Manufacturers realizing the advantages of additive manufacturing have been quick to implement the technology throughout their production operations. Though once used exclusively for rapid prototyping, the capabilities and benefits of additive manufacturing have expanded industrial use cases.
Many of the advantages that made additive manufacturing ideal for prototyping — quick iteration, design freedom, and cost and time savings — have led to wider adoption of the technology in manufacturing. Today, manufacturers use additive for small production runs as well as to create custom products and parts with unique geometries, to name a few applications.
Adopting additive manufacturing and industrial 3D printing enables companies to produce end-use parts that can’t be replicated with traditional manufacturing methods. These 3D printed parts often perform better, readily displaying the advantages of additive manufacturing.
Why Manufacturers Leverage Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing is not a new technology; it’s been around for about 40 years. But despite a long history, the technology really seems to have taken off in the last decade. There’s been a lot of hype around additive manufacturing in the past several years, with more product offerings available and a dramatic jump in the use of additive to create end-use parts.
For manufacturers, the reasons to adopt additive are clear: increased flexibility, reduced reliance on supply chains, and improved products. Companies are increasingly turning to additive manufacturing technologies to better respond to market changes and stay competitive in a shifting industry. With additive, these manufacturers have more tools to combat challenges and a higher level of production freedom.
By leveraging additive manufacturing either in-house or through a local service provider, manufacturers have so much more flexibility to respond to unexpected situations. When a supplier is behind or shipment delayed, 3D printers can create those parts as a temporary production substitute. If a part needed for a repair has a long lead time, a replacement part can be 3D printed in the interim.
These capabilities are compelling manufacturers to ensure they have easy access to 3D printers. By having additive manufacturing at their disposal, companies are more secure in their production operations and can better fulfill deliverables.
Exploring Some Advantages of Additive Manufacturing
Industrial companies leverage additive manufacturing because it allows them to be more self-sufficient. This benefit has been particularly apparent in the last five years, when supply chains have been volatile as a result of the pandemic. But prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, several other advantages led to an initial increase in additive manufacturing adoption.
Design Freedom and Flexibility
One of the most notable advantages of additive manufacturing is the unique design opportunities it affords to product engineers. With additive, parts can have complex geometries and intricate designs. These features can’t be replicated with traditional manufacturing methods.
These designs also often improve the performance of a part compared to its traditionally manufactured counterpart. 3D printers can create lighter, more durable parts that perform more efficiently due to the level of design freedom this technology offers.
Another example of this is part consolidation. Transitioning a part’s production to additive manufacturing enables engineers to transform a multi-component part design into one 3D printed component. This helps reduce the part’s size and weight, minimize failure points, and decrease material usage.
These design advantages are why it’s so important for engineers working with additive to know how to design for additive manufacturing. Once design engineers have this mindset, they’ll be able to leverage additive manufacturing to design parts that optimize product performance for industries like aerospace, automotive, and defense.
Design flexibility also enables manufacturers to create customized products. With 3D printing, designs can be personalized to match an exact use case. As opposed to mass manufactured products, 3D printing allows consumers to get a product that is exactly what they want. This advantage is particularly applicable to healthcare manufacturing (including dental), but is also popular with sports gear and consumer goods.
Manufacturing Speed and Cost
Production speed and manufacturing costs are commonly cited when comparing additive and subtractive manufacturing methods. Truthfully, it depends on the scenario; one isn’t always faster and more cost-effective than the other. But often when trying to create a better part, additive manufacturing is the top choice.
Compared to traditional manufacturing methods, additive has shorter set-up times. This advantage makes it ideal for rapid prototyping as well as small production runs. Faster set-up also helps to lower costs in these scenarios, allowing manufacturers to create a limited number of products for a much more reasonable cost compared to producing the same number of parts with traditional methods.
Complexity also increases costs in traditional manufacturing. Traditional part designs often don’t perform as well as additive designs because in traditional manufacturing reducing complexity to save costs comes at the expense of performance. With additive manufacturing, added complexity has very little cost impact.
However, subtractive manufacturing is often still faster and more cost-effective for large production runs. But additive manufacturing will almost always create better parts in less time and at a lower cost for smaller production runs compared to traditional manufacturing methods.
Sustainability and Waste Reduction
Manufacturers today have an enhanced focus on sustainability due to the shifting global climate. Additive manufacturing aligns with environmentally conscious efforts, as it promotes sustainability and offers environmental benefits. As a technology that adds layers to create parts, rather than subtracting material from a larger part, additive automatically produces less waste than other manufacturing methods.
Additive manufacturing uses less material to create parts compared to subtractive methods, allowing manufacturers to minimize material waste and use materials more efficiently. Additionally, 3D printing production processes have lower energy consumption than traditional manufacturing processes. Both these features make additive manufacturing a more environmentally friendly option for part production.
The on-demand production method of additive manufacturing also helps limit unnecessary inventory and warehousing. Since manufacturers can produce products as needed, they don’t need to keep large product inventories on hand, nor do they need to take up as much space with huge warehouses. This improves operational efficiency and helps manufacturers reduce their carbon footprint.
Embracing Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing’s many advantages have led to a significant rise in adoption rates over the last five to 10 years. This technology allows manufacturers to be more self-sufficient, granting them freedom from a volatile supply chain and enabling them to better withstand unpredictable market changes. In addition to offering production security, these benefits ensure companies remain competitive in the modern manufacturing landscape.
Sustainability, design freedom, and improved cost and time efficiency are just a few advantages additive manufacturing offers to industrial businesses. To learn even more about how this technology helps manufacturers, explore the benefits of attending RAPID + TCT 2026, North America’s largest additive manufacturing and industrial 3D printing event.