In today’s world, 3D printing is taking over the manufacturing processes at an increasing rate. This technology is sometimes a tangled new processes, materials, web technologies and functionalities that causes navigation of ecosystem of 3D printing difficult. 3D printing doesn’t just point out on one type of manufacturing process technologies but is rather a sophisticated technology that needs greater understanding. This technology converts models which are in 3D to solid products by developing these objects in layers. In the recent years, 3D printing technology has started to advance into a whole new level of generation in manufacturing industries. 3D has made it possible to print a variety of products like pure metals, ceramics, thermoplastics and its composites and a variety types of food. This document will outline the various aspects associated with 3D printing; Why 3D printing is also called additive manufacturing, the suitability of 3D printing in either high or low production volumes, the value of 3D in various situations, forecast of 3D printing and how 3D is making traditional manufacturing vague.
3D printing is a process of creating solid objects of three dimensions from digital file. 3D printing is also called additive manufacturing as this solid objects are created using additive processes.
In an additive process, creation of an object is achieved by developing materials in successive layers until the object is made. Every layer is seen as horizontal cross-section that are thinly sliced of the final object. 3D printing allows production of complex shapes using few raw materials. (Kocovic, 2017).
3D printing is best suited with low volumes of production due to the following reasons:
Saves Money- 3D printing is economical in low volumes production since the cost per unit rely highly on the materials being utilized. For instance, tool steel (various alloy and carbon steel that are hard to disfigure and resistant to scuffs and scrapes) is costly to use and requires huge investment of material by the company if it will be used to produce parts regularly particularly for injection molding or pressure die casting. To endure large scale production process, the tool steel requires hardening with the use of heat treatment and coated occasionally using PVD (physical vapor deposition). (Roebuck, 2011).
Bearing this in mind, manufacturing of low volumes approximately up to 100,000 pieces may minimize huge investments in a great way. If the eventual product doesn’t require to withstand stress of high levels, then using a less durable tool type and have a heat treat of low-volume manufacturer and machine it would be more economical. This process will still yield product of high quality while ensuring money is saved. It will also be less costly and easier to replace if the tools wear out which rarely occurs. (Gibson, Rosen, & Stucker, 2015).
Additionally, facilities of large volume manufacturing normally dictate order requirements that are minimum to compensate huge production investments and deal with cost of set up. Products in low-volume production can be created without having to demand a minimum order since it has a lower overhead. This is beneficial particularly for firms looking to obtain product made on small scale. Production of low volumes become perfect especially if an organization is aware that the structure of the part may change and would wish to prevent being drown with inventory that is outdated generated with minimum order requirements by large manufacturers. (Segerman, 2016).
Low-Volume production grants firms Design Flexibility- low volumes production of 3D printing offer design flexibility that high production cannot fit. Since production of products is in small quantities, it fails to impact the whole order if a firm want to change the design. As such the company get an option to create the product perfectly before it is delivered to the consumer.
Low volume production allows product to be more accurate by using the feedback from the consumer. Low volume production of the product can be done with multiple variations of a feature.
Production of Low-Volume Ensures a Faster Time to Market- optimization of supply chains and manufacturing support for low volumes enhances shorter lead times, making sure products hit faster shelves days, weeks or months compared to high volumes. In addition, a company is able to minimize pressure to developers and designers and therefore facilitating production of high quality and unique product. (Barnatt, 2013).
Companies that are able to hit the market first are able to capitalize on the trends of the consumer and short-lived fads.
Production of Low-Volume offers an Option for Bridge Production- low volume production can be used for bridge tooling between phases of full-scale production and prototyping. As such manufacturing using low volume gets products to the market faster and helps firms create ideas for alternatives due to the high cost of up-front and time for high volume production. Because increase of volume is gradual, companies get an opportunity to smoothen practices that are best and save further cost while improving quality of the product.
Ways in which 3D printing can be suitable. For instance, development of hearing aids- 90% of this hearing aids have been produced using 3D printing an around the world over 10 million people are using them. Also it is can be very important when setting up titanium implants and other plastic implants that have higher value and potentially can dominate the market. In addition, customization of hip implants can bring forward immense positive results, even though the current application is smaller. (Horvath, 2014).
Highly customizable parts and low volume production will be revolutionized by 3 D printing. Its application will expand in the customer market as well as manufacturing markets for example aerospace and automotive, medical devices and implants, chemical and energy. It will reduce the time spent from designing to developing, minimize costs of prototypes, provide greater design complexity, reduce lead time, and enable production of lighter products. 3D printing is expected to continuously outdo the traditional manufacturing methods with continued evolution of technology. The driving force of 3D printing however, is expected to come from the manufacturing industries. (Šramka & Ružický, 2016).
This part tries to describe and outline the best process that a manufacturing company can implement to produce its parts. Can one choose 3D printing or injection molding? Deciding on the method to implement can be very complex and specific to a case.
