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FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES (AS)BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS.) ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY (AS229)TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP (ENT600)ASSIGNMENT 1CASE STUDY ON AA 3D PRINTING & ENGINEERINGSTUDENT’S NAME : SITI SOLEHAH BINTI HASHIMSTUDENT’S ID : 2019317059CLASS : AS2294CLECTURER’S NAME : MADAM JUNA...

Description

FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES (AS)

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS.) ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY (AS229)

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP (ENT600)

ASSIGNMENT 1 CASE STUDY ON AA 3D PRINTING & ENGINEERING

STUDENT’S NAME

:

SITI SOLEHAH BINTI HASHIM

STUDENT’S ID

:

2019317059

CLASS

:

AS2294C

LECTURER’S NAME

:

MADAM JUNAINAH JUNID

DATE OF SUBMISSION

:

13TH NOVEMBER 2020

ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and foremost, praises to Allah S.W.T, The Almighty, for His showers of blessings throughout this case study. I am grateful to Him for giving me the strength, inspiration and patience to complete this case study successfully. I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to Madam Junainah Junid, my helpful lecturer in Technology Entrepreneurship (ENT600) subject for giving me the opportunity to do this project and providing invaluable guidance throughout this case study. It was a great privilege and honour to study under her guidance. I am extremely grateful for what she has offered me. Without her guidance, I will not be able to complete this case study. I am extending my thanks to AA 3D Printing & Engineering for providing me the opportunity to choose this company as my project. This company has provided me with lots of information and knowledge throughout this project. I am deeply thankful to my family for the constant support financially and morally. I would also like to express my special thanks to my friends for their encouragement and genuine support throughout this project.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.............................................................................................................i TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................ii LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................................iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................1 1.0

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................2

1.1

Background of Study...................................................................................................2

1.2

Purpose of The Study..................................................................................................2

1.3 2.0

Problem Statement.......................................................................................................3 COMPANY INFORMATION.........................................................................................4

2.1

Company Background.................................................................................................4

2.2

Organizational Structure..............................................................................................4

2.3

Services........................................................................................................................4

2.4

Technology..................................................................................................................4

2.5

Business, Marketing, Operational and Production Strategy........................................5

2.6

Financial......................................................................................................................6

2.7 3.0

Achievement................................................................................................................6 COMPANY SWOT ANALYSIS.....................................................................................7

3.1

SWOT..........................................................................................................................7

3.2

Strength........................................................................................................................7

3.3

Weakness.....................................................................................................................8

3.4

Opportunities...............................................................................................................8

3.5 4.0 4.1

Findings.......................................................................................................................9

4.1.1

Production area and workspace is not conducive................................................9

4.1.2

Lack of employees...............................................................................................9

4.2

5.0

Threats.........................................................................................................................8 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS..................................................................................9

Discussions..................................................................................................................9

4.2.1

Redesign the production area and workspace......................................................9

4.2.2

Hire new employees...........................................................................................10

CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................11

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6.0

RECOMMENDATION AND IMPROVEMENT.........................................................11

REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................12 APPENDICES..........................................................................................................................13

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Distance of company to the nearest competitor........................................................13 Figure 2: Distance of company to UiTM Shah Alam..............................................................13 Figure 3: Final products...........................................................................................................14 Figure 4: 3D printing training..................................................................................................14 Figure 5: Certificate of achievement........................................................................................15 Figure 6: Gift ceremony after the interview with the owner of the company..........................15

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: SWOT Analysis of the Company.................................................................................7

iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3D printing is the technology of transforming 3D designs from file form into a physical product. It has gain exponential popularity ever since being released to the public. This technology is important as it consumes lesser raw materials than traditional manufacturing and printing, saves more time and able to produce a more complex product. AA 3D Printing & Engineering is a company in Shah Alam that provides 3D printing services. With two-years experiences of 3D printing business, the company was chosen to be investigated in this study. The purpose of this case study is to analyse the issues within the company with SWOT analysis and to determine if the solutions implemented are suitable to help the company exploits the market. After the SWOT analysis being done, it is safe to say that the company is at an advantage as they are the pioneer for 3D printing in Shah Alam, and their location is very strategic as they are close to UiTM Shah Alam. However, they still have underlying issues that needs to be addressed. The company’s productivity is restricted due to the limited workspace and lack of employees. To do 3D printing and design services, it takes a large space for a fast rate production and a lot of employees for a smoother workflow. Thus, the company needs to redesign their office and hire more employees. The technology being used in the business has almost no flaw. However, there are still improvements that can be made to enhance the usability of the 3D printer. It was discovered that the printer can only print designs with one colour because it has only one nozzle to pour down the melted filament. However, this can improved by adding more nozzles to the printer to print multi-coloured designs.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1

