3D printing in mechanical engineering
Benefits of additive manufacturing for the industry
Since its invention in the 1980s, 3D printing has already transformed the way both small engineering companies and industry giants design and manufacture their products. The advantages that the technology offers in this regard are numerous and exist on several levels. For example, it can add significant value in prototyping, design improvements, or even supply chain optimization. It is hardly surprising, then, that 3D printing continues to steadily gain relevance in mechanical engineering and has even replaced conventional manufacturing methods, such as CNC milling or turning, as the leading process in some areas. In the following, we would like to give you an overview of the areas of the industry in which the use of additive manufacturing is particularly worthwhile.
Rapid prototyping
In a survey conducted by the VDMA Additive Manufacturing Working Group in 2018, around half of the companies questioned already stated that they use 3D printing in their manufacturing processes. Of these, prototyping was again named by 50% of the companies as the main application of the technology. And the advantages that 3D printing offers in this area are obvious: with conventional manufacturing processes, such as injection molding, tools must first be manufactured before the actual manufacturing process of a product. This not only takes a long time, but is also usually associated with a high cost. Additive manufacturing, on the other hand, only requires 3D data to manufacture a product. Once these are provided, production can be started more or less at the push of a button, without major makeready operations. Especially in the production of prototypes, which usually have to be adapted in several iteration steps, enormous time and cost savings can be achieved in this way. But also in the production of small batches and functional individual components it is possible to benefit from tool-free additive manufacturing.
Design optimizations
Conventional manufacturing methods in mechanical engineering have the disadvantage that they are often significantly limited in terms of design options. For example, CNC milling or turning. In these processes, material is removed from a block-shaped starting material until the desired part shape is achieved. Complex geometries, such as overhangs or channels, can only be realized with great difficulty in this way, if at all. In addition, this approach is usually accompanied by a large amount of excess material. The situation is different with additive manufacturing. Since the parts are built up layer by layer here, on the one hand almost only the amount of material required for the part itself is consumed. On the other hand, this results in significantly greater design freedom and parts can be designed differently from the ground up, making them cheaper, faster and more effective to produce. This approach is known as "Design for Additive Manufacturing", or DfAM for short. We have summarized which design techniques play an important role here in a separate article for you.
Supply chain optimization
Another area where mechanical engineering companies can benefit from additive manufacturing is the optimization of supply chains. In the last two years at the latest, the Corona pandemic and geopolitical tensions have highlighted the importance of supply chain resilience in addition to cost efficiency. The use of 3D printing can achieve positive effects in both aspects. On the one hand, the technology enables decentralized manufacturing, in which no longer physical products are transported, but data. These can be shared between production partners around the world via secure 3D printing platforms, and companies can manufacture anywhere quickly and with high quality, bypassing supply chain disruptions. In addition, additive manufacturing enables production on demand. This means that products can be made available exactly when they are needed, resulting in savings in terms of storage space and costs.
Support from 3D printing service providers
In summary, it can be stated that additive manufacturing in mechanical engineering brings positive effects in a wide variety of areas. Companies that want to take advantage of these benefits do not have to invest in 3D printing equipment themselves, however, but can also rely on cooperation with a professional 3D printing service provider here, which can bring further positive aspects. Through many years of experience and numerous successfully completed printing projects, a service provider can deliver the best advice and the highest quality, for example. In addition, companies can outsource complex processes in this way and, since a service provider also has the capacity to produce significantly more parts in a shorter time, save both labor and production time. You want to convince yourself of the advantages of additive manufacturing, realize your own 3D printing projects or have further questions? Contact us. We will be happy to help you!