How to Make Manufacturing More Sustainable With 3D Printing Technology
Every year, American manufacturers generate and dispose of 7.6 billion tons of solid waste, according to data released by the EPA. Despite being recyclable, a significant portion of that waste ends up in landfills, including 1.5 million tons of toxic chemicals in 2018 alone. As a result of statistics like these and heightened consumer interest…
Understanding Seven Types of Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing, or high-volume 3D printing, utilizes multiple production lines to produce a wide range of products. By opting for a hybrid or fully additive manufacturing approach, companies can transform their manufacturing and business models and address the challenges of supply chain disruptions. Below, we discuss the types of additive manufacturing, examining the differences between…
Using Lattice Structures in Additive Manufacturing Software
Additive manufacturing is increasingly leveraged for enhancing or improving product performance. Lattice structures are one common design technique. A lattice structure is a microarchitecture designed with a network of repeating crosshatch sections to create a specific pattern. Lattice structures are difficult to create with traditional manufacturing methods, making them unique to additive manufacturing. Using lattice…
3D Printing Dental Trends that Upgrade Your Practice
3D printing solutions enable dental practitioners to realize the benefits of digital dentistry, including improving patient experience, more comfortable device fit, and faster turnaround times. The accuracy, strength, and speed of 3D printers create cost-effective and better-performing oral devices. With dental practitioners becoming more tech-savvy, it is strengthening 3D printing dental trends for digitalization and…
Choosing the Best 3D Printer for Dentistry
Rapid prototyping with traditional methods requires tooling – just like volume production processes.Tooling slows down and adds cost to product development cycles. 3D printing provides an alternative prototyping production process that removes tooling constraints, giving product designers a flexible, on-demand option for product development and scaling.
Rapid Prototyping and Tooling: 3D Printing Speeding up Product Manufacturing
Rapid prototyping with traditional methods requires tooling – just like volume production processes.Tooling slows down and adds cost to product development cycles. 3D printing provides an alternative prototyping production process that removes tooling constraints, giving product designers a flexible, on-demand option for product development and scaling.
Understanding 3D Printing in Manufacturing
Defined as the construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design (CAD) or a digital 3D model, 3D printing or additive manufacturing is transforming the world as we know it. However, when we hear the term 3D printing, oftentimes the technology isn’t seen as a solution that has the ability to manufacture high volume…
Aligning Dental 3D Printing Process with Different Business Models
3D printing technology is constantly advancing and popularity among dental practitioners and labs is growing. 3D printing dental products offer better patient service with faster turnaround times and are more accurate than traditional production methods. The digitalized workflow can also increase efficiencies such as producing multiple similar or different dental devices in parallel for patients.…
High Volume Manufacturing Process with 3D Printing: Pros and Cons
There are multiple ways to take advantage of 3D printing, such as leveraging a smart factory for on-demand production, augmenting traditional processes, and building dedicated 3D printing lines for an agile manufacturing model. With advantages and disadvantages for each option, companies need to consider several factors when using 3D printing for high-volume manufacturing processes.
Optimizing High-Mix, Low-Volume Manufacturing with 3D Printing
3D printing systems enable a high-mix, low-volume manufacturing approach for a broad range of products, including fully customizable products. For companies considering 3D printing for a high-mix, low-volume manufacturing business model, there are many benefits over traditional production processes.