Understanding Costing and Safety in Metal Additive Manufacturing

This course covers the comprehensive aspects of safety measures, hazards, and costing in metal additive manufacturing. It begins with an exploration of potential risks such as high energy density sources, high voltage sources, chemical hazards, and powder hazards. It emphasizes the importance of safety analysis methods and standards set by The American National Standard Institute (ANSI). For instance, learners will be tasked with identifying potential electrical hazards at home and listing possible safety measures. The course then transitions into the concept of costing, discussing direct and indirect costs, machine costs, labor costs, and the impact of ill-structured costs on the overall cost structure. It introduces activity-based costing (ABC) and its application in estimating the cost of additive manufacturing. The course concludes with a focus on Industry 4.0 and its integration with additive manufacturing, discussing smart manufacturing, the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), and the future of additive manufacturing in the context of Industry 4.0.