I am very privileged to meet many great companies, offering their products and services across many different industries such as semiconductor, medtech, equipment, machinery and more.
Whether these companies are large multinationals or start-ups, most of them face challenges in building a business case for applying Additive Manufacturing (AM) in series production.
Therefore, I would like to share my experience and address the main hurdles that I consider as pitfalls for finding meaningful applications for AM.
Technique as a starting point.
Many companies focus solely on the technical aspects, overlooking or underestimating the potential economic benefits of AM.
In such cases, the decision-making process should involve key individuals from the business side, such as sourcing managers, product marketers, innovation managers, and, of course, top management. Their considerations, such as shortening time to market, optimizing the supply chain, reducing inventories, enhancing product features, or enabling mass customization, should be taken into account as well.
An example of the technical approach is engineers or designers developing with ‘conventional’ production methods in mind, imposing restrictions on design. Unlike Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), where complexity is free, focusing on conventional methods limits the functionality of a part during the development stage.
Another characteristic of this technical approach is the daily customer requests that often only address technical aspects such as building envelopes and machine time, and not so much other economical drivers to choose for AM.
Therefore, involvement from different departments is essential to create a more comprehensive view and therefore make better-founded decisions. In other words (and quoting Simon Sinek), start first with the ‘why’ instead of ‘what’.
Price as first knock-out criterium
Price is often considered a primary criterion, potentially leading to missed opportunities when the full benefits of AM are not thoroughly explored. Justifying a higher price for AM is possible when it contributes to producing a better product or adding more value to the supply chain. As a service provider, we have successfully built cases demonstrating value through weight reduction, part and function integration, optimized topology, and more.
As service provider, we have built many cases providing value through weight reduction, part & function integration, optimized topology, et cetera.
The more we gained insight into the application, the more arguments we found -other than price- to justify the choice for AM. Finding the right applications is always about matching the customers expertise and expectations with in-depth knowledge of an AM-specialist that brings the best results.
Underestimated the complexity of AM.
There are many inspiring cases of successful applications of AM, but not too many reveal the obstacles and challenges that organizations could be facing during the on-boarding process in term of complexity.
This complexity can reveal itself in many ways, but a good example is the number of non-industrial or ‘desktop’ 3D-printers collecting dust. Those printers have mostly been purchased to produce sheer proto-types, but the internal demand for proto-types don’t justify the resources to operate even such a ‘simple’ machine and therefore deliver a decent proto-type.
Another example is companies (considering) purchasing an industrial AM machine without sufficient experience. This approach indicates that one is underestimating what it takes to run such a machine and unaware of all consequences (in terms of resources, efficiency, or integration within existing production processes) of those investments.
Another thing is that it is hard for organizations to decide which machine would be the best fit for their business since there are so many different AM-techniques in both plastic and metal. They all got their specific characteristics and features (and divergent design guidelines) and not all of them reached a full maturity stage in a sense that services providers like us and certainly end-use companies consider them ‘proven technology’.
Management involvement
Management involvement is crucial, as many AM initiatives are initiated ‘bottom-up’ without sufficient attention from management.
Sometimes, it even seems that management considers AM immature or unreliable, leading to limited support.
Adding value to the supply chain is a primary function of a supplier, therefore management should recognize that AM can add value to the supply chain, creating new business opportunities or even new business models.
Take-away
Every AM case is like a unique jigsaw puzzle with different pieces and colors whereas the size of the pieces resemble the weight of a decisions criterion and the color reflecting the technical and economical drivers to choose for AM. And some cases cannot be built until the final piece of the puzzle fits..