Innovation often comes out of crisis. A sudden disaster forces people to think fast and develop creative solutions, and while not much good can be said to have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, there were examples of resourceful people whose ideas saved lives and often led to long-term changes.
Project DIAMOnD (Distributed, Independent, Agile Manufacturing on Demand) was developed in 2020 when Oakland County, Michigan began suffering the effects of the supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. This was an urgent problem as the county was having trouble sourcing enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers, so officials reached out to Automation Alley, a nonprofit Michigan organization focused on advancing businesses through Industry 4.0 technology. Automation Alley quickly settled on 3D printing as a solution for fast, local manufacturing, and distributed 300 3D printers to local businesses in Oakland County and nearby Macomb County with the requirement that they dedicate a percentage of their printer use to making PPE. They also networked the printers, connecting each of them to a centralized cloud so designs could be quickly shared and fabricated.
While COVID-19 was the catalyst for Project DIAMOnD, Automation Alley saw broader, more long-term opportunities for advancing digital manufacturing.
“Interestingly, during the pandemic, supply chains retooled quite quickly so the PPE problem went away very quickly,” says Pavan Muzumdar, COO of Automation Alley and CEO of Project DIAMOnD. “The other part of Project DIAMOnD was to tell our companies, you can use this printer as if it were your own, because the whole idea was that we wanted to catalyze digital transformation.”
Another emergency situation arose a couple years later, and Project DIAMOnD’s participants were ready, 3D printing roughly 10,000 tourniquet clips in about a week and a half to send to Ukraine. Traditional manufacturing systems weren’t prepared to deliver this many components, explains Muzumdar, so this was real validation for the project. After additional funding came in from Oakland County, Project DIAMOnD was able to move from Phase One into Phase Two, going beyond emergency response into a commercial network of printers allowing companies to work together and build a peer-to-peer marketplace.
Parallel prototyping and just-in-time printing
One of the businesses that applied for the program was Becker Orthopedic, an orthotics manufacturer based in Troy, Michigan. Becker had previously used wax 3D printing as part of an investment casting process, but when they were accepted as part of Phase Two of Project DIAMOnD, they received an Original Prusa XL large-format multi-material desktop 3D printer that created new options for both prototyping and final part production.
“With Project DIAMOnD, we were able to revise how we were doing things and move forward in a lot of ways,” says Erica Guice, quality systems/compliance assurance professional at Becker Orthopedic.
Becker recently introduced a new product called the Method TA, a carbon composite ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) customizable to the specific needs of individual patients. It features a 3D-printed heel block designed to even out foot placement in patients with valgus foot conditions, reducing pain. Casting that relatively small part in metal, Guice explains, would have been prohibitively expensive, not to mention less comfortable for the patient than the plastic Becker was able to print.
Another component, a plantarflexion stop for an AFO designed to treat foot drop, is currently being injection molded by an outside manufacturer, but Becker is in the final stages of validating the design for 3D printing so they can create it in house. Not only does this save money, it means Becker can deliver the device to the patient quicker – which is everything to a patient in pain.
“We can do just-in-time printing,” Guice explains. “That’s a huge benefit for us because if you have someone coming into your office who has difficulty walking, you don’t want to have to tell them ‘oh, we don’t have that in. You have to come back in two-to-six weeks.’ Who wants to hear that?”
In addition to directly printing orthotic components, Becker can use the Prusa XL to prototype and iterate designs. Guice gives the example of a part connecting cables for a torsion splint system. The part is tricky to design because it needs to be incredibly strong to withstand the de-rotation force of the cables, so, in a process called parallel prototyping, Becker 3D printed multiple options to test. Once they ascertained which design would work best, they were able to machine it in-house, saving significant time and money compared to investment casting.
Pursuing digital transformation
In September 2024, Project DIAMOnD opened a Digital Transformation Center (DTC) in Auburn Hills, Michigan to grant project participants access to more industrial, advanced additive technology. The center offers industrial 3D printers and scanners, post-processing equipment, and advanced modeling and measurement software, along with numerous classes and training opportunities. Participants can also upload and order parts through the DTC.
Through the DTC, Becker Orthopedic is looking into metal 3D printing, particularly directed energy deposition. They’re working with 3D printing solutions provider EOS for hands-on instruction, and Guice hopes to eventually be able to create a proprietary metal mixture for AM, as Becker has done for its investment casting.
“It’s going to be very exciting to us, having such a vast product line, because every knee doesn’t work the same,” she says. “Every ankle doesn’t work the same and though you want it to articulate a certain way, how you do that is very, very different. So we have a lot of different knee joints, and to be able to do that in metal printing and just-in-time would be a huge benefit for us.”
