Factories Expanding 3D Printing Capabilities On More Than Just Their Products

ATLANTA - Sept. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- Additive manufacturing holds enormous potential for manufacturers across virtually all industries.  If used in the right places, it can make production cheaper, faster, greener, and better.  However, most manufacturers have a hard time identifying these opportunities, partly due to the fact that most people have an inaccurate concept of the strengths of this new technology and fail to correctly identify where additive manufacturing is useful and where conventional methods are better suited.

Industry veteran IMI therefore now offers companies an on-site evaluation to determine the optimal way how an industrial customer can utilize the full potential of this revolutionary production method which is currently changing entire industries.  On-site additive manufacturing evaluations present boundless options for manufacturers of all sizes, from rapid prototyping to equipment MRO and production tooling.

“A thorough on-site manufacturing evaluation within a factory will result in a customized report for that specific production facility.  These reports typically point out where additive manufacturing can be utilized in the most efficient manner to increase profits, decrease lead times, decrease time to market, extend tooling life, etc.” IMI president Steve Van Duzen explains.

Many companies have the initial impression that additive manufacturing is only good for rapid prototyping or producing something which is a manufactured component or finished part which the factory actually makes.  The reality is that it can go way beyond that, and when combined with the proper finish know-how or post process applications, that the possibilities can generate some tremendous cost savings, lead time reductions, and more.

An additive manufacturing evaluation will point out not only where AM can be used, but help determine the best approach with the best possible outcomes.  In some cases, SLS or DMLS can be used to manufacture tooling or molds, with immediate cost savings over traditionally manufactured tooling combined with a significant decrease in lead time to acquire the tooling.  In other cases, it may mean not making the tooling but manufacturing the part itself.  If the part has components which get assembled into it, then each component that can be printed into the part during the initial AM-process which eliminates further assembly down the line.

There are many manufacturers which have old machinery which is no longer supported by the OEMs.  Sourcing and purchasing these parts can be time consuming and costly.  A proper on-site additive manufacturing evaluation will also take this into consideration, further reducing the stress on MRO and production machinery maintenance needs.

On-premise additive manufacturing site evaluations are typically less than the costs for one average set of precision manufacturing tooling, and can yield immediate and significantly bankable results.

The response to this new service is enormous: IMI recently added several new representatives across the country to its team to ensure sustained availability and customer satisfaction.