Do you need to produce AM parts faster than you can find and qualify them?
In this article, we'll discuss how software can automate decision-making by selecting only the best AM candidates using data from traditionally manufactured parts.
For many companies, additive manufacturing offers an attractive business case because of its freedom of design and print-on-demand capabilities. Though there are many ways additive manufacturing can be utilized, including to design and prototype new parts, more and more companies today are looking to it as a method of remanufacturing existing parts.
However, one challenge that companies often face is knowing which parts are the best candidates for AM. In a recent survey of 67 3YOURMIND newsletter subscribers, 61% of respondents said that finding suitable business cases for AM was one of the current obstacles preventing them from scaling their additive manufacturing operations.
Why is that?
Finding valuable use cases for AM relies heavily on engineers. Engineers rely on two methods for sourcing AM candidates: via their own ingenuity or by panning for gold. What do we mean by that?
Engineers may recognize an opportunity to design a new part that utilizes AM's complex geometries and potentially performs better than a part traditionally manufactured using CNC machining or injection molding. However, that's not always the most available approach to develop a new part, so engineers often evaluate part drawings and 3D files one by one in the hopes of finding a good candidate. The latter approach is slow, and frankly, engineers have better things that they could be doing with their time (like designing new parts).
That's why, when it comes to AM part identification, companies can utilize software to outsource the most manual, time-consuming tasks so engineers can focus their expertise on only the best part candidates.
Use Software to Focus Only on Parts That Matter
3YOURMIND's part identification software can analyze 3D part files, 2D technical drawings, and data points to calculate the total manufacturing cost for a given application.
Simply navigate to the Part List from the homepage and upload the supported part file (STL, STEP, .3MF, .zip, and CAD files, etc.). Then, you can add general information like the part name and material family and add optional economic information like the current part price of similar parts on the market, the lead time, and the demand quantity.
With this information, 3YOURMIND can determine which technologies are most suitable to produce the part and calculate saving potential based on different technologies used, factoring in material, labor, and overhead costs. Through these calculations, users can quickly glean whether it generates stock avoidance savings, lead time reductions, or cost savings.
With these tools, engineers can quickly visualize which parts present strong AM business cases. As a result, engineers can prioritize qualifying the highest-value-adding parts first, thus proving the technology's competency and generating quick wins for the company. After the priority parts are selected, engineers can use 3YOURMIND to determine which parts aren't optimized for AM and should be reengineered to fulfill a critical need.
See it in Action – Watch the Demo!
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