For manufacturing, 3D printers have arrived like the shiny new toy that everyone will want for Christmas because as the Internet would have you believe, it’s pretty cool and by the sounds of it, everybody will have one. But 3D printing is not just for Christmas – it’s a real investment.
There are several key benefits to the technology that can be seen in real-life functional situations today. It cuts out multiple steps for traditional manufacturing methods by reducing the need for numerous prototypes and retesting. It can be more cost-effective for batch manufacturing, allowing engineers to produce multiple parts in the same run from the one CAD model. What’s more, an increased number of materials are surfacing, digital materials that allow you to create products with the same material properties found in time tested production methods. On the consumer side, it allows customisation, a personal affinity with products and a way of producing solutions for every day problems that couldn’t otherwise be produced by usual means or shipped from Amazon.
There are many ways to leverage 3D printing without having a 3D printer in your office or home. For the home user, this can be just a click away with portals, such as Shapeways or 3D Hubs making it possible in some cases to select a printer, submit a file, have it printed and shipped directly to your door. In fact, in some cases this can become a business in itself and several success stories have come to light on people making substantial businesses from home, based on these pathways.
Back to manufacturing, the part that makes up the majority of the 3D printing real-life story. There’s no denying an industrial 3D printer is an expensive purchase. In fact, you may be surprised to hear that a number of small businesses outsource their additive manufacturing services to keep costs down. With high-end additive manufacturing machines costing tens of thousands, it leaves small and medium businesses with fewer options for installing their own. That’s where outsourcing comes in.
For businesses, bureau services have become a viable option for producing prototypes and short-series production runs. The benefit is that 3D printing service providers can deliver a range of options for processes and materials that widen the scope for businesses and deliver the best solution for printing their products. In essence, rather than blowing an entire budget on one printer, service providers, as the title may suggest, can provide multiple services for manufacturing needs.
Leading service providers have observed trends that show although some small businesses may invest in low-end 3D printers to produce basic prototypes, they commonly outsource to bureaus for a specific type of manufacturing. On the other end of the spectrum, companies have started out with their own professional-grade 3D printers and then completely switched to outsourcing to reduce costs.
Ultimately, the method of access depends on the individual use case. There are so many options now, meaning the door has been flung wide open for any business or individual to benefit from this burgeoning technology. From tech giants like HP down to international brands like UPS, pushing the industry forward with new and innovative platforms – there has never been a better time to utilize these avenues available to us and join the 3D printing manufacturing revolution.
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