21 September 2019

How 3D Printing Can Benefit A Manufacturing Business


3D printing has become quite popular in manufacturing over the past few years, with this being seen in a variety of ways. Some of the most notable of these include the creation of custom signs, posters, banners, lamination, and much more.

As a result, there have been a variety of high-quality companies established to take advantage of the growing niche, such as USI Laminate. Despite this growing popularity, however, many business owners may not know how 3D printing can help their business.

Much of this is driven by the fact that entrepreneurs may not know what the process entails, which is something that can be seen in the manufacturing industry. The advantages that it can provide a company can be much larger than you might expect, which is why 3D printing should be considered by many firms.

To do so, however, it's worth noting what 3D printing is and what the potential benefits of it can be for your business.

What Is 3D Printing?


Also known as additive manufacturing, this is the process of printing 3D objects from a digital file. Much like traditional printing, this will involve the creation of a design on a computer before creating it in real-life.

While there is an extensive number of similarities between the two, 2D printing can have a variety of limitations, especially with manufacturing. In contrast, 3D printing manages to overcome these while also providing an extensive number of benefits.
Why Is It Becoming Popular?

There are a variety of benefits to using a 3D printer, with many of these being seen across a broad range of industries. The first of these is that it can speed up production. This can be seen in a few ways.

Creating a prototype, for example, can often be a time-consuming process. This is shortened significantly with a 3D printer. When using one, it will also allow you to identify any flaws and make changes as quickly as you may want and subsequently test these changes within a short period.

As a result, it can make the research and development phase of a product much shorter than it would without one, while still offering the same results. The difference between using a 3D printer for this phase versus traditional techniques can be measured in days, if not weeks.

Alongside this are the cost-savings that you'll be able to see during the process. Not only will you be saving on labor costs, but also with materials. The primary reason behind this is that you'll be able to create the prototype with any material you want.

By doing so, you should see your overall return on investment (ROI) being significantly higher than you see with traditional techniques. While you'll still need to spend a significant amount on your production run, you should see a large amount of savings with your prototypes.

You should also see significantly less waste with your production process, with this being seen across the production process. While both 2D and 3D printing will need solid blocks of materials, 3D printing will only use the materials that are required for the production. This could also feed into the cost-savings that you should see.

Because of this, you could be much more creative with the initial designs that you may have been before. The majority of this will be seen through the freedom that you'll have in the design phase without having to worry about costs or any other factors.

You should also see that your designs and the subsequent products are of a much higher quality than those created with traditional techniques. The majority of these will be seen in the prototype stage, which can have quite a significant number of limitations. Each of these should be overcome with 3D printing.

Each of the above should also mean that there's a large number of risk reductions. This can be primarily seen with investments. Traditional molding tools and equipment can be quite expensive. This is a cost that's overcome here, and it further enhances the process' cost-effectiveness.

With the various benefits that 3D printing can provide for the majority of companies, it's something that many business owners may want to take advantage of. These can be seen regardless of whether you purchase a 3D printer yourself or if you use a third-party firm to meet your needs.

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