Working Paper: NIST Extreme Manufacturing Workshop 

January 11-12, 2011

 A more focused, coordinated effort is needed to accelerate US manufacturing towards 

extreme mass customization. Mass customization enables the ability to quickly tailor a 

manufactured product based on real-time consumer or customer input without sacrificing 

approaches and processing required for cost-effective mass production. Currently, mass 

customization for manufacturing generally involves the flexibility to alter a fixed set of 

parameters within a finite set of possible solutions. 

 Taking mass customization to the extreme would involve expanding beyond 

“auxiliary feature” customization within a finite set of predetermined “customized” 

solutions to property-based customization where an infinite number of solutions are 

possible within a predefined property space. As a simple example, rather than 

manufacturing shoes in discrete sizes for a given activity, a shoe could be manufacturing 

with a sole customized not only for the size and shape of an individuals foot, but also 

customized based on the exact weight of the individual. This would require a rapid 

manufacturing approach that could individually tune the exact shape and compliance (i.e. 

mechanical property) of the sole without sacrificing cost-effective mass production 

capabilities (i.e. minimal or no touch labor). 

 Recently, a new materials platform has been discovered that could take mass 

customization to the extreme. This new approach enables fabrication of unique opencellular materials with micro-scale truss, or lattice features ranging from tens to hundreds 

of microns. These materials are formed from a three-dimensional, interconnected array 

of self-propagating photopolymer waveguides, as shown in Figure 1. Intrinsic to the 

process is the ability to control the material micro-architecture, which ultimately affects 

the bulk material properties. Unlike stereolithography, this new fabrication technique is 

rapid (~ minutes to form an entire part) and relies on a single two-dimensional exposure 

surface to form three-dimensional structures (thickness > 25 mm possible). This 

combination of speed and planar scalability opens the possibility to establish a new US 

manufacturing effort that is anticipated to seed new product innovations and market 

demand for high performance, customized engineered materials. The utility of these new 

materials range from lightweight energy absorbing structures to thermal management 

materials to bio-scaffolds. 

Figure 1. Schematic representation of a new manufacturing process that enables the rapid 

formation of micro-lattice structures from a self-propagating polymer waveguides. 

 
 More generally, to take mass customization to the extreme and provide the US with a 

manufacturing competitive advantage, five areas of innovation are required: 

(1) New manufacturing approaches must be developed that enable real-time, tunable 

properties for a manufactured material/product without adding additional touch labor. As 

an example, the manufacturing method described above can tailor the material properties 

by tailoring material micro-architecture through automated adjustments within the 

process. 

(2) There must be predictive capabilities and reliable manufacturing tools that can link 

the desired customer requirements to optimized material properties and ultimately to the 

fabrication process. 

(3) For demanding applications where some level of qualification may be required (e.g. 

aerospace), new technology advances are necessary that efficiently and cost-effectively 

qualify each customized solution. I anticipate this point will be a major topic of 

discussion throughout the workshop, as it will likely relate to many new manufacturing 

technologies. 

(4) To further capitalize on new, flexible manufacturing approaches, the manufacturing 

innovation must be accessible to product designers and engineers to enable design 

innovation. We are proposing a module-type manufacturing system, but this would 

require defined and accepted industry standards and processes. 

(5) Lastly, for a new manufacturing platform to be harnessed to its full potential, basic 

research in academia would be instrumental to develop a comprehensive systemic 

understanding of new material properties and material interactions (e.g. bio-scaffolds) 

that could eventually provide incentive and direction for further manufacturing 

development. 

 In order for the US to have a sustained leadership position, we need a focused, 

coordinated effort whereby NIST can fund the development of advanced manufacturing 

tools that can help take mass customization to the extreme. In addition, NIST can help 

establish the interoperability standards and measurements needed so that new 

innovations, manufacturing scaling for new products, and rapid market adoption can 

occur. NSF funding for the next generation of scientific breakthroughs and basic material 

science research can also be harnessed for newly developed materials platforms. Industry 

consortia similar to the HRL model can provide some of the research and development, 

application engineering, and scaling required; however, because these will be high risk, 

high impact efforts, federal and state participation can play an instrumental role to help 

reduce the risk and accelerate the next generation US manufacturing base. 

Short Bio

Alan J. Jacobsen is a Senior Scientist in the Bio- and Nanomaterials Department at HRL 

Laboratories, LLC. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from New Mexico 

State University, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University, and 

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Southern California. He has 

pioneered the new process to rapidly fabricate micro-scale truss structures from selfpropagating photopolymer waveguides. He holds 4 patents on the topic, has numerous 

patents pending, and has authored / co-authored 9 related publications.