3D Printing Provides Benefits throughout Product Development
Communicate increased product knowledge from conceptual design through production.
Back when most manufacturing concerns
generally deemed the cost and operating requirements of early rapid
prototyping (RP) systems as prohibitive, many product development
organizations naturally questioned their value.
While any engineer knows that physical prototypes are an important part
of the design cycle "not only for validating design performance to meet
safety requirements but also for verifying design quality to avoid
costly changes later on"an investment of $200,000 to $400,000 or more
to implement an internal rapid prototyping capability did not seem like
a prudent proposition to many product developers. As recently as five
years ago, the perceived benefits of an internal rapid prototyping
capability simply did not merit its cost and operating expenses in the
minds of many engineering managers, which is why most product
development organizations either utilized time-consuming clay, wood,
and foam modeling techniques or outsourced rapid prototyping needs to a
variety of service providers.
Today, the situation has changed dramatically with the advent of 3D
printer technology. In addition to costing far less than their
predecessors"some commercial 3D printing systems cost less than
$25,000"3D printers do not require special operating environments and
are becoming standard pieces of office equipment in many design
offices. Armed with 3D printing, companies of nearly all types and
sizes can now produce physical prototypes quickly and reasonably
inexpensively. This has led to something interesting: the proliferation
of the benefits of rapid prototyping, once relegated almost exclusively
to Fortune 500 companies and other large organizations.
When design processes relied heavily on trial-and-error
approaches, design organizations often viewed repetitive prototyping as
costly in both time and money, primarily due to associated costs and
delays, and sought to minimize the number of prototypes produced.
Because 3D prints are fast and affordable, many manufacturers have
discovered that making more models and prototype parts and using them
for a variety of purposes throughout product development"from
conceptual design and design validation through manufacturing planning,
purchasing, vendor interaction, product marketing, and new business
initiatives"pays far greater dividends in the long run.More Innovative, Reliable Designs
Increasingly, product development organizations strive to restrict
design changes to the early conceptual design phase, when changes are
least expensive. At each step throughout the design cycle the cost of
design modifications rises by roughly an order of magnitude. Instead of
using rapid prototyping to validate designs at the end of conceptual
design, manufacturers benefit greatly from giving designers 3D printing
capabilities up-front. This is the stage in the process where engineers
can bring their skill and creativity to bear to produce innovative,
functional, and reliable concepts. Receiving feedback from others and
making exchanges are critical parts of the conceptual product design, a
process that ensures smooth product development.
As good as today's CAD tools are, there is no substitute to holding an
actual 3D part in your hand. The ability to touch, feel, and hold a 3D
prototype imparts much more information than an engineer could ever
gain from what he or she sees on a flat CAD image on a computer screen.
3D prints provide engineers with insights, both large and small, into
the form, fit, and functionality and reliability of a new design.
Detecting interferences, holes that do not line up, or edges that are
not quite right are just a few of the problems that an actual physical
prototype can reveal. With 3D printing capabilities, engineers have
gained access to a tool that enables them to rattle off as many
prototypes as necessary to know as much as possible about a design.
This in turn helps them to reduce the likelihood of costly surprises
later on.Communicating Designs, Securing Valuable Input
Design engineers can also use 3D prints to communicate new design
concepts and secure valuable input from other professionals involved in
all facets of product development from manufacturing engineers, tooling
vendors, marketing specialists, and company executives, as well as
customers, partners, and distributors. Just as 3D prints improve
visualization and design interrogation for engineers, they communicate
design concepts to both technical and non-technical personnel in a
manner that integrates product development across the enterprise. It
does so in a visual way that is simple and clear for making
improvements to the design. Extrapolating a 3D design from a 2D drawing
is challenging even for engineers, and not everyone has CAD tools for
visualizing a 3D design on the screen. Providing 3D prints ensures that
anyone can effectively evaluate a design and provide valuable input to
the product development process.
Design for manufacturability is an important issue for keeping
product development on track. Engineers can use 3D prints to solicit
input from manufacturing specialists to ensure that they can
manufacture a particular design cost-effectively. 3D prints support
efforts to gather important feedback from the field, both from
customers and the distribution channel. Engineers can quickly
incorporate this input before committing to expensive tooling.
Manufacturing and marketing campaigns can begin sooner and with more
confidence. Purchasing agents can use 3D prints to obtain more accurate
quotes from tooling vendors because less guesswork is involved.
Manufacturers can even use 3D prints to support powerful new business
presentations, securing new business and additional orders without
incurring a great deal of expense.
All of these benefits emanate from the fast, affordable nature of 3D
printing technology. Unlike early rapid prototyping systems, which
offered some of the same benefits, they were reduced to much less due
to the cost of the machines. And since most of the models were
outsourced, the three to five days required to get the models reduced
their benefits. 3D printing provides the flexibility and economy to
communicate designs throughout product development, extending and
increasing the benefits of rapid prototyping by increasing product
knowledge across the enterprise and supply chain. Greater knowledge and
more valuable input leads to fewer surprises, lower development costs,
and faster times-to-market.
Industry consultant, analyst and speaker Terry Wohlers is principal
consultant and president of Wohlers Associates, Inc. (Fort Collins,
CO). Visit www.wohlersassociates.com for more information.
