Reducing production costs with additive manufacturing (3D printing) without compromising on quality may sound too good to be true.
However, additive manufacturing has come a long way in recent years. It’s now a viable manufacturing technology for lots of different industries.
If you’re new to the high-tech world of additive manufacturing, you might be wondering how it can help reduce costs in your industry when compared with conventional manufacturing processes. Let’s find out, shall we?
How Additive Manufacturing Processes Reduce Costs in Production
The Cost-Effective Edge of Additive Manufacturing
Reduced Material Waste
Traditional manufacturing methods, like subtractive machining, for example often result in significant material waste increasing manufacturing costs. Additive manufacturing, on the other hand, builds components layer by layer, using only the material necessary for the part and some structural supports where needed.
3D printing produces less waste, leading to a substantial cost reduction, particularly when working with expensive materials. With the potential to save tens of thousands of pounds throughout the manufacturing process, while maintaining the same quality, it’s little wonder why so many sectors are switching to 3D printing.
Eliminate Tooling Costs
Conventional manufacturing requires custom tooling, moulds, and dies, which are expensive and time-consuming to produce. This can slow down production lines, cause supply chain disruptions and even affect cost management.
Additive manufacturing eliminates the need for these tools, allowing for the direct production of parts from digital designs. This reduction in tooling not only cuts costs but also accelerates the production time, enabling quicker parts production and faster time-to-market for new products.
Inventory and Supply Chain Optimisation
Additive manufacturing enables on-demand production, reducing the need for large inventories and extensive warehousing. This flexibility helps companies in the automotive and energy sectors, for example, to produce parts as needed, lowering storage costs and minimising the risk of inventory obsolescence.
Here are 10 more ways 3D printing can save your business money.
Speeding Up Manufacturing with Additive Technologies
Rapid Prototyping and Iteration
In industries where innovation is critical, like the medical, automotive and aerospace industries, the ability to quickly prototype and iterate designs is invaluable. Additive manufacturing allows for rapid prototyping, enabling designers and engineers to test and refine their ideas quickly.
With a few changes to the design file, you can quickly sneak up on the final product and respond quickly to any changes required based on the feedback of the team. This allows for faster design iterations and implementation than traditional manufacturing. And this design freedom helps with cutting costs while keeping prototyping moving swiftly.
A good example of rapid prototyping comes from the medical sector, where custom implants and devices must be tested for fit and function before final production. With additive manufacturing, prototypes can be created, tweaked, printed again and finalised before traditional manufacturing techniques have had time to build the first prototype!
Shorter Production Cycles
Additive manufacturing significantly shortens production cycles by eliminating the need for complex setups and long lead times associated with traditional manufacturing. Even when it comes to injection moulding, the time it takes to develop moulds and other manufacturing aids like jigs and tooling, for example, can cause huge delays in production times.
Smart manufacturing techniques like additive manufacturing can compress production schedules, reducing manufacturing time and facilitating faster deployment of innovative solutions.
Enhanced Customisation and Complexity
The unique capabilities of additive manufacturing allow for the creation of highly complex and customised parts that would be difficult or impossible to produce with conventional methods. While customisation can be achieved in traditional manufacturing methods, the costs of customising the parts produced using these methods means it’s very rarely a viable option.
However, with additive manufacturing, customisation is as quick as changing the 3D model. Companies within the automotive sector are already taking advantage of this by using 3D printing to customise car parts or tweak complex components quickly. Where lightweight, high-performance components are needed as quickly as possible, 3D printing isn’t just a viable choice, it is often the only choice!
It isn’t just the automotive industry taking advantage of the enhanced customisation and complexities, the medical sector is too. Implants and prosthetics can be customised and personalised to match a patient’s needs as closely as possible. The customisation possibilities of 3D printing can improve patient outcomes and reduce the amount of time people are waiting for critical, life-changing treatments.
Embrace the Future with Additive Manufacturing
Adopting additive manufacturing is great for cost savings, but that’s only just the beginning. 3D printing can help with business growth by reducing production time and reducing post-processing tasks. Not to mention it can allow for customisation of complex components quickly and easily.
With a broad range of materials on offer, you have plenty of options and can customise your parts to perfectly suit your projects. You can enjoy anything from rigid plastics to superpolymers like Carbon PEEK which can replace metal. So your project can have the same mechanical strength with a reduced weight and lower cost for raw materials than metal parts. So, including additive manufacturing in your porudction process is not just a cost-saving measure but a strategic imperative. By reducing production costs, speeding up manufacturing processes and enabling unprecedented design flexibility, additive manufacturing provides a competitive edge that can drive innovation and growth.
At Prototal UK, we specialise in producing high-quality parts tailored to the specific needs of the automotive, aerospace, aviation, medical, and energy sectors. Partner with us to harness the full potential of additive manufacturing and lead your industry into the future.
Explore the transformative power of additive manufacturing today and discover how it can revolutionise your production processes, reduce costs, and accelerate innovation. Contact us to learn more about our cutting-edge solutions and how we can help you achieve your manufacturing goals.