Additive-ly Conquering Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector embraces 3D Printing for prototyping. Let’s explore its potential for reform and discover where to start...

- Rajiv Bajaj

The foremost challenges facing manufacturing are global issues like supply chain resiliency, rising energy prices, workforce availability and general market buoyancy. While they affect us as well, we are also a part of the solution for manufacturers. Adopting Additive Manufacturing (AM) throughout the manufacturing value chain can increase manufacturers’ flexibility, giving them great scope for dealing with outside forces. There still lies a huge scope for AM to continue its advance in replacing other manufacturing technologies and materials, such as replacing machined metal with 3D-printed engineering polymers and composites.

AM beyond Prototyping

The ongoing transformation from 3D Printing as solely a prototyping technology to its transformation into both prototyping and manufacturing is fundamental.We are at an inflexion point at which the development of new materials for AM is accelerating, and the technology platforms are maturing. This is happening at a time when manufacturers are going through a period of disruptive change, making AM’s benefits even more compelling.

Materials are playing a central role in creating more touchpoints with manufacturing. Our lead times for new materials have drastically reduced thanks to the adoption of a more open materials model, in which customers get the flexibility to choose from both our materials and those of our ecosystem partners. Historically, a new fused deposition modelling material would come to market every 12 or 18 months; with these developments, however, we saw more than a dozen materials released in 2022 alone.