The statements below are copied from this webpage, and are subjected to change. This competition is hosted by the national society, and the UC Davis chapter will guide you through this competition if you wish to partake. More details about the latter soon!

AM to the Rescue: Digital Manufacturing Agility to Address Crises

View Past Winners; please contact us if you need help

If you are interested, please fill out this interest form! (Sign in with your UC Davis email address)

Problem Statement/Mission

This year’s challenge seeks ways to address natural or man-made disasters – circumstances where our fellow human beings are made homeless.  For some, whether next door or half-way around the world, this is not an abstract concept but a present or future reality.  How can our creativity and problem-solving skills bring aid and comfort to others in need?  How can we amplify the human touch of first responders through products, components, or systems that prepare for or respond/adapt quickly to severe and acute circumstances wrought by fire, wind, water, even war?

Under such circumstances “creature comforts,” often taken for granted, may be few and far between in terms of distance and time, and may be large or small.  Teams are challenged to address the needs of those in distress with individual products at scale or with small- or large-scale systems.

Consider one, some, or all of the following:

1. Shelter (individual or multi-family)
   • Adapting to the geographic site and conditions of the disaster with suitable tools and methods.
   • Reuse, restore, repurpose, recycle the wreckage/remains.
   • Include water/sanitation, electrical/communications, heating/cooling – whether independent and self-contained/self-sustaining or connected to existing, perhaps damaged infrastructure.
   • Perhaps such shelter and facilities should be mobile, modular, reconfigurable, able to be repurposed, upgradable, scalable, reproducible – transforming the way we relate to the planet and to each other creating the foundation for a community even more desirable than traditional, permanent shelter/housing?
   • Consider food production/preparation/storage, clothing, transportation/logistics – a circular economy.
      
2. Medical supplies/devices/facilities, prioritizing the urgent/important needs over “nice to have” wants.
3. Manufacturing facilities as an economic engine of restoration and prosperity by and for all from mercantile to industrial scale.

Constraints:

• Apply only existing additive or conventional technologies – not something yet to be developed.
• Backfill conventional with additive components only if necessary, appropriate, and possible.
• You may address individual parts of the system or the entire system in response to this challenge.
• Consider legal frameworks. Avoid liability/warranty issues but consider the merits and impact of private property rights under such extreme circumstances.

Deliverable

Complete and competitive submissions are expected in the form of a business case. After completing the challenge with advice and guidance of our judges, contestants may wish to consider preparing a funding proposal or a journal paper. Some references are listed in https://www.sme.org/aboutsme/awards/digital-manufacturing-challenge. 

How to Enter

Steps to submit Digital Manufacturing Challenge Project

1. https://sme.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_87UkY3ZOEKNxhQi
2. Add team leader, team members and an academic advisor. Be sure to include each person’s first and last name, email address, role, and academic institution.
3. All project files should be included in a zip folder or equivalent to be uploaded onto the platform. Files should include:
   • STL files of your design
   • Title of your entry on every file.
   • A document according to the “Submission and Judging Criteria” page
     • Template for formatting the submission to be added soon!
   • Your name(s), contact information, and résumé(s) for circulation among potential employers
   • New - Teams have the option to include a video that supports their project. It is not required, but highly encouraged. Please add the link to your video. YouTube or another file sharing platform is acceptable.

What's in it for you?

• Complimentary conference pass to RAPID + TCT
• A stipend of $1,000 to use for travel and lodging to the conference
• A certificate of achievement
• A complimentary, one-year SME student membership
• A recognition letter sent to the winner with a copy sent to the university advisor/educator

DMC Submission Requirements and Judging Criteria

Submission Requirements

Executive Summary (5 pt.)

• Briefly summarize the need and design in the submission
• Discuss the key points and findings of the work
• One page limit

Industry Overview (10 pt.)

