Buying RP Equipment Vs. Buying RP Services

Should potential RP users buy the equipment or outsource the service and how do they determine the best option for their operation?

Terry Wohlers - Wohlers Associates (Fort Collins, CO)

1. Volume. If a company is producing only a few prototypes a year, then it usually makes sense to use a service provider. As the number of parts grows and the cost of outsourcing rises, it becomes less obvious what to do.

2. Sensitivity of designs. Most new product design is highly confidential, but some companies are more cautious than others. I'm currently working with a company that is really too small to justify the expense and hassles associated with owning expensive RP equipment, yet that's what they want. In part, that's due to the highly sensitive nature of their designs.

3. Seasonal work. If the work is seasonal, the RP equipment may be over worked part of the time and collecting dust the rest of the time.

4. Turn-around. If you own equipment, you can usually reduce the time to get models and prototype parts by about one day (sometimes more).

5. Commitment. When buying some RP machines, you have to make a commitment well beyond the initial purchase of the machine. The cost for facility changes, electricity, the disposal of hazardous chemicals, maintenance fees, hardware and software upgrades and training can be shocking, even to companies with sizable budgets.

Often, the answer to your question is to buy equipment and use service providers. Many companies that buy equipment find that they also use SBs regularly. When running in-house equipment at full capacity, they have little choice but to outsource the balance of the work.

Todd Grimm - Accelerated Technologies, Inc. (Hebron, KY)

If it is a union shop, or heavy with red tape, outside services are usually faster to respond and quicker to deliver.

Even if they buy the equipment, they will still need outside services. Services will provide greater latitude in material selection, which is too expensive for a company to inventory. But, if a company has all of the capacity that it will ever need, it has too much capacity and will therefore need to subcontract the work. If it owns one or two technologies, there will be situations that demand a process that the shop doesn't have and for most, buying systems makes no economic sense.

For fast turnaround, many shops need multiple shifts to run and why worry about obsolescence - let somebody else pay for it. How about consistent demand? How will management feel about equipment that is idle for weeks at a time? Besides, it's expensive to buy, expensive to run and expensive to operate.

Douglas A. VanPutte - Cross-Bow Rapid Tool Associates (Rochester, NY)

1. Will the possession of internal RP equipment be a sound financial investment from the standpoint of utilization (direct) and of promoting faster internal product development?

2. Will the equipment be used for significant propriety product development?

3. Will the equipment be used to support internal R&D activities related to rapid manufacturing, rapid tooling or unique layer manufactured products?

An affirmative to one or more of the above issues could justify the purchase of RP equipment after the potential user understands the technology and how the possession of internal RP equipment will positively affect the company's business.