Executive Chairman & Founder, Carbon3D

Title: Digital Transformation in Manufacturing

Abstract:

Until recently, 3D printing was a field with enormous potential that had become well accustomed to disappointment. In the past few decades, the technology had not lived up to its hype, neither transforming our daily lives nor influencing manufacturing in a meaningful way. Instead, 3D printing was largely relegated to prototyping and small-scale projects due to fundamental limitations—slowness and an inability to generate objects with adequate mechanical strength and thermal properties that would entail widespread, durable utility. 3D printing essentially functioned as 2D printing over and over again; materials were deposited layer-by-layer to construct an object. This layering not only is very time consuming as a process, but also results in fragile parts due to structural weaknesses associated with shale-like layers. A limited range of materials compatible with 3D printing also severely hindered the ability to make parts comparable in mechanical performance and surface finish to injection molded parts.

Rethinking the basic physics and chemistry of 3D printing, we invented the Digital Light Synthesis^TM(DLS) Technology, delivering a much-needed leap in the field. Introduced on the cover of Science[2015, 347, 1349], DLS is now being used in academic laboratories as well as in numerous industries for manufacturing. With DLS, we succeeded in addressing 3D printing’s longstanding major drawbacks—slowness, part quality, and an inadequate range of materials. The DLS technology is transforming how parts are manufactured in industries like automotive, aerospace, footwear, and medicine. The revolutionary nature of the DLS technology creates possibilities for market-shifting transformations with significant economic and environmental implications. These include: continuous digital thread and the smart factory; mass customization; product light-weighting; end of inventory with just-in-time production; and distributed manufacturing.

This lecture will discuss the opportunities and the challenges associated with the launching of a subscription based digital manufacturing breakthrough. Digital transformation is easy for software-centric products and businesses; digital transformation is much harder for products and businesses in the physical world. Digital transformation will be enabled at unprecedented levels due to the technological revolution in additive manufacturing (3D printing). Additive manufacturing will enable local-for-local production; scaling personalized products (like perfectly fitting prosthetics, surgical implants from advanced imaging modalities, etc); rapid product introductions; complex designs; and dynamism and adaptability in supply chains. The COVID19 pandemic is the clearest example of the economic and societal challenges when supply chains are disrupted on a grand scale.

Bio:

Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone co-founded Carbon in 2013 and served as the company’s CEO until being named Executive Chairman in 2019. As CEO, Joe grew Carbon from a small team of scientists and engineers into an over 400-person global company valued at almost $2.5 billion that is defining the digital revolution in manufacturing. Previously, as a professor at the University of North Carolina for over 20 years before launching Carbon, Joe made scientific breakthroughs in areas including green chemistry, medical devices, and nanotechnology. When Joe took on 3D printing, he brought together insights from diverse fields to co-invent the core technology that now drives the Carbon Digital Manufacturing Platform. Powered by Digital Light Synthesis™ (DLS™) technology, the Carbon Platform is enabling companies to break free of traditional polymer manufacturing methods to advance product innovation across numerous industries. Under Joe’s leadership, the company also pioneered the world’s first subscription business model for manufacturing hardware, which provides Carbon with unprecedented visibility into future revenue, advances strong partnerships with customers, and enables customers to be future-proofed from obsolescence. In recognition of his entrepreneurial success at Carbon, Joe was recently recognized as the 2019 EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 National Overall winner and will represent the USA in world competition in June 2019. Chemical & Engineering Newsnamed Carbon their Company of the Year for 2019.

Joe grew up in the Philadelphia area and studied chemistry at Ursinus College and went on to earn his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in 1990, joining the faculty at UNC that same year. He quickly achieved international recognition as a scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur, earning major accolades including the U.S. Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award and the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. In 2016 President Obama awarded him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor in the U.S. for achievement and leadership in advancing technological progress.

At UNC, Joe built a strong culture in his research group centered on the notion that diversity is a fundamental tenet of innovation. He mentored 80 students through Ph.D. completion, half of whom are women and other members of underrepresented groups in STEM. He credits much of his laboratory’s success to this approach, frequently emphasizing how both human and disciplinary diversity accelerate progress in team problem-solving. Joe brought this perspective to Carbon as well and considers it crucial for Carbon’s position as the world’s leading digital manufacturing company.

An author of over 350 scientific publications with over 41,000 citations to his work and a Hirsch index (“h-index”) of 96 as measured by Google Scholarin May 2019, Joe is also a named inventor on over 200 issued patents. In addition to Carbon, Joe has co-founded several other companies including Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions (company developed a biodegradable stent; sold to Guidant, then Abbott); Liquidia Technologies (precision medicines for pulmonary diseases and pain treatment; NASDAQ: LQDA); Blue Current (solid-state lithium ion batteries); and Advanced Chemotherapy Technologies (interventional oncology company targeting pancreatic cancer). Joe maintains academic appointments at both UNC and North Carolina State University. He is one of only 25 individuals elected to all three U.S. National Academies—the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Engineering. Joe currently resides in Monte Sereno, California with his wife of 30 years, Suzanne. They have two children and two grandchildren.