I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 720 - 618: Application of 3D Printing Technology

Chen Xin installed these formidable items on the land carrier, and naturally, the Captain had to report it to the higher-ups.

With such an overwhelming thing as 3D printing equipment, how could the upper levels not pay attention once they received the news?

"3D printing equipment isn’t as powerful as you might think. It’s mainly prepared for emergency use on the European Battlefield." Faced with representatives sent by the upper echelon and the military to inquire about this matter, Chen Xin did not bother to explain much but led them to a newly made 3D printing device, demonstrating its features.

"I will now use this machine to print a set of Power Armor. Also, I have another set of Power Armor that was brought over from the factory. You can compare the differences between the two." With that, Chen Xin activated the device and let it start working, printing the Power Armor.

Due to the large internal space of this equipment, it can print a large number of parts simultaneously during the printing process, which results in fast printing speed.

However, the representative from the higher-ups noticed some hints but did not raise them here, merely watching silently as the entire set of Power Armor was printed as individual parts.

After the parts were printed, workers summoned by Chen Xin swiftly began assembling them.

Originally, the design of the entire equipment included mechanical arms and a production line for automatic assembly, but since it was merely a demonstration, Chen Xin had workers assemble it instead.

A set of Power Armor with its complex structure and numerous parts is not easy to assemble, and if only one person were doing it, it would take a lot of time.

However, Chen Xin surely wouldn’t keep military and upper-level personnel waiting that long, so he summoned a group of skilled workers who brought various auxiliary tools, completing the assembly in about two to three hours.

After assembling the 3D-printed Power Armor, another pre-prepared Power Armor was brought over, and two seemingly identical sets of Power Armor were displayed before the military and upper-level representatives.

"How long does it usually take you to assemble a set of Power Armor?" The representative, having roughly understood Chen Xin’s point, proactively inquired with the nearby workers.

Without much thought, the worker quickly replied, "If it’s on the production line and not considering parts supply, just for assembly, we can assemble twenty sets of Power Armor in fourteen hours a day."

This figure is a bit exaggerated; under normal circumstances, the factory production line cannot operate at full capacity to achieve this production efficiency.

After all, the parts required for Power Armor are quite numerous, needing production by different factories before being delivered to the assembly plant.

However, even if the country now concentrates a lot of resources into it, the production line’s efficiency is only a little over 80%, due to the lack of enough parts to keep the production line running.

This is mainly due to the tight resources; now the country is in a state of war, logically, all resources should be concentrated on producing such war supplies.

Yet, with the current situation changing, there are quite a few places that require resources besides war supplies production.

Furthermore, with Flame Country’s uneven distribution of resources, a significant amount needs to be transferred to gather at the production plant, and to avoid wasting a large amount due to transportation, the country can only as much as possible adopt a nearby distribution principle, which also leads to many factories lacking sufficient materials to meet the needs of full-load production.

The representative from the higher-ups naturally understood this, so when the worker mentioned assembling twenty sets of Power Armor in a day just for assembly, it was naturally converted in his mind to actual production volume.

But even when evaluated at actual production speed, the 3D printing speed remains somewhat slow.

Of course, that is not where the real issue lies.

"Academician Chen, how long does a complete set of 3D printing equipment take to produce a set of Power Armor?" The representative from the higher-ups asked Chen Xin this question.

When he asked this question, the military representative approached the two sets of Power Armor, tapping them with his hand, inspecting the quality.

"The fact is, it’s only this fast. The advantage of 3D printing equipment doesn’t lie in its production efficiency but in its ability to produce anything as long as there is enough raw material." Chen Xin explained to the higher-ups’ representative, and also glanced at the military representative, explaining, "The 3D printing technology I use differs slightly from existing printing technology; it’s not using laser welding-style powder printing, so multiple materials can be mixed to print. However, this also brings the issue that more materials are needed for printing, not just one kind.

Production efficiency is a major problem; it’s bound not to replace existing production lines, so 3D printing technology can be used on land carriers that need to last a long time on the European Battlefield and provide aid to European countries. Bringing such a set of equipment is quite useful.

But domestically, using this technology for production is rather unsuitable; it’s like having a machine capable of making anything but using it only for one type of product, which would be wasteful.

What suits the use of 3D printing technology are research departments; sometimes they need to produce non-standard or temporary items. In such cases, just input the designs and dimensions into the 3D printing equipment to get what is needed, which is admittedly much better than having to specially find someone for custom production and processing."

This is both the advantage and disadvantage of 3D printing: being able to print everything is good, but it also limits its application in production.

After all, when producing a product, the required processes and procedures are fixed; maximizing production efficiency is crucial, ensuring the needed items are produced quickly and in large quantities.

Under such circumstances, rather than using a machine that can make anything, one might as well build a production line specifically for manufacturing such products.

This concept is essentially the same as using an industrial mother machine to directly produce a product versus using it to produce a production line for making that product.

It’s not that this can’t be done; it’s just that the latter clearly can better maximize production efficiency and better manifest the advantages of 3D printing technology.

After Chen Xin’s explanation, the higher-ups’ representative clearly understood Chen Xin’s point. After thoroughly understanding the various details of this 3D printing technology introduced by Chen Xin, he left satisfied.

On the other hand, the military seemed to have had some sudden intriguing thoughts while looking at the set of 3D printing equipment.