This question should be asked in various business initiatives. However, I want to ask this question as it relates to additive manufacturing especially in smaller manufacturing companies that have yet to adopt additive manufacturing.
When just beginning something—be it a journey for improvement or an initiative to ensure you are prepared, I always suggest starting small. Companies that want to dip their toes into 3D printing have a couple of choices; own their own AM equipment or rely on service bureaus. Times are also changing. And those old production processes mean you could be losing your competitive edge by missing out on LARGE cost savings.
Additive manufacturing can provide significant ROI to small manufacturers by helping:
- Improve their industrial tooling processes
- Produce more high-value, complex, low-run parts
- Create highly customized products for their industry and their customers
Start with a basic step process for additive manufacturing:
- It starts with an organizational shift. Generate an additive manufacturing mindset within the organization.
- Create a roadmap. Pilot a targeted small area and then scale up.
- Develop a business case. Examine impacts of parts from your supply chain and or product life cycle with the use of additive manufacturing.
- Identify challenges and evaluate whether additive manufacturing fits in your company.
You have to get started with additive manufacturing/3D printing - doing nothing gets you nothing!
