3D Printing has transformed the spare part industry at the core industrial scale. Additive Manufacturing has proved to be a game-changer as it benefits many important aspects of your business. The major perk of 3D printing in the spare part industry is the customized & quick production and maintaining digital Inventory of Spare Parts. Other perks are improved supply chain, reduced warehouses costs, increased production value, decreased labour costs and much more.
Adopting 3D printing makes the workflow of the spare part company very easy and timely. It gives an opportunity to create a better business model and change the approach from producer-to stock to produce-to-order. Since customized solutions and lesser requirements of tools are available, it has enabled on-site as well as on-demand production. All these advantages have made the business in the spare part industry very flexible. It is estimated by a leading spare part company – ‘Spare Parts 3D’ that by 2022, 40% of the spare parts suppliers will switch to 3D printing.
Why 3D Printing Spares?
- Currently, spare parts suppliers are not meeting the needs of their customers; 47% of customers have looked into 3D printing their own parts
- Within five years, 85% of spare parts suppliers willincorporate 3D printing into their business
Operational Benefits:
- Decrease in Inventory : Make-to-stock / Make-to-order Parts
- Improving Delivery lead times.
- Will Solve Issues of Production Interruptions due to tooling changes
- Setup time is greatly reduced
- Localized Manufacturing of Parts : Near to where they are needed.
- Easy Availability of parts. : Quicker & Easier Logistics
- Manufacturing within few hours : Requirement raised by stockiest –
Manufacturing – Delivery to customer within few hours.
- Average saving of 20% in total Cost of Ownership (Warehouses, Material Handling Equipment, Logistics & Manpower
Main Challenges in the Spare Part Industry
Inventory Storage
Suppliers across the sphere face a lot of difficulties to maintain and store spare part inventory. The profit margins are highly affected due to the high operational costs needed to manage the inventory. Labour costs also have a significant contribution to the expenses of the administration. 3D printing reduces the inventory costs and increases the bottom line profit of your business.
High Costs
Since the production and operational costs are high, buying spare parts also causes a dent in the customer’s pockets. Most of the expenses include material charges, inventory costs, warehouse maintenance, turnaround time, etc. Adopting 3D printing in their workflow saves up a lot of expenses and they are able to provide affordable and more reliable products.
Higher Turnaround Time
Sometimes the designs of the spare parts are so complex that local manufacturers have to depend on foreign manufacturers because of which the operational process is extremely affected and the parts are not produced or delivered on time. The affected manufacturing flow sabotages the whole business. Therefore, now producers prefer 3D printing technology as it is less time consuming and produce accurate spare parts in their locality.
Wastage of Materials
Traditional spare part manufacturing techniques like casting, milling cause a lot of material wastage. Only 30-60% of the material is used for designing and producing and the rest of the 70-40% block is disposed off. But 3D printing reduces wastage by 95% that gives the companies an opportunity to take up a heavy project, save up the production costs, and offer cost-friendly parts.
Aspect Benefitted by the Adopting 3D Printing in the Spare Part Industry
One Solution for Every Step – from Prototyping to Parts
The spare part industry is focusing a lot on rapid prototyping as it is less time consuming and more cost-effective. It is expected that the collaboration of both the industries will grow up to 25% and will value almost $7 billion. All giant companies like GE Aviation, BMW, Whirpool, Jaguar, etc have invested in 3D printing technology.
Mass Customised Production
3D printing increases the sustainability and condition of the spare parts plus makes the manufacturing less time-consuming. The executor has a clear and relevant idea of the design of the parts. Therefore a good quality and quantity of parts can be made on-demand.
Creates a New Business Model
Utilizing 3D printing revises as the company’s entire business models as all the process and the production is modified. 3D printing makes it possible to produces the most complex, lightweight and customized parts. All experts concerning the production process will require a sound knowledge of design. The operational process will need more effort but less labour, different kind of materials and new vendors. Even the look and costs of the spare parts changes as 3D printing technology use limited material.
Enhances the Supply Chain
It helps the manufacturers produce the parts in the local areas and reduce the reliability of the overseas producers. This helps in timely, faster and inexpensive delivery.
Conclusion
The best company to collaborate with 3D printing solutions is Incredible AM Pvt Ltd, which was established in 2017 and has been providing e unsurpassable quality services since. The company is driven by the needs of the customers and therefore provides them with an accurate, affordable and quality product.