The DTC is one of what Muzumdar describes as four components of Project DIAMOnD. There’s also the printer distribution grant, a digital transformation program every participating company goes through to learn how to integrate additive manufacturing (AM) into their business model, and the marketplace facilitated by the network of connected printers. Although some other 3D printing marketplaces have led to intellectual property (IP) issues, Project DIAMOnD’s, built using partner Markforged’s software, takes sophisticated security measures to ensure IP safety.
“One of the things a lot of companies don’t necessarily think about when they first start is the IP side of things,” Muzumdar says. “This marketplace is designed to help companies protect their IP. We don’t actually send a print file to a printer. What we send is an encrypted file that the marketplace licenses to that particular printer, so there’s some technology that prevents reverse engineering from taking place.”
The project is also working toward a framework involving what Muzumdar calls a smart product recipe, which encapsulates the geometry of the design, the printer, the firmware, and the material. It’s all captured in a digital model, and the idea is to create a traceability and certification system stating if a product is qualified, every other product manufactured in compliance with the first product’s recipe is also qualified. It’s complicated stuff unlike anything being currently done in manufacturing, so Project DIAMOnD is working with experts from organizations such as Fraunhofer to research. The goal is to create a consortium of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) agreeing to abide by the framework.
Expansion and future goals
Muzumdar hopes to expand Project DIAMOnD beyond Michigan into a national network, and he’s not the only one. Nonprofit think tank The Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) identified the project as a model for the Department of Defense to implement for more resilient manufacturing. In early December 2024, Project DIAMOnD received $1.9 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand to 100 small- and medium-sized manufacturers across Michigan, and other states are expressing interest. It’s already the world’s largest distributed manufacturing network, and it signals a shift in how companies are thinking about manufacturing.
There’s something poetic about this happening in Michigan, once the heart of traditional manufacturing. Where some have seen the decline of American industry, others have seen opportunities for new industry. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has firmly backed Project DIAMOnD, naming it an economic pillar at the Mackinac Policy Conference in May 2024. While it’s still contained within Oakland County, signs point to that not being the case for long, so Muzumdar stresses they’d love to hear from all interested companies, not just local ones. Every application, which can be submitted through the project’s website, boosts the program’s mission to expand and help more manufacturers prepare for Industry 4.0.
Sponsored Content
The 1200-CC, Enhanced With New Features
Eagle Crusher’s most popular plant is enhanced with new features to make setup, operation, and transport a breeze. New features include a redesigned return conveyor; a new fully hydraulic side discharge conveyor, a self-lowering control panel, and an available onboard cross-belt permanent magnet that stays on for transport.
Sponsored Content
The 1200-CC, Enhanced With New Features
Eagle Crusher’s most popular plant is enhanced with new features to make setup, operation, and transport a breeze. New features include a redesigned return conveyor; a new fully hydraulic side discharge conveyor, a self-lowering control panel, and an available onboard cross-belt permanent magnet that stays on for transport.
Sponsored Content
The 1200-CC, Enhanced With New Features
Eagle Crusher’s most popular plant is enhanced with new features to make setup, operation, and transport a breeze. New features include a redesigned return conveyor; a new fully hydraulic side discharge conveyor, a self-lowering control panel, and an available onboard cross-belt permanent magnet that stays on for transport.
Sponsored Content
The 1200-CC, Enhanced With New Features
Eagle Crusher’s most popular plant is enhanced with new features to make setup, operation, and transport a breeze. New features include a redesigned return conveyor; a new fully hydraulic side discharge conveyor, a self-lowering control panel, and an available onboard cross-belt permanent magnet that stays on for transport.
Sponsored Content
The 1200-CC, Enhanced With New Features
Eagle Crusher’s most popular plant is enhanced with new features to make setup, operation, and transport a breeze. New features include a redesigned return conveyor; a new fully hydraulic side discharge conveyor, a self-lowering control panel, and an available onboard cross-belt permanent magnet that stays on for transport.
Sponsored Content
The 1200-CC, Enhanced With New Features
Eagle Crusher’s most popular plant is enhanced with new features to make setup, operation, and transport a breeze. New features include a redesigned return conveyor; a new fully hydraulic side discharge conveyor, a self-lowering control panel, and an available onboard cross-belt permanent magnet that stays on for transport.
Sponsored Content
The 1200-CC, Enhanced With New Features
Eagle Crusher’s most popular plant is enhanced with new features to make setup, operation, and transport a breeze. New features include a redesigned return conveyor; a new fully hydraulic side discharge conveyor, a self-lowering control panel, and an available onboard cross-belt permanent magnet that stays on for transport.
Automation Alley
https://www.automationalley.com
Becker Orthopedic
https://www.beckerorthopedic.com
Markforged
https://markforged.com
Project DIAMOnD
https://www.projectdiamond.org
Get curated news on YOUR industry.
Enter your email to receive our newsletters.
Explore the April 2025 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
