Manufacturing is on the verge of a renaissance!
As Greg Mark, CEO of MarkForged, recently said, “Manufacturing can’t continue in its current form: it’s the single worst bottleneck of inefficiency in our fast-changing, digital and agile world.” Greg Mark went on to say, “Creating physical products today is still stuck in a process made for the 20th, even the 19th century. In today’s agile software environments, companies react quickly to the market, release products and features in sprints, and can turn on a dime.”
The capabilities of additive manufacturing are always shifting and rapidly evolving. There is hardly a day that goes by that doesn’t have some 3D printing news that is astonishing. What is even more interesting is that the advances cross industries and use cases; from medical to industrial to art – its pervasive.
Yes, it is true 3D printing for production is only being used for corner cases now, low-volume and high-complexity, but that is changing. PricewaterhouseCoopers has stated, “Seventy-one percent of manufacturers have adopted 3D printing and 52 percent expect 3D printing will be used for high-volume production in the next 3-5 years,” reported by 3D Printing Industry.
When thinking of opportunities in manufacturing, consider two sides: 1) the production parts that are assembled and 2) the parts that are used in the manufacturing process (including fixtures, tooling and molds).
For the production parts themselves, with 3D printing, it is often said, complexity is free. Parts can be combined and simplified.
For the manufacturing process, these parts are particularly well suited to be 3D printed. They are usually low-volume and their design can benefit from a rapid prototyping approach.
Recently 3D Printing Industry published an article written by Greg Mark on his perspective looking out 5 years for additive manufacturing. The article featured the three main requirements that are fundamental for 3D printing to achieve scaling for digital manufacturing:
Click here to read the complete article.
Anyone who follows additive manufacturing knows a shift is on its way.
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