Background of Study

3-Dimensional (3D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a process of creating a three dimensional solid object by laying down many successive thin layers of a raw material (filament) from a digital file containing the desired design. It is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing processes, which cut out excess material away from a larger piece or block to get the desired design. AM builds the final product, layer by layer, starting from digital slicing of CAD, 3D scan, or tomography data (Ligon, Liska, Stampfl, Gurr, & Mülhaupt, 2017). 3D printing is suitable for the demand of creating personalized and complex object, making it ideal for quick prototyping. Engineers and designers have been utilizing 3D printers for more than three decades, but this technology made their way into the public eye only recently. According to a report made by Grand View Research in 2020, the market size value for global 3D printing was USD 11.58 billion in 2019 and is expected to increase at a CAGR over 14% from 2020 to 2027. The spike in popularity is due to an increase in accessibility made possible by a variety of factors. Although 3D printing was only suitable for rapid prototyping and small scale manufacturing on its early stages, development and adoption of 3D printing technology is currently growing rapidly and need to be grasped, especially by those in the manufacturing industry, as it can be a prominent tool in production. 1.2

Purpose of The Study

The purpose of this study is to analyse thoroughly the company and the products or services they offer, the technology they used, and the possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company by using the SWOT analysis. From the SWOT analysis, it helps to determine if the implementation of the solutions is suitable to exploit the market.

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1.3

Problem Statement

Although traditional manufacturing methods can still produce 3D objects, often they have so many constraints. Traditional manufacturing increases the material loss during the production of object due to the subtractive manufacturing process used. With traditional manufacturing, it is difficult to produce 3D objects with complex geometric shapes and interlocking parts that require no assembly. It also takes a longer time and bigger effort to produce objects with precision by using the traditional method. Thus, we need a technology that can reduce the time and effort to produce the 3D objects and reduce the constraints coming from traditional manufacturing methods while being able to save production cost and use of resources or raw material.

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2.0 COMPANY INFORMATION 2.1

Company Background

AA 3D Printing & Engineering (AA 3DP) is a company founded by Mohammad Azeeb bin Mazlan, who is an UiTM Shah Alam alumni. The owner started to offer the services as home-based in 2018. In 2019, it was first established in Suria Jaya, Shah Alam, as studio-based company, before transferring to Seksyen 16, Shah Alam, as office-based company. The company specializes in 3D printing technology and aims to be one of the biggest 3D printer suppliers in Malaysia, bringing in well-known 3D printer brand such as “Ultimaker”, “Creality”, “MakerPI”, and “Raise3D”. In addition, the company also aims to be an engineering firm specialize in product development and Industrial Revolution 4.0. AA 3D Printing & Engineering partnered up with a lot of prestigious companies from across Malaysia and other country such as China to exchange knowledge, expertise, and technologies. The company strives forward to make Malaysia as one of the leading countries not only in 3D printing or additive manufacturing but as well as in other areas of Industrial Revolution 4.0. 2.2

Organizational Structure

The company has no organizational structure as it is run by only the owner and his wife. 2.3

Services

The company does not produce its own products, but it provides 3D printing services such as 3D designing and modelling, 3D scanning and 3D printing, and postprocessing services (removing support material, smoothing the surface with sanding or chemicals for a better finish). Moreover, the company supplies 3D printers, printing materials and provide installation and maintaining services for the printer. The company also accepts any reverse engineering projects and demands from the customers. The company also supplies 3D printers for those who are interested to buy whether for company or personal use. The company will help with installation and teach a little bit on how to use the printer. It provides training sessions for customers who are interested in 3D printing technology and help them to learn about 3D printing extensively.

