The 3D printing technology is marching ahead indeed. The technology that was hitherto used for prototyping purposes has now moved ahead to become one of the prominent mass production options. Of course, as per the current trends, CNC machining has the upper hand over 3D printing, but still, the technology has been gathering support and set to emerge as one of the prominent manufacturing processes quite soon.
A few ways have been instrumental in making 3D printing one of the predominant manufacturing process. Some of the ways to transform your processes can be summarised in the following paragraphs.
#1 Develop Your Products Faster
3D printing has been instrumental in prototyping in its early days. In fact, designing a new product, prototyping it, and then producing it quite a time-consuming process in every right. 3D Printing changes all that.
Prototyping Companies have been involved in rapid prototyping for quite some years now. The latest technological advancements in the arena have helped manufacturing companies save both money and time. While the traditional prototyping and manufacturing can take anywhere between four or five months, the 3D printing technology gets it done in just a few hours.
#2 It Helps you become innovative
The manufacturing processes have restrained the traditional manufacturing processes. This forces the manufacturers to create the parts separately and then assemble them. Complex parts can be a huge headache in such scenarios.
3D printing simplifies this task well ahead. The impediments do not constrain what the regular manufacturing process is limited to. 3D printers currently available can design any complex and intricate parts rather easily. The lack of multiple components can help you reduce the product weight and thus make it more functional.
#3 Reduced Wastage
The traditional manufacturing processes create a lot of waste. It uses the raw materials in various forms, and then several manufacturing processes like milling, machining, and other varied processes are applied to arrive at the final component. The waste thus generated does not contribute to the final product and needs to be recycled or destroyed.
3D printing effectively minimizes this wastage. It uses only the amount of material that is needed. Any material left unused can be used for the next product. Of course, there would be a little wastage though theoretically, the process should produce zero waste. In any condition, the wastage would not be more than 10 percent.
#4 Improved Flexibility
3D printing is not limited to any extent through the constraints of the manufacturing process. This would help you be ready for customization and flexibility as per the customer requirements. The manufacturing companies can take up newer products or can even test new designs without the need to invest heavily.
The levels of customization as currently available are limited enough. Still, with the rapid rate of evolution that the technology has been experiencing – you can look for a high degree of customization options quite soon.
Those were a few areas that 3D printing that can help the manufacturing process evolve further. The level of adoption has been a little low with the fact that the technology is new. However, we would definitely look ahead to more manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon.
