Enabling Supply Chain Resilience with Metal Additive Manufacturing

While AM has been on the tip of the tongue for many over the last few years, there is no doubt that we still see the struggle towards serial manufacturing. At the end of the day, it comes down to dollars and cents.

There are many variables that affect the outcome of a business case feasibility study. In this presentation, we are looking at 3 critical factors: Technological feasibility, systemic efficiency, and quality integrated production systems.

Technological maturity and feasibility are often overlooked when evaluating parts. While there is the part of selecting the right technology to manufacture a part, we often do not consider the right hardware for the part application. “Do not use a cannon to kill a mosquito” – Confucius. Having the right hardware to manufacture a specific part is vital in ensuring efficient ROI.

Systemic efficiency plays a critical role in understanding both the “true” and “through” cost of a part. Having integrated systems that efficiently process parts with as little human intervention as possible results in higher ROI. It is imperative to evaluate the efficiency both from an individual process as well as an end-to-end solution where subsequent post-processing steps sometimes result in exorbitant costs.

Having a quality integrated system is the glue that bonds everything together. This not only ensures that the right metrics get monitored and recorded, but also enables the hardware and software to work seamlessly. Apart from internal factors, it is important in having a quality industrial ecosystem. From industry AM standards to every bit of the supply chain knowledgeable and AM-ready.

Everything stems from developing a manufacturing ecosystem with a first-time right mindset, ensuring repeatability and high quality with every single printed part. Answering the big questions undoubtedly results in a cascading effect, enabling high efficiency and high ROI systems.