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National Strategy on Additive Manufacturing

  • 25 Feb 2022

On 24th February 2022, a “National Strategy on Additive Manufacturing” was released by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.

(Image Source: emerj.com)

Why India is delving in to this Sector

  • To cater next-generation digital manufacturing and mitigate immediate disabilities of local industries.
  • Manufacturing sector is an important part of our Prime Minister’s vision for $1 trillion Digital Economy.
  • Additive Manufacturing is the next generation of digital manufacturing and will create Intellectual Property & export opportunities.
  • Next wave of startups will emerge in this area.

Finer Points of the Strategy

  • Impetus to Industry: With the release of the Strategy, Innovation and R&D ecosystem will be encouraged in PPP mode to transform existing research knowledgebase to develop Additive Manufacturing grade materials, 3D printer machines and printed indigenous products for vast domestic and international market in various sectors including electronics, photonics, medical device, agro and food processing, etc.
  • National Centre: The national strategy would postulate the tenets of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ that advocate self-reliance through technological transformation of the production paradigm, which will be realized through a dedicated National Centre with the participation of all stakeholders. This centre will act as an aggregator of knowledge and resources to accelerate technology adoption and advancement.
  • Sector-specific Centres: The sector specific Centres will also be created to infuse indigenous AM technology to offer Indian manufactures an edge over global peers.
  • Target: The Strategy aspires to achieve 5% of Global AM market share and thereto add nearly US$ 1Bn to the GDP by 2025.
  • Eco-system for new Start-ups: This will create eco-system for creation of nearly 100 new Start-ups, 10 AM sectors and 1 lakh new skilled manpower; besides, development of 500 AM products and 50 Indian AM technologies on material, machine, process and software. In addition, awareness for adoption of AM products to facilitate this growth will be created.

Additive Manufacturing

  • Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a transformative approach to industrial production that enables the creation of lighter, stronger parts and systems.
  • Additive manufacturing uses data computer-aided-design (CAD) software or 3D object scanners to direct hardware to deposit material, layer upon layer, in precise geometric shapes. As its name implies, additive manufacturing adds material to create an object. By contrast, when you create an object by traditional means, it is often necessary to remove material through milling, machining, carving, shaping or other means.
  • Although the terms "3D printing" and "rapid prototyping" are casually used to discuss additive manufacturing, each process is actually a subset of additive manufacturing.