the USA and Germany and provide them with world-class services in a cost-effective manner.

We recently purchased EOS M 400 machine with a bed size of 400mm2 and quad laser printing which is considered as the world’s fastest metal printing machine. Objectify is proud to be the first owner of the machine in India. So our goal is to continuously upgrade our facility with the latest technologies.

Apart from having the company goal, we also aim to spread awareness about technology in India. As said earlier, the awareness level is still limited in India regarding the Additive Manufacturing technology. We want to act as a catalyst in educating the industry about the application and benefits of AM.