Over the last 20 years, additive manufacturing technology has progressed from its use in rapid prototyping to a complete manufacturing solution, which is known as “direct digital manufacturing” (or rapid manufacturing).
Cada vez más, las empresas la están utilizando en las aplicaciones de manufactura, y los casos de éxito continuos prueban que es una alternativa viable. While the general concept of additive manufacturing is the same as it was 20 years ago, the change lies in its intended use: production, not just prototyping.
Regardless of the technology you choose, digital manufacturing offers powerful advantages over traditional manufacturing methods.
The most cited are:
• Accelerate design cycle and release time. • Expansion of design possibilities. • Faster and less expensive redesigns. • Custom parts and low volume production.
Together, this translates into efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness and low costs. Furthermore, this type of process generates very little waste when compared to milling processes, since they use only the necessary material.
Diversity of Applications
In the manufacturing environment, digital manufacturing typically plays one of two roles: Companies can use the process to manufacture the products they sell, or they can leverage it to build the devices that help manufacture the products. Digital manufacturing is best suited for low-volume manufacturing. However, even companies that focus on mass production can use digital manufacturing to save time and costs: every manufacturer has low-volume needs, such as hand tools, gauges, jigs, and fixtures.
Digital manufacturing eliminates mold production, machining, casting and forming. Instead of removing or sculpting material, a company's finished items are produced by adding material layer by layer. With just a few minutes of preprocessing to prepare a production run and light post-processing to polish a part, digital manufacturing moves directly from CAD data to the final part. The elimination of pre- and post-operations common to traditional methods means savings in time, costs and unnecessary work.