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2.4

Technology

The company is currently using 4 technologies which are Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), Digital Light Processing (DLP), Laser Cutter (LC) and 3D scanner. The company owned 10 machines of FDM, 1 machine of DLP and 1 machine of LC. FDM and DLP technologies are used in 3D printing services and LC technology is used for engineering services. In 3D printing, there are many factors that needed to be considered to determine what machine is suitable to be used to produce the desired product. The main difference between these two technologies is by the raw material (filament) they used and the mechanism used to print the product from the raw material. FDM used solid plastics as the filament, melt it and the product will harden after the printing, while DLP uses resin which is already in molten state. The filaments used in FDM are Polylactic Acid (PLA), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol Modified (PETG), and Thermoplastic Polyurethene (TPU). In terms of strength, FDM is a better option compared to DLP as FDM uses wider range of materials with costeffective strength. FDM is much more preferred if the customers want a product with cheaper price and can be done in a short time (Ngo et. al, 2018). DLP is preferred if the customers want a product with precise details (Ge et. al, 2018) Since the company also provides engineering services, laser cutting technology is adopted. Laser cutter is used to cut through stuff by removing material such as wood and acrylic. This technology is contactless as it uses laser-beam to melt material in a localised area and cut them off. 2.5

Business, Marketing, Operational and Production Strategy

AA 3D Printing & Engineering utilizes social media platform as its communication and advertising tools. They own an Instagram page and a Facebook page to communicate with the customers. For advertising, they started with Instagram Ads service, but it did not generate revenue, so they change their advertising method to Shopee Ads service. To reach more prospective customers, the company gives special price for students and for companies who ordered in bulk. The company operates from Monday to Friday every week, from 9 am to 6 pm. Since the services are all machines-driven and almost no labour forces needed, the company prioritize the operational and production strategy on the time allocated for each 5

processes involved in the business. The company allocated 1 day for design services, 2 to 3 days for remodelling services, 1 to 7 days for printing services, and 1 day for post-processing or finishing services. 2.6

Financial

The company earns more than RM10,000.00 revenue from their sales per month. However, the company still hardly gets profit from the sales and experiences monthly deficit. Since the company is a new and growing company, they always allocate the revenue as the budget for new machines and turn them into their assets. The average cost of one machine can reach up to RM15,000.00. 2.7

Achievement

The company has joined several competitions under the company’s name and partnership’s name. In 2019, the company joined Malaysian Technology Expo (MTE 2019) and received a gold medal for their invention. Other than that, the company also partnered up with UiTM Shah Alam and invented Customized Orthotics in Assistive Adaptive Device (AAD), Prescription for Disability Management which includes inventions such as Adjustable Headrest, Writing Aids for Stroke Patients and 3D Printed Socket for Prosthetic Leg for Cosmetic Purpose. They received gold award under Social Innovation Asia Awards category.

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3.0 COMPANY SWOT ANALYSIS 3.1

SWOT Strengths  Pioneer in town

Weaknesses

 Number of machines

 Lack of labour forces

 Knowledge in machines

 Limited production area

maintenance

 One machine can only produce 1

 Maintenance and repairing

colour

services Opportunities  Strategic location

Threats

 3D printing organization society  Availability of supplier

 Increasing self-3D printing printers

 Price competition  Awareness on 3D printing Table 1: SWOT Analysis of the Company 3.2

Strength

AA 3D Printing & Engineering is the pioneer company for 3D printing services in Shah Alam. This has become their strength as there are almost no competition from other companies. The nearest company to AA 3DP who offers 3D printing services is 3D Gen, located in Taman Perindustrian Saujana Indah, which is on average 14km away. Other than that, AA 3D Printing & Engineering owns 12 machines in total, 10 of them is FDM. FDM is the most frequently used printer as the products from this printer achieve the demands of their customers. Thus, having plentiful quantity of these machines can increase the company’s productivity. In addition to this, the company is also specialized in the maintenance and repairing of 3D printers. Hence, they are able to do the maintenance and repairing of their own machines as well as providing the services to customers.

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3.3

Weakness

Although the production is mainly driven by machines, labour forces is still needed for business development. Currently, the business is run and managed by the owner and his wife. This could become their weakness as their productivity is not maximized with lack of staff. Other than that, the working space and production area is quite small. The small working space limits the number of machines they can own and consequently affect their productivity. Another weakness is that the company uses 3D printer that can only print designs with one colour, while the customer demands for a multi-coloured products. 3.4

Opportunities

AA 3DP is located at the central part and commercial area of Shah Alam. The location is just 4 km away from UiTM Shah...