WHAT IS 3D PRINTING?
In manufacturing, 3D printing refers to a process where a machine creates a product or part out of an additive process employing a three-dimensional digital design. This 3D design is sent to a 3D printer that creates a part or product by placing material over a substrate and then “printing” it.
HOW IS 3D PRINTING BEING USED IN MANUFACTURING?
Due to the many benefits of 3D printing, many manufacturing companies use it to improve their operations. The speed and cost-effective nature of 3D printing allow it to assist with product enhancements, low-volume production and high-volume production. This flexibility makes 3D printing perfect for various companies in the manufacturing industry.
Review some of the main ways manufacturing companies are using 3D printing:
1. PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS
When you want to improve a product, it can sometimes take weeks or even months to change traditional manufacturing methods to accommodate new product enhancements. In contrast, 3D printing allows you to make product enhancements fast. If you want to improve a product you currently offer and get it out to your customers quickly, 3D printing is a perfect option. Since you can change a product’s design in 3D printing software, you can easily swap out an old product design for an enhanced one.
2. LOW-VOLUME PRODUCTION
Besides creating product enhancements, many manufacturing companies are using 3D printing for their low-volume production needs. Since 3D printing makes it simple for companies to produce prototypes and new products, it’s a great method for those wanting to utilize short-run part production to see how the market reacts to them.
Unlike more traditional manufacturing methods, additive manufacturing offers a more flexible development process, where you can create prototypes fast and try out various designs. Besides giving you more flexibility with part production, you can use 3D printing to speed up production and have your products reach the market faster.
3. HIGH-VOLUME PRODUCTION
Alongside 3D printing’s ability to help companies with low-volume production, it also excels at assisting high-volume production. Production lines featuring 3D printers give manufacturers the chance to make adjustments more quickly to their manufacturing processes. Since high volume production’s goal is often geared toward producing proven products with high demand, you can significantly benefit from the higher speeds 3D printing offers.
When a company wants to change its printing speeds, improve machinery or alter a product, it can do so much faster than it can with older manufacturing methods. As a result, companies can reduce delays associated with changes to their high-volume production processes, leading to greater productivity and efficiency.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF 3D PRINTING IN MANUFACTURING?
With 3D printing’s growing popularity in the manufacturing industry, you can probably guess it has many benefits. Some of the primary advantages of 3D-printing manufacturing include cost and waste reduction, greater in-house manufacturing opportunities and more complex design capabilities.
Learn more about the main advantages of additive manufacturing below:
- Cost reduction: One of the biggest advantages of 3D printing is that it’s much less expensive than traditional manufacturing methods and machinery. Since 3D printing is much more automated than traditional manufacturing operations, you can reduce your staffing costs. 3D printing also reduces costs by not producing much waste, leading to lower material costs.
- Complex design capabilities: Traditional manufacturing processes tend to restrict the designs users can produce. In contrast, 3D printing allows companies to create a wide variety of products. While more traditional methods have limitations in the geometries they can use, 3D printing has far fewer limits. For example, you can employ a 3D printer to produce square interior cavities or holes designed to change direction. Due to the fewer limitations, you can produce products with greater design complexity.
- Waste reduction: When a company uses traditional manufacturing methods, they tend to create a lot of material waste due to inefficient practices. Another one of additive manufacturing’s advantages is that it solves this waste issue. 3D printing uses material when it goes through the printer’s extruder, allowing companies to only utilize the amount of material required to produce a product or part. This waste reduction helps companies lower their material costs and market themselves as more environmentally friendly.
- In-house manufacturing opportunities: Since manufacturing companies need prototypes before they begin low- or high-volume production, the ability to use 3D printers to produce prototypes quickly is a major advantage. Instead of outsourcing to another company to produce your prototypes, you can use 3D printers to quickly make them in-house. This ability to create prototypes in-house can help a company start designing and producing new products faster.
- Creating new economic opportunities in depleted areas: Since 3D printers reduce costs over time and don’t require a large number of staff members to oversee them, it’s more affordable to have a successful manufacturing business domestically. Instead of having to outsource manufacturing to other countries to reduce costs, companies can now set up manufacturing in the United States and avoid high expenses. Due to this domestic affordability, manufacturers can provide more economic opportunities to Americans living in economically depleted areas.
WHERE DOES METAL FINISHING COME INTO PLAY?
Metal finishing is one of the best ways you can better protect a part or product and give it greater functionalities. When a company adds a metal finish to a product or part, they’ll be plating over the item with a metal covering, giving it greater protection and durability. When you print 3D parts, you have a few options for plating onto them, and you can receive several benefits from deciding to plate them.