Entry into additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing - often referred to as 3D printing - is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly important in the field of production. Through the use of additive manufacturing, a wide variety of components can be produced flexibly, individually and increasingly cost-efficiently. This makes entry into additive manufacturing increasingly attractive for many companies. However, this is associated with financial and organizational effort - especially when it comes to procuring the appropriate equipment. This represents a hurdle for many companies. They are therefore often faced with the challenge of finding the right way to get started: Build their own structures or get a specialized manufacturing service provider on board - additive manufacturing or have it manufactured?

When introducing additive manufacturing technologies to a company, the question arises as to how to deal with the high initial investment and the associated risks. These include the purchase of a system and the cost of equipment for post-processing the additively manufactured components. In addition, the training of employees and the implementation of additive manufacturing in the existing process chain must also be financed.

Here, there is the option of initially hiring a manufacturing service provider to print the required components. This way, the company does not have to finance its own system. But is this a permanent solution and what are the advantages and disadvantages with regard to the two variants: 3D printing (= make) or having 3D printed (= buy)?

3D printing (= make) or having 3D printed (= buy)?

The route via the manufacturing service provider is helpful at first and lowers the entry hurdle, as the first prototyping trials can be used to develop a better starting point for a decision. Furthermore, the service provider offers valuable know-how. This is especially crucial in the introductory phase, as it often requires specific knowledge to produce components of the desired quality. In the worst case, an unsuccessful introduction of additive manufacturing can ensure that acceptance of the technology within the company falls and those responsible decide to turn away from the technology of the future. Collaboration with an experienced manufacturing service provider can be a supporting factor in generating enthusiasm for additive manufacturing throughout the company and jointly building up know-how about suitable use cases.

Another aspect is that the term additive manufacturing now covers a very large and constantly growing number of different processes. Therefore - depending on the material used and the desired properties of the components - different additive processes come into question. So purchasing a system is not enough. In order to take advantage of all the benefits in terms of material diversity, possible resolution, installation space size and precision, as well as manufacturing that is as cost-optimized as possible, it would be necessary to have access to various additive processes. It is often difficult for a single company to fully operate and utilize such a system park. Thus, the buy variant often continues to be a sensible addition even after the acquisition of individual processes. In this way, less frequently used additive manufacturing processes can also be considered and used in product development.
This shows that many considerations are necessary when entering additive manufacturing. For success, it is crucial to consider a business case at the outset and to train the competencies of employees in design for additive manufacturing.

However, are there also reasons for acquiring one's own system at an early stage?

Having one's own system in the company can, on the one hand, arouse motivation and enthusiasm for additive processes among employees, as knowledge and process transparency increase through independent use and elaboration. On the other hand, the understanding of the possibilities and limits of additive manufacturing increases, which is the basis for identifying new use cases and optimized component designs. One of the greatest challenges here is the identification of suitable use cases in which the use of additive manufacturing offers potential and functional advantages, taking into account economic considerations.

In the end, the company's own internal knowledge is built up through the purchase of equipment. This reduces the dependence on the manufacturing service provider as well as on its offers and pricing. Further thus a higher flexibility exists regarding the plant use and the component production. This leads with a correspondingly high utilization of the machine to a full benefit of additive manufacturing also in terms of economic aspects.

In summary, the following factors are to be considered in a make-or-buy decision:

• the future machine utilization
• a suitable business case
• the development of internal knowledge
• the process selection and the available investment funds.

Because of the many influencing factors, it is a case-by-case decision at which point in time or whether to acquire own equipment at all.

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