Trends That Will Influence The Future Of Additive Manufacturing

By Author: Sanjay Tiwari
Total Articles: 6
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Over the last few years, 3D printing and additive manufacturing technology has advanced at a rapid pace due to the development of new technologies like digital manufacturing and the creation of more sustainable and intricate parts that have set the new standard for the manufacturing industry. Many industries across the market are adopting additive manufacturing solutions rapidly to access a broader range of applications.

What is Additive Manufacturing?

Additive Manufacturing is defined as the process in which a material is coagulated or bonded, layer upon layer, under the control of a computer, to create a three-dimensional object. A 3D object is produced using digital model data from a computer-aided design (CAD) file or a 3D model. Additive manufacturing is a transformative approach to industrial production that enables the manufacture of lighter, stronger parts and systems.

Industrial additive manufacturing is a game-changing production technology that is gaining momentum recently to achieve mass production. It ...
... has made additive manufacturing a production technology driving the next industrial revolution. There is a new wave of changes and advances in the field of additive manufacturing that will redefine the manufacturing sector and help it address many challenges.

Here are some areas that are going to shape the future of additive manufacturing:

Sustainability

As nations stride forward to meet the environmental goals, they have set for themselves on net-zero economies during the COP26 conference, the Additive Manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly influenced by sustainability strategies. It has been seen as a route to supporting these goals in many sectors due to its digital workflow, warehousing, less material consumption, on-demand production, and ability to support manufacturing in the country of use.

Thus, in the upcoming years, Additive Manufacturing will become a dominant route to achieve sustainability due to the new opportunities it presents for organizations across the design and manufacturing processes and the innovations that will eventually allow it to replace traditional forms of production.

Digital Manufacturing

With time, the gap between software, printing, and production hardware is getting smaller and barriers keep falling one after another. This will help systems become more seamless in the production lines, whole supply chains as well as in new application areas. In recent years, the additive manufacturing (AM) industry has demonstrated that this can be achieved while maintaining the protection of intellectual property, ensuring quality production, and mitigating cyber security risks.

The adoption of digital manufacturing systems like additive manufacturing has enabled digital warehousing and on-demand production for spare parts. Thus, this will allow companies to reduce the costs that are usually associated with their after-sale operations while also creating new business opportunities that are focused on providing parts and services manufactured locally for consumers.

Automated Manufacturing Ecosystems

Additive manufacturing will become the dominant mass manufacturing technique. It will lead to complete automation and digital workflow while replacing the high-volume, serial production techniques that require both high resolution and productivity at low cost. Automated manufacturing systems require a low level of human interaction and will increase quality consistency and ensure a high level of repeatability. Such a unified, digital production environment will also enable efficiency, production scale, and control.

Advanced Materials

With the coming of new materials for additive manufacturing, the focus of innovative production has shifted from strength and production consistency to sustainability. These new materials bring about production efficiencies in terms of the amount of material needed or with production steps that require less energy. Along with this, the improved material and finished product recycling opportunities enable companies to achieve their sustainability goals.

Industry Collaboration

Intra-industry, as well as inter-industry collaboration, are becoming key to pushing the industrialization of additive manufacturing. This will help to expand innovative and collaborative ecosystems which will help in the growth of multiple industries. Additive manufacturing technologies have a great potential in adding flexibility to manufacturing operations and the production of machinery components.

An increasing number of organizations are exploring additive manufacturing for specific applications, many technological developments are taking place and new business opportunities are emerging. It is difficult to predict which one of the above trends will impact additive manufacturing the most but every one of them has already started to affect the industry in one way or the other. The best additive manufacturing company will pick up on these trends faster and will be the ones to dominate the manufacturing market in a few years. For those manufacturers who want to take up additive manufacturing as their main manufacturing method, there are many new and exciting businesses opportunities one can discover by collaborating with any additive manufacturing company in Pune. It is difficult to imagine what the manufacturing process will look like in the next 10 years, but this year is already proving to be another landmark for the additive manufacturing sector.