Tooling Delays? Get Parts in Days! Consider Additive Manufacturing

As designers and engineers become more accustomed to using AM, and more materials become readily available at lower prices, additive technologies will only continue to grow as a significant force in the manufacturing process.

By George Kokoris    September 11, 2019         

Tooling Delays? Get Parts in Days! Consider Additive Manufacturing

Email Sign Up

Get news, papers, media and research delivered. Sign up for our free newsletters.

Stay up-to-date with news and resources you need to do your job. Research industry trends, compare companies and get weekly market intelligence with Robotics 24/7.

Robotics 24/7 newsletter
Tooling Delays? Get Parts in Days! Consider Additive Manufacturing

As additive technologies, materials, and processes mature, so does the argument for using additive manufacturing (AM) to make production parts—let go of traditional manufacturing constraints and embrace a new mindset that explores additive manufacturing as a serious means of production.

Additive Manufacturing vs. Injection Molding

The additive technologies most commonly used for production of plastic parts include Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and Multi Jet Fusion (MJF).

The break-even point of AM compared to injection molding (IM) was once a few hundred parts but is now pushing into the thousands with trends showing the cut-off point even higher in the coming years.

Although, if you are projecting production volumes in the 10’s, 100’s of thousands, or even millions, AM can still prove to be a strong option for manufacturing throughout the early stages of production. AM has many other benefits not explicit to part price comparisons.

Click thru to read more about production-grade materials, lower costs, repeatable processes, and reliable supply chains—considerations, advantages, and application examples included!

 

Latest in Simulation

Latest in 3D Printing

Article Topics

3D Printing   Software   Simulation   3D Printing   Additive Manufacturing   Prototype Manufacture   Simulation  

All topics

Editors' Picks

Robotics Invest 2026: Robotics investors, entrepreneurs and tech innovators meet in Boston
Robotics Invest 2026: Robotics investors, entrepreneurs and tech innovators meet in Boston

Cybernetix Ventures’ event kicks off Robotics Tech Week 2026 slate of events

Automate 2026: Cameras, components, drives, grippers, motors, sensors & more
Automate 2026: Cameras, components, drives, grippers, motors, sensors & more

Preview the manufacturing and warehouse components that will be on the…

Automate 2026: AMRs, cobots, humanoids, orchestration platforms, software systems & more
Automate 2026: AMRs, cobots, humanoids, orchestration platforms, software systems & more

Preview the manufacturing and warehouse robots and software that will be on…