Part Buyers Authority Issue #5

“Have you thought about printing it?” I ask this question daily. I’m confident that most people I work around have heard me ask this question to both co-workers and customers. More often than not the answer is—no. In fairness, most of these conversations do not lead to a new job for our 3D printing equipment. Additive manufacturing still has many limitations. You can only print with certain materials and there is significant time involved in the additive process. In some cases, dimensional accuracy and finish quality for particular applications cannot be met by 3D printing. However, as time passes these limitations are decreasing as innovations are introduced by the numerous equipment manufacturers who have entered the additive marketplace. I don’t push 3D printing every day because we are a niche additive manufacturing company. In fact, we operate very traditional job shops at all three of our locations and 3D printing is a small percentage of the work we do. I ask about additive options daily because I see their ever-increasing capabilities and understand that much of what we consider traditional machining and fabrication will change over time. When I made the decision to purchase our first 3D Printer, we had no pipeline of additive work and no one at our company had any experience in this area of manufacturing. I made the investment because to be relevant in 10 years we would need both. For many current requirements, additive manufacturing is relevant today and we do not have to ASHLEY WEBB Owner PARADIGM INDUSTRIAL 16 wait a decade before we can produce a quality product that brings added value. But even if a 3D printed part can meet or exceed all of the specifications in the scope of work, it is still a different manufacturing process. In some cases, this alternative is not considered because the work automatically flows to vendors who use the same traditional manufacturing processes that have always been used for this particular product. In other instances, buyers are reluctant to try a new manufacturing method. The later is most prevalent when there is a proven process in place. In this situation, the security of knowing you can get a reliable part from the traditional procedure is more valuable than any potential benefits of using an additive process. Here are some ways you can position yourself to remain open to additive manufacturing options and increase your confidence in parts these processes can provide: Seek to understand vendor capabilities. If a supplier mentions additive options take a moment to ask about their 3D printing capabilities. Find out details such as work envelope size, material options, programming formats, and current machine utilization. Knowing these details can help you determine when it is a good fit to ask for a 3D printing quote. We really appreciate it when a customer is willing to take the time to learn about our equipment and what it can do. Furthermore, we both benefit when our customer provides models in the appropriate format. PART BUYERS A U T H R I T Y