BUILDING AN AM BUSINESS CASE: WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

We asked the people who have built AM machines and business cases, for their biggest pieces of advice on adopting additive into your business.

MARIA PAPAROZZISHIPMAN | Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate | Diamond Centre Wales

“Is there true return on investment and have you got enough time to wait for the return? I think it can be very easy to look at the cost of a machine and work out how quickly you can break even, but the secret costs, such as lab equipment, post-processing, experts, continuous material, and consumable costs are often forgotten about and the time it takes to embed new technology into a workforce.

The biggest investment a company will make when adopting additive manufacturing is time. A clear understanding of your project’s timeframe to change from the research and development stage to the embedding stage and into profitable production needs to be agreed on from every level by all stakeholders, from technician to board of directors. Trying to balance turning a profit and delivering an innovative product or service that will transform either the industry, or your market share, takes time.”

SJ JONES | Additive Manufacturing Expert

“In a period where we’re seeing rapid growth in not only the size of our machines, but also their capabilities, I’d build a business case tied to the technological and material roadmap of my printer partner. Simply put, the quote you get for parts today could rapidly change – for the better – in the few weeks/months before your funding is allocated. Keeping an eye on future technological horizons will not only better your business case but also strategically align your manufacturing process for future success.”

DR PARASTOO JAMSHIDI | School of Metallurgy and Materials | University of Birmingham

“Additive manufacturing approaches allow a greater design flexibility than traditional subtractive manufacturing methods with further advantages of cheaper and less wasteful manufacturing process (saving on material waste and energy) for various industrial applications. Therefore, in any business case where there are needs for a faster and less expensive production run for fully customized parts and also a need for adding further value and functionality to the components via AM design flexibility with an attempt of positive impact on the final product yield, adopting AM into that business is a great opportunity.”

STACEY M. DELVECCHIO | President | StaceyD Consulting

“It is critical that you know what problem you’re trying to solve which is very specific to each company and sometimes each application. The problems run the range from peak shaving when volumes exceed the capacity, to solving technical challenges that can’t be solved any other way, to needing a faster turnaround time, just to name a few. They can be a combination of several problems and will likely change with each application. Regardless, knowing what problem you’re trying to solve, and getting buy-in from leadership that it needs to be solved, is critical to success in building a successful business case. I’ve seen so many companies try to build a business case for additive simply because they see others doing it. That’s not a good reason. You need to find your why.”

KRISTIN

MULHERIN | President AM-Cubed | President Women in 3D Printing

“A strong business case for adopting additive manufacturing includes one important thing: future-proofing. Adopting additive manufacturing is no small task, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but there are several benefits that’ll be missed in the future if you don’t start thinking about it now.

Speed of innovation is one such benefit. Yes, additive manufacturing can help mitigate supply chain risk, increase design flexibility, allow greater customization, and sometimes even offer a more sustainable solution – all of which help future-proof your business. But if you truly want to stay ahead of the competition, you need to innovate fast and often.

Additive manufacturing can produce parts in a matter of hours or days (versus weeks or months). This allows quick responses to changing markets and maximizes the product’s potential by allowing iterations at any point in the product lifecycle. Faster prototyping, iteration-friendly bridge production, and scaled production - all with the same manufacturing technology - will ensure you are staying ahead of the competition now and in the future.”

ANDY LANGFELD | President EMEA | Stratasys

“When considering the possible business opportunities that additive manufacturing (AM) is able to deliver, looking at the Bill of Materials (BOM) of any product is generally a solid starting point. A classical paradigm today is that if you have one product of, for example, 1,000 components you would probably be able to produce around 300 of those components with AM. Of these, you’d end up with maybe 50 to 60 components where this makes economic sense, and those components usually give you a very fast return on investment.

Fortunately, there are software solutions out there that will conduct this BOM analysis and advise manufacturers which AM technology would fit each viable component. The bigger challenge is for manufacturers to expand this effort and rethink the BOM looking for design changes that could bring AM into play. With some redesign of the remaining parts, manufactures can open new opportunities and strengthen the overall case for AM – ultimately opening the door to even more of the benefits that it delivers.”