Is 3D Printing Replacing Conventional Manufacturing?

 

It seems that everywhere you look there is a new 3D printing company popping up or a new story about a new breakthrough with 3D printing capabilities or applications. We have seen houses, jet engines, shoes, feet, medical implants and even human tissue all be created using 3D printing. The potential uses are endless. Soon manufacturing will just be a room of 3D printers that can make anything on demand. Right? Not so fast, let’s look at the realities of manufacturing using 3D printing.

 

Speed
First, let’s define what I’m talking about when I say speed. This is the amount of time it takes from when I first decide I want to make something until I have the finished part in my hand. In most cases, unless the part is very simple, it is not even close. There is a reason that 3D printing first got its roots in prototyping. With 3D printing, in many cases, I can get the parts I want in a day. CNC machining can typically give me parts in a few days to a week but injection molding will take 6 – 8 weeks before I can receive my parts.

 

Advantage: 3D Printing

 

Volume
This factors in another type of speed. The time it takes to make a single component per machine. With 3D printing, unless the parts are very small, each part can take an hour or even a day to print. This is great for small volume, high priced components. But if you need to make 1000 parts in a day, you will need to have hundreds of 3D printers all making that part. The same volume can be accomplished with a single injection molding machine where part times are less than a minute.

 

Advantage: Conventional Manufacturing

 

Cost Per Part
While 3D printing owns the time to first part category, conventional manufacturing really shines when you need a lot of part. “Economies of Scale” benefits injection molding much more than 3D printing. With the large investment cost for setup and tooling, injection molding is cost prohibited for low volume manufacturing. But as you start to get above 500-1000 parts, it begins to make sense to move to injection molding. Now that actual number that injection molding becomes cheaper than 3D printing is constantly shifting with innovations and new technologies.

 

Advantage: Tie – it depends

 

Number of parts where the inflection point occurs depends on many factors. 

 

Part Strength
There really isn’t much competition for this category. All 3D printing is what is called additive techniques where material is added one layer at a time to form the final part. The bond between each layer, in almost all cases, is not as strong as having a solid piece of the material. This leads to a weaker strength of parts made using 3D printing vs. other manufacturing techniques.

 

Advantage: Conventional Manufacturing

 

Material Selection
With the various techniques, conventional manufacturing can use almost any material. This is not so with 3D printing. Even though there are numerous techniques here as well, the material selection is pretty limited. There are a few different plastics to choose from and a decent selection of metals. 3D printing does allow for some unique materials, such as human tissue, to be used but it is limited to very specific cases and in the most part, they are still in the developmental stages.

 

Advantage: Conventional Manufacturing

 

 Stages each industry is currently in for 3D printing – Source: IDTechEx

 

 

Part Complexity
While traditional manufacturing won hands down on the material availability category, 3D printing owns the part complexity. 3D printing has opened up a whole new world of what can be made. You see this in the LEAP engine by GE that could not be made otherwise.

 

Advantage: 3D Printing

 

Manufacturing Flexibility
This is one of the main drivers in the use of 3D printing in manufacturing. A single machine that is able to create all different parts without any setup or tooling. That is what 3D printing brings to the table. You can already see it being used for plastic replacement parts used on airplanes. This eliminates that only one facility is able to manufacture the needed component creating long lead times or requiring the companies to stock seldom used components.

 

Advantage: 3D Printing

 

Manufacturing Accuracy
This is another category won by conventional manufacturing but 3D printing is quickly closing the gap. In many cases, after a part is 3D printed, some post processing or even machining is needed to improve the surface finish or bring the part into tolerance. While this is the case now, it might not be the case in a few more years.

 

Advantage: Conventional Manufacturing

 

 

Motivation for companies to incorporate 3D printing – Source: WhalePath

 

 

Currently, 3D printing for manufacturing is still limited to areas where low volume, very complex components or high customization is required. This is why the aerospace and medical device and jewelry industries are leading the charge. This might not be the case in the near future. 3D printer advancements in materials, printing speeds and accuracy are quickly eating away at the advantages traditional manufacturing such as injection molding and CNC machining.

 

Conclusion – Not yet but don’t be surprised if your next car incorporates many 3D printed components.

3D printing continues to carve out new roles in manufacturing but it will be a many more years or decades before it is able to be the go to manufacturing technique. Looking to have some 3D printing done? Check out the best rapid prototyping shops.

Where do you see 3D printing taking over the manufacturing process?