When you think of manufacturing, a certain image may come to mind of American men and women — perhaps in grease-stained overalls — hard at work in factories. You can practically smell the sweat and burning steel. You can hear the hiss of steam valves, the roar of exhaust fans, and the clanking of tools.
In contrast, 3D printing might seem more like something only hobbyists replicating miniatures and artists creating sculptures use. But today 3D printing is used across industry — for manufacturing parts for cars, constructing homes, and producing customized prosthetics.
If traditional forms of manufacturing work, why are companies like Caterpillar, ExxonMobil, and Volkswagen turning to 3D printing?
“When someone is looking at their new product or design, 3D printing is up there on the roster next to other traditional processes like machining or molding,” says Greg Paulsen, director of application engineering at Xometry, noting that increases in material options and surface finishing selections, as well as other recent improvements, have helped make 3D printing more mainstream.
Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Xometry is devoted to building the biggest and most comprehensive global manufacturing marketplace. The ITAR registered, ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D certified company provides manufacturing on demand, with the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine allowing you to upload a 3D model to receive instant lead time, pricing, and DFM feedback.
Xometry notes, on its website, 6 advantages of 3D printing:
- Rapid turnaround
- Durability
- Complex geometry
- Precision
- Part production
- Scalability
We sat down with Paulsen to discuss why 3D printing suddenly seems to have gained so much momentum in the industrial sector, and he explained four advantages that 3D printing offers the manufacturing industry.
1. You Get Near-immediate Results
Greg Paulsen (GP): When you talk about large supply chain disruptions such as a pandemic, 3D printing became very popular because the minimum requirement was a 3D model. If that 3D model is able to be generated — whether it’s for emergency personal protective equipment or a stopgap solution for a component that was sourced internationally — they could get near-immediate results. This was huge, especially in the early days of the pandemic where everything was locked down, particularly between March and June 2020 where you saw a lot of responsiveness around that emergency PPE work.
We were making shields, masks, ear guards, and even parts for ventilators and other equipment through multiple customers. They were coming to us because we didn’t have disruption. We had the network. We had the marketplace, and we were able to do business as usual for these customers. They were able to upload their files, get pricing, press order, and we had suppliers able to make that work.
2. You Can Experiment More for a Better Product
GP: Whether you’re using a service or have someone in-house, 3D printing does help you think about product development a little bit differently. The analogy I always like to use is that of when you went from a film to a digital camera. With a film camera, if you’re good, you get 28 shots. If you load it a little sloppily, though, you only get 24-26 shots. Because you had this perceived limitation of how many shots you have per this canister of film — and not only that, then you have to get that film developed — you’re really careful when taking pictures. And sometimes those pictures came out blurry, or they just weren’t the right shot. So even from that list of 24 shots, you may only have a handful of good ones.
Then you see that movement to digital. Think about what you do with your phone now. You can take a thousand shots and just choose your best one. The cost of that data and rapid iteration is so low it’s negligible.
By using 3D printing on the stages of product development, you’re able to see those “snapshots” nearly instantaneously, especially compared to traditional processes. You can make judgments and decisions to help improve your product. 3D printing not only helps you move faster in the product development process, but it also allows you to make products better because that perceived limit has just vanished.
[Get instant pricing, lead time, and DFM feedback for your next 3D printing project here.]
3. You Don’t Need Specialized Tools or Fixtures
GP: 3D printing is an umbrella of manufacturing technologies. There are certain technologies that are good for rapid prototyping. There are other technologies that are better for end-use production parts, but what is common across all 3D printing is its almost immediate digital production.
I don’t have to create specialized work holding tools, fixtures, or hard tooling that creates a lead time bottleneck and a high cost on an initial order like I would with injection molding. I’m able to just digitally place that 3D model into this digital platform and send it to the printer, and then the printer starts making the part.
4. Costs Are No Longer Prohibitive to Serving Smaller Niche Markets
GP: Usually, you would have to justify the tool so it wouldn’t be worth pursuing smaller, more niche markets or doing mass configurations of products with lots of customized components. Because 3D printing doesn’t need tooling, you can now serve a customer set that is one or 10 and build a product line around that.
