How Can Metal Additive Manufacturing Reduce Lead Times?
Of course, other advantages of metal 3D printing include the acceleration of the product life cycle and faster transition from the design phase to final part production. How? Typically, aside from the need to remove support structures that may be used during the 3D printing process, additional steps to process the part after it has been 3D printed are not required. In fact, with some Metal Additive Manufacturing processes such as HP Metal Jet technology, no support structures are needed during 3D printing, further streamlining the process.
Any specific shape or geometry requirements—for example, holes, threads, textures, or connecting elements—can be designed into the part and 3D printed directly, so no milling or specific adjustment to the shape with CNC machines is required after production. With the elimination of these steps, weeks can be cut off the total lead time to produce the final part.
In addition, with injection molding, the step of producing tooling or molds to produce the final parts can take weeks or even months and can be costly. However, with metal 3D printing, this step can be completely eliminated, adding new levels of efficiency both from a time perspective as well as a cost perspective.
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