In the whole supply chain, from manufacturing to logistics warehousing, 3D printing is increasingly recognized, accepted and applied.
Many world-famous automobile brands have used 3D printing technology to speed up the research and development and production of new products in their own supply chain, and more actively respond to changes in market demand.
Although 3D printing can never be compared with the economies of scale brought by the traditional mass production supply chain, with the advance of time, 3D printing technology is becoming more powerful and reliable. It complements the supply chain and is deeply promoting the transformation and upgrading of the supply chain.
▲ 3D printer
Today, 3D printing technology is playing an indispensable role in the supply chain with the following six advantages.
01
Avoid the negative impact of outsourcing production
Under the traditional supply chain mode, enterprises often need to purchase raw materials from external suppliers, then carry out mass production in factories, and then distribute them to customers through warehousing and distribution networks.
Therefore, a large amount of funds of enterprises are used in plant construction, equipment purchase and personnel allocation, which leads to the complexity of the whole supply chain and increases the difficulty of enterprise management.
For economic reasons, enterprises have outsourced their supply chain to companies using traditional manufacturing methods for decades.
However, international freight costs are increasing year by year, trade tariff disputes are intensifying, and the risks and costs of international logistics are also rising.
The time required for enterprises to negotiate with multiple suppliers and independent contractors, as well as the communication problems in different time intervals, language differences and other factors also make the outsourcing work more complex. The outsourcing supply chain has become more decentralized than ever before, making it begin to lose its former advantages.
The end-to-end process brought by 3D printing is a mature production mode and a key advantage of 3D printing. Through 3D printing technology, enterprises can realize self production of the originally outsourced supply chain through simple and professional operation software.
For example, some enterprises make prototypes or even small batch production through internal 3D printing equipment, which can avoid the risk of intellectual property disclosure caused by the outsourcing of prototype production.
02
Save time and money by simplifying the supply chain
Compared with outsourcing, 3D printing usually has a higher return on investment, and simplifying the supply chain can also save costs in many other aspects.
1. Transportation cost
The logistics cost of transporting spare parts or low turnover parts from overseas is very high, and 3D printing can help solve this problem. As long as a 3D printer is installed, parts can be produced on demand. A study shows that this can help enterprises save up to 85% of transportation costs.
2. Warehousing
Excess inventory and low turnover parts occupy a lot of storage space. Relevant research also shows that by reducing the inventory of finished products, enterprises can save 17% of the cost.
The report released by DHL shows that 3D printing spare parts can account for more than 20% of the unused or excess inventory of an ordinary company. Many car manufacturers need to reserve spare parts for each car they produce for 7-10 years. With the advantage of 3D printing, the factory can realize on-demand production without preparing inventory in advance.
3. Improve profit margin
According to the public data of the U.S. Bureau of labor statistics and manufacturing economic data, the operating cost of the U.S. manufacturing industry is $4258341 / minute, and the profit margin is only $22480 / minute.
Therefore, if 3D printing can shorten the production time, even a minute, an hour, a week or a month, it can have a positive impact on large industries.
Although using 3D printing technology to produce a single prototype part within the enterprise does not seem to save a lot of costs, for those large manufacturers, the savings of time or money will be quickly superimposed.
4. Reduce material waste
3D printing produces parts in a layered manner. Different from the reduced material manufacturing methods such as numerical control processing, the increased material manufacturing only produces consumables when needed.
3D printing can reduce waste by producing parts or tools according to the exact specifications provided by the manufacturer and on demand.
5. Reduce labor demand
For American enterprises, labor costs overseas are lower than those of American workers. Therefore, many manufacturers will outsource labor services, but if 3D printing is used, enterprises can reduce their dependence on labor outsourcing.
Thanks to the improved running time and reliability of 3D printers, and the machine started by the network can be controlled through intuitive printer management software, a trained worker can operate small spare parts at the workstation through 3D printing to realize production.
03
Make the whole value chain more agile
While the complexity of traditional supply chain is increasing day by day, its responsiveness is rarely improved. 3D printing can shorten the manufacturing cycle, reduce overseas transportation activities, and almost save the lead time.
The 3D printing time of parts depends on the complexity of the parts, and is mostly in hours rather than weeks. Using multiple machines can easily increase production and meet demand.
3D printing has infinite flexibility and strong response ability, which can help enterprises have a stronger competitive advantage. With the continuous transformation of the supply chain to this modern model, enterprises can improve the efficiency of other aspects.
04
Take full advantage of the unique product performance of 3D printing
3D printing brings significant advantages to small batch manufacturing - breaking the limits of geometry. Traditional production methods such as injection molding follow the principle of "design for manufacturing", which limits the shape of products.
3D printing can design irregular geometric shapes more efficiently by generating design patterns, so as to improve the structural performance of products, save materials, and shorten the cycle from design to manufacturing.
05
Differentiation through on-demand production of parts
Like "Uber" that subverts the taxi industry and "aibiying" that subverts the hotel industry, 3D printing can continue to strengthen the impact of consumers on the supply chain.
In an environment where digitalization is driving the "demand economy", there will be perfect synergy between 3D printing and interconnected manufacturing.
The on-demand production of parts helps to produce finished products or "quasi finished products" with a higher level of personalization (such as clothes with personalized printing accessories, mobile phone cases with customized design, and tools with ergonomic design for workers).
For the traditional supply chain, the production on demand feature of 3D printing can ensure the supply of products. Fundamentally, 3D printers can replace "just in time" inventory. Virtual warehouse has now become a reality, which can send 3D model files to the nearest 3D printer digitally.