Unit Cost and Order Volume Considerations
Injection molding prerequisites is to first to come up with the mold. The cost of molds keeps on changing depending on the case and the cheapest one can cost approximately $5000. The cost of developing the various units becomes less after the mold have been created. This therefore, shows that the initial cost of creating a mold gets covered during the production run, as you produce the various units the cost keeps on reducing. (Tucker, Tucker, Eastham, Gibson, Varma, & Daim, 2014).
3D printing is totally a different approach to production. With this approach there is no initial cost required for making a new part or unit since this this approach is a digital manufacturing technology. The cost of the parts printed using 3D is major associated with the manufacturing time, cost of materials and labor. Comparing this with the injection molding 3D printing can be quite expensive. Considering the two approaches 3D printing is less price competitive compared to injection molding. The graph below further explains this cost concept about the two approaches. It shows unit cost relatively for using both injection molding and 3D printing in producing the same part. The assumption of this is that the cost of a mold is $10000 and adding $0.20 of cost of material for each unit molded and unit cost for printed part is $20 for any volume run.
Interpretation of this graph is that the cost of printing each part using 3D remains the same all through no matter the number of parts printed. The upfront cost of injection molding might have been high, $10000, before other units are produced. Then from there each unit produced will cost $0.20. From this graph, therefore, we can ascertain that if you are producing more than 500 units then injection molding would be the best choice over 3D printing.
Other Considerations
Apart from order volume and unit cost, there exist other factors that need to be considered when selecting either injection molding or 3D printing. They include;
Complexity – depending on the complexity of the part to be produced, if the part has edges which is ultra-shape or is organically shaped, this will be considered in choosing the technology or approach to use. Basically, you should go for that model that gives you the best solution of your design at a cheaper price. 3D printing wins if the creative thinking or complexity of the part is organically shaped. Injection molding wins for when considering hard engineering constraints. (Siderits & Neyman, 2014).
Production Time – depending on the urgency of a part, then a manufacturer should choose the approach that meets the time frame. One should always consider he number of steps involved in production and delivery time before opting for an approach.
3D is considered a digital manufacturing and thus brings with it some automation of processes that were not with the traditional model of manufacturing. There will be reduction of jobs that will affect the economy that rely on manufacturing firms to employ its citizens.
Also it will affect the ethical set ups of the society do to violation of Copyrights. With 3D printing, one can easily produce counterfeit product if s/he gets hold of the blueprint. It will become more habitual and tracing the source is almost impossible. Protecting copyrights will be hard task for the copyright holders and businesses manufacturing unique commodities. Also 3D will aid in creation of dangerous items such as guns, hazardous objects, plastic knives among others. For this case insecurity setup of the society will be greatly affected because such items will be easily accessible to anyone and makes it easier for criminals and terrorist to develop a dangerous weapon without being detected. (Abadjieva, Abadjiev & Ignatova, 2016)
Conclusion
Low-volume production of 3D printing is constantly developing as well as the industry capabilities. Manufacturing of low volume minimizes risk, allows flexibility of design, minimizes time for marketing, and provide opportunities to save cost of production. This is an industry that is fast-paced and will constantly offer benefits for established and new companies.
References List
ABADJIEVA, E., ABADJIEV, V. & IGNATOVA, D., 2016. 3D Software Technology, Applicable in Elaboration of the Spatial Face Gear Drives for Incorporation into Robot Systems.. World Journal of Engineering and Technology, Volume 4, pp. 91-99.
BARNATT, C., 2013. 3D printing: the next industrial revolution. [Place of publication not identified]: ExplainingTheFuture.com.
GIBSON, I., ROSEN, D. & STUCKER, B., 2015. Additive manufacturing technologies: 3D printing, rapid prototyping, and direct digital manufacturing. s.l.:s.n.
HORVATH, J. C., 2014. Mastering 3D printing. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
KOCOVIC, P., 2017. 3D printing and its impact on the production of fully functional components: emerging research and opportunities.. Hershey, PA: Engineering Science Reference.
ROEBUCK, K., 2011. 3d printing.. [Place of publication not identified]: Emereo Pty. Ltd..
SEGERMAN, H., 2016. Visualizing mathematics with 3D printing.. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
SIDERITS, R. & NEYMAN, G., 2014. Experimental 3D Printed 4-Port Ventilator Manifold for Potential Use in Disaster Surges.. Open Journal of Emergency Medicine, Volume 2, pp. 46-48..
ŠRAMKA, M. & RUŽICKÝ, E., 2016. Possibilities in 3D Printing by Radiosurgical Operations.. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,, Volume 4, pp. 18-22.
TUCKER, K. et al., 2014. Network Based Technology Roadmapping for Future Markets: Case of 3D Printing.. Technology and Investment, Volume 5, pp. 137-156..
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