Innovation in a box: exploring creativity in design for additive manufacturing in a regulated industry

• Additive Manufacturing (AM) is often considered to increase opportunities for creativity in design compared to traditional manufacturing methods. At the same time, it is suggested that regulated work can have a negative effect on engineers’ creative abilities, which are linked to three components of creativity (expertise, motivation, and creative thinking skills). Due to the ‘newness’ of AM, engineers need to broaden their expertise to fully exploit their creative potential while using AM. Previous research has presented support tools to assist engineers to understand the complexity of AM. A majority of such studies focus on novice engineers, rather than providing an understanding of how AM is involved in industrial practices. This paper follows three case studies from the space industry, a regulated industry, that aims to re-design a product for AM over a 21-month time period. The purpose is to explore how restrictions affect engineers’ opportunities to build AM expertise for creativity in a regulated industry. Results show the importance that case-specific aspects have on an engineer’s learning path for adopting AM. Engineers find themselves in a complex situation, with a conflict between being ‘safe’ or innovative, where innovation within such regulated industries is often compared to innovating ‘in a box’.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Annan maskinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Other Mechanical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

DfAM

design for space

AM knowledge

design restictions

Produktinnovation

Product Innovation

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)