• Identify and describe the deficiency that your design aims to address.
• Justify and describe the need for the proposed design
• What are the critical timelines that the reader needs to be aware of?
• Describe the market and scale of the issue in terms of time/money invested and/or lost due to the deficiency (e.g., “The aerospace industry spends $X and/or wastes [some number] of labor hours annually to enable a given functionality/process/etc. that the design proposes to address”).
  • Undergrad: Also provide citations on the industry growth/decline
  • Graduate: Also provide citations to the industry growth/decline and how forecasted trajectories will affect the adoption of the proposed design

Design, Functionality and Durability (20 pt.)

• Provide a description of the features and functions
• Discuss health, safety, and quality considerations (positive and negative) for the design
• Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing
  • High School: Proper three view drawing with dimensions. Additional drawings/schematics may be used to fully detail the design.
  • Undergrad: Proper three view drawing with dimensions. Additional drawings/schematics may be used to fully detail the design. Tolerances should be included and be reasonable for the manufacture of the part.
  • Graduate: Proper three view drawing with dimensions and tolerances. Additional drawings/schematics may be used to fully detail the design. Tolerances should be included and be reasonable given the manufacture of the part, the manufacturing plan, and any assembly requirements laid out in the submission.
• Part Quality:
  • High School: What is the anticipated lifetime of the part proposed (e.g., one time use, minimum X number of months/years)? What key performance indicators does the part need to achieve.
  • Undergraduate: What testing do you anticipate to ensure the product will remain functional while in use for the required product lifetime?
  • Graduate: Discuss the qualification of the part given the AM processes that are being used. What standards and test methods are available or need to be written into standards for qualification/certification of your design and production parts.

Design Integration and utilization of DDM materials and processes (20 pt.)

• Showcase AM capabilities integrated with traditional methods to add value
• Justify the AM material(s) selected
  • Undergrad/Graduate: Also discuss how the materials selected contrast with traditionally manufactured materials.
• Justify the AM process(es) used
  • Undergraduate/Graduate: Describe benefits/drawbacks to the AM processes used
  • Graduate:
    • Identify how the design can be adapted for other AM processes. For example, the part is designed to be built in LPBF, but EBPBF can be used if [insert factor] is addressed.
    • Identify additional pre/post AM processes, if any, that need to take place (i.e., powder manufacture, heat treatment, support removal, etc.)

Digital and physical infrastructure: Systems integration, utilization, value chain leverage, agility, lean and continuous improvement (20 pt.)

• Discuss dissemination of designs, manufacturing coordination across and among large corporations and hobbyist makers
  • Undergrad: Also Identify how the design/manufacturing plan will enable resiliency in the supply chain
  • Graduate: Discuss how the new design will leverage current digital and physical infrastructure. Discuss improvements to digital/physical infrastructure that would create additional benefit to your design/plan.

Cost Benefit/Value Analysis (10 pt.)

• Compare the cost benefit and value added compared to existing designs/solutions described in the “Industry Overview” Section
• Explain and justify the affects anticipated (i.e., Social, environmental, health, safety, and regulatory compliance)
• Undergrad: Discuss how test methods required will affect cost/value.
• Graduate: Discuss how tolerances and test methods will affect cost/value. How does the part/manufacturing plan benefit or suffer from the use of AM?

Conclusions (10 pt.)

• Summarize the design holistically, including:
  • Key aspects of the design
  • How the AM processes and materials are used
  • Innovative uses of digital/physical infrastructure to achieve the goals of the work
  • The novelty and innovation of the work (e.g., what makes your design and manufacturing plan stand out from the crowd)
  • Impact of the design and manufacturing plan

Reference List

• List any references at the end

Overall Quality of Submission (5)

• Is the document free of grammatical and spelling errors?
• Does the writing flow properly or are thoughts/sections disjointed?
• Is the reference list included and properly formatted?

NEW THIS YEAR: High school and undergraduate students are highly encouraged to prepare a submission! Tiers have been added to separate High School, Undergraduate, and Graduate student submissions and a winner from each tier will be identified.

Note:

• Participants will have access to seminars on various technical aspects of the competition. Dates and topics TBD.

Judging Criteria