SmarTech’s “Automation, Additive Manufacturing and the Factory of the Future” Guides the 3D Printing Industry to the Automated Factory
March 24, 2021
New York, NY: Additive Manufacturing (AM) has been considered an essential part of the factory of the future since the concept first appeared. Until now, no publication has discussed precisely the role that AM will play in the factory of the future.
SmarTech Analysis’ new report, “Automation, Additive Manufacturing and the Factory of the Future,” provides the necessary raw data and analysis for marketers, product planners, general management, investors and users to take AM to the automated future.
For more information on the report, go to: https://www.smartechanalysis.com/reports/additive-manufacturing-in-the-factory-of-the-future-opportunities-and-markets/
About the Report
For now, AM represents about one percent of the overall manufacturing and production landscape. Despite the well-publicized advantages of AM, there remain significant obstacles to AM’s adoption: slow processes involving multiple steps, high costs to scaling, shortage of skilled workforce, difficulty in controlling quality across the supply chain, and the immaturity of standards to facilitate regulatory conformity. All these challenges – and their resolution – are discussed in this new SmarTech Analysis report.
This report also examines the AM supply chain and its digitalization in a number of critical industries including electronic instruments, medical devices, transportation, industrial machinery and process equipment. In addition, the report takes a look at the critical issue of automation both of local AM processes and distributed AM networks. And while the report acknowledges the problems that arise in the context of bringing AM into the factory of the future, it also shows how AM will lead to lower fixed costs and smaller manufacturing footprints than traditional manufacturing. Two other areas that the report examines are design automation and post processing.
In addition, this new report profiles a number of companies that SmarTech believes that are already developing products and services will help take AM into the world of the automated factory. The firms profiled in the report include: Castor, nTopology, Dassault Systemes, PTC, Autodesk, Siemens, 3YourMind, Authentise, Link3D, SAP, Materialise Build Simulation, ParaMatters, Ansys, Additive Assurance, EOS, Renishaw, 3D Systems, Senvol, Identify3D, Simba Chain, GranuTools, Aris Technology, PostProcess Technology, DyeMansion, AMT, AREVO, and Divergent 3D
From the Report
- The recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significant vulnerabilities of supply chains. The reliance on human labor is becoming a critical factor in what AM supply chains look like and which AM technologies are employed
- The lion’s share of adopters of production grade AM are in the early phases of serious deployment where they are proving out the technology and building business cases. As adopters get closer to the factory of the future, they are beginning to consider large-scale deployment of AM technologies in their supply chain. AM experience, either for direct manufacturing or for tooling, shows that the total costs of additively manufactured parts can generate upwards of 15% in increased profits
Manufacturers are not trying to reconstruct global manufacturing and supply chains. They are trying instead to use existing resources and infrastructure for the large-scale deployment of AM technologies. Adopters are looking at additional technologies, such as controls, sensors, and robotics, to facilitate these deployments across the existing supply chain infrastructure. Robotics and advanced AI are being used to automate pre and post print steps.
