Additive Manufacturing Strategy Analysis

Executive Overview

The intersection of 3D printer hardware innovation, software, services, and material advances in conjunction with a global pandemic, is shining a new light on industrialized additive manufacturing.

But before embarking on any serious capital expenditure on technology, it is important to strategize on a plan throughout the organization that reflects areas where improved supply chains, manufacturing operational efficiencies, and end user products can truly benefit.

Implemented properly, additive manufacturing can reduce material waste, simplify production, reduce lead times, alleviate high inventory costs, and optimize product design.

Successful companies recognize the need for a cohesive companywide strategy involving multiple stakeholders. The strategy involves end-to-end thinking from the very early steps of product design to the final steps of ensuring a quality product. In this report, we discuss the various use cases and elements of a successful additive manufacturing strategy.

Why Additive Manufacturing Is Part of a Broader Digital Transformation Strategy

As part of a broader digital transformation strategy, additive manufacturing is part of the solution for disrupted supply chains, operational efficiencies, and new product development. While specific objectives vary by customer, industry, etc., digital transformation strategies are generally tasked with improving business performance in areas, such as reduced cost, increased revenue, and improved business and processes. When implemented strategically, additive manufacturing can optimize product design, reduce time from idea to production, address risky supply chains, reduce inventory, reduce material waste and costs.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturers faced numerous challenges, such as market and commodity uncertainty; rapid fluctuations in demand; supply chain disruptions; and the need to become more agile, efficient, and sustainable. However, the current pandemic magnified those challenges, leading manufacturers to focus on operational resilience as a key corporate objective.

To achieve operational resilience, companies must often break down physical and organizational boundaries to engage the workforce, connect teams, and enhance real-time collaboration more fully. Operational resilience also requires supply chains to be managed in real time to maintain their integrity, agility, and flexibility, enabling the supply chains to respond to market demand and shifts in material availability. Companies are deploying new methodologies to protect against unscheduled downtime and asset failures, ensure product fulfillment, protect personnel, and enhance security architectures.

Supply chain risks were front and center this past year. Supply chains are fragile due to political turmoil, climatic events, pandemics, economic uncertainty, and more. Additive manufacturing mitigates supply chain risk, with a “design anywhere, produce locally” strategy. Ultimately, this can alleviate expensive complex manufacturing, shorten lead times, and reduce inventory. Producing locally also mitigates high import/export costs and risky sole sourcing.

3D printing is now either a complement to existing traditional manufacturing methods or part of an entirely new workflow. Before embarking on an additive manufacturing journey and capital expenditure, it is crucial to have a proper strategy in place to make it work. There is no one size fits all manufacturing approach.

A good strategy is based on understanding the technologies, materials, services, use cases, and business outcomes as part of a broader corporatewide digital transformation objective. The decision to invest in additive manufacturing technologies is best linked to market and product characteristics. Generally, these product characteristics are products benefiting from a degree of customization, increased functionality through design optimization, and low to mid volume. Some will embrace a new strategy going forward and some will be left behind.

Additive Manufacturing Use Case Proliferation

Additive manufacturing use cases are not defined by the technology itself, but by the value they create within an organization. This value can come in the form of operational efficiencies, creation of new products and services, or even the transformation of the customer experience.

In the early days of 3D printing, use cases were mostly focused on prototyping, which is and will remain a dominant use case. However, as 3D printing technologies become more innovative and less expensive, software more creative, and material choices more plentiful, use cases are becoming prolific. Use cases include parts for new products, parts for aftermarket, jigs, fixtures, tools, molds, medical devices, and apparel to name a few.

Manufacturing of medical devices is one of the highest growth potentials for 3D printing. 3D printed prosthetics, hearing aids, splints aren’t new applications for additive manufacturing, but implants that are appearing inside the body are becoming more prevalent because of new materials, technology, and generative design software.

3D printing as part of digital dentistry including orthodontics, implants, crowns, dentures etc. are also exceeding the average five-year growth. Above is a small handful of select additive manufacturing use implementations.

Table of Contents

• Executive Overview
• Why Additive Manufacturing Is Part of a Broader Digital Transformation Strategy
• Additive Manufacturing Use Case Proliferation
• Elements of A Successful Additive Manufacturing Strategy
• Recommendations

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