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UtILItY WeeK | 14th - 20th November 2014 | 23 Operations & Assets In the second scenario, the team from Plymouth were unable to contact the crane operator and instead used specialist rope access techniques to reach and rescue the injured worker. The 2,000 cubic metre under- ground storm storage tank has been sunk in the southeast corner of Abbey Park, Torquay, and will provide extra capacity in extremely wet weather to prevent discharges to the network. If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, email: paul.newton@fav-house.com Pipe up Dominic Thasarathar A dditive manufacturing (more commonly known as 3D printing) is shaking up the manufactur- ing industry. The pursuit of "economies of scale", where production lines are tooled-up to produce high volumes of a small number of products, is being overtaken. We're heading into an era where an item's "complexity and uniqueness" no longer carry the cost barriers it once did, where producing a bespoke object, product, tool or component, on demand, might cost a similar price to a mass produced one. But what might this mean for the utilities sector? The technology comes in a number of flavours, ranging from systems that produce small plastic items, to those that create components in steel, titanium or alu- minium, as well as ceramics, glass, polymers and more. It's this latter, industrially focused technology that's likely to offer utilities three distinct opportunities. The first is replacing legacy components. For a variety of reasons, the service life of numerous infrastructure components will exceed the availability of spare parts. In the worst cases, designs may no longer be available. Step forward "scan- mod-rip", where an in-situ legacy component is scanned and printed in 3D. Before it is printed, design soware can be used if required to modify the original. The second opportunity is service and supply. Col- lapsing supply chains are one of the forecast conse- quences of 3D printing, as the number of commercial interfaces in procuring components is reduced. Will this result in each utility maintenance team having a 3D printer in the back of their van? Possibly. But it's more likely we'll see utility companies creating centralised manufacturing facilities, equipped with a range of addi- tive manufacturing machines, with work orders routing parts requirements on a just-in-time basis. The third opportunity is equipment design. No longer shackled to stock items, utility designers will have the freedom to create components more directly matched to site, maintenance or performance criteria. Though this would require a fundamental rethink of operations and maintenance procedures, and a careful control of "design freedom", there will be situations where a cus- tom designed component is the right way to go, not least as systems, and the environments they operate in, both become more complex. Though still emerging, additive manufacturing could prove a useful weapon in utility companies' arsenals. Dominic Thasarathar, senior manager – construc- tion, utilities, natural resources, Autodesk "We're heading into an era where an item's 'complexity and uniqueness' no longer carry the same cost barrier" Collapsing supply chains are one of the forecast consequences of 3D printing