Provide Chain Administration and the Position of 3D Printing Digital Inventories – 3DPrint.com

Because the additive manufacturing (AM) business grows past its humble roots as a speedy prototyping know-how, it has been adopted by a few of the world’s main firms to supply not solely jigs and fixtures, however even finish components—in some circumstances to the tune of hundreds of thousands of models per yr. Due to this fact, at this level in its evolution, the theme of the sector isn’t a lot about hurdles to adoption or creating the correct enterprise circumstances. These are particulars which have been rehashed endlessly within the prior period of AM’s growth. As an alternative, we must be taking a look at the place 3D printing goes subsequent.

Since COVID-19 revealed the myriad points related to globalized logistics networks, the theme for 3D printing has turn into its use as a form of provide chain insurance coverage for producers. Not solely can AM act as a stopgap in emergency situations (see GM’s disaster adoption of 3D printing for an SUV rollout), however manufacturing of products closest to their level of use and on demand might completely cut back dependance on lengthy, complicated, and distant provide chains.

In flip, the subsequent step for AM isn’t methods to enhance price and effectivity in order that main firms can use it at scale. That’s already taking place. The following step is how it will likely be built-in into present logistics networks. To get a greater sense of what that will seem like, we’ll dive into the bigger provide chain administration (SCM) firms and the AM suppliers greatest suited to right away match into their operations.