3D Printing Technology is making its presence felt in different industrial sectors worldwide

3D Printing, a fairly new technology has taken over the world by storm. It has found several applications across different industries such as the medical industry, defense industry, and the automotive industry. As technology is progressing and manufacturers are focusing on reducing costs of spare parts, the 3D printing market is poised to expand. Allied Market Research published a report titled, “Automotive 3D Printing Market.” Different aspects of the 3D printing market are discussed such as the market size, share, and growth. Although there are a few constraints, practical and feasible solutions are researched and implemented every day. 

New adhesive solutions, a blessing for the automobile industry
The future of 3D printing is poised for a bright and an exciting future. As the 3D printing revolution is slowly catching up worldwide and as more corporations are adopting the technology, 3D printing might quickly transform into a multibillion dollar industry. However, there are few issues that need to be addressed such as materials, paints, and adhesives that are not suitable for 3D printed alternatives. The use of non-compatible adhesives in 3D printing can have disastrous results and can also incur heavy losses. 

Taking advantage of this situation, Henkel, a German product developer has started to evolve adhesives for industrial applications, which would solve this issue and eventually lead to growth of the 3D printing industry. 3D printing is expensive and if made cost effective and affordable, will gain popularity across multiple industries. Henkel, along with a number of partners and start-ups are prioritizing on using adhesives that can print 3D parts for construction, furniture, and automobile industries. Henkel has found success already as their adhesive solutions are used in construction projects. The adhesives are making a mark on other sectors as well, such as the automobile and furniture. 

The standout achievement, is the fact that the company has managed to make a mark in the automotive industry by using adhesives to manufacture 3D parts for numerous international car makers. The introduction of adhesives by Henkel has helped to reduce time taken to assemble parts, which enables the engineers to test and make the necessary minute changes. 

3D printing to reduce manufacturing cost of automobile spare parts 
The cost to manufacture spare parts is expensive especially if there is a demand for a part which is old and outdated and needs re-tooling according to the requirement of the customer. The infrastructure in production facilities do not cater to the demand coming in for these spare parts. Companies or the manufacturers have to go out of their way to produce these parts and often end up spending more than they can earn. This alters the profits of the company and stagnates the growth.

Mercedes Benz is a well-established brand name throughout the world. The car manufacturer has a reputation of being customer friendly and provide good customer service. The organization is known to manufacture every part for each and every car they have produced. Daimler, which is the parent company of Mercedes Benz, makes use of the commercial 3D printers to manufacture more than 100,000 parts every single year. These parts have similar characteristics to the parts, which are traditionally manufactured. The cost to manufacture them is also pretty low compared to traditionally manufactured components. Mercedes Benz to strengthen their grip of this situation, will start offering catalog of 3D printed versions of parts that will fulfil the replacement requirements coming from different customers and manufacturing facilities. This will enable Daimler to manufacture large quantities of parts for outdated models at a cheaper price. 

“In keeping with our brand promise ‘Trucks you can trust’, we set the same benchmarks for reliability, functionality, durability, and economy for spare parts from 3D production as for parts from 3D production as for parts from conventional production. However, 3D offers many more possibilities; this is why we shall be rapidly extending the production of 3D printed parts,” said Andreas Deuschle, Head of the Mercedes-Benz Trucks Marketing & Operations in the Customer Services & Parts Division.

3D Printed Parts feature in a race car 
Traditionally manufactured car parts are heavy and have a high maintenance cost. When a part stops functioning in a desired manner, it leads to poor performance of the vehicle and hinders the image of the manufacturer. Brand value is very important for international manufacturers and unreliable performances can tarnish it. 

Around 24 Hours of Le Mans made use of 3D printed parts made by Strakka for a race car that took part in the 2015. According to the team principal, using 3D printed parts in the car have opened new avenues for racing car manufacturers. “This project is a good example of how 3D printing could change the way we build racing cars,” said Dan Walmsley, Team Principal. The introduction of these parts depict how far the technology has come. The car is displayed at the Thinkthank museum In Birmingham, which will offer visitors a better perspective of the technology used to make it. 

It is clear that 3D printing has made a commendable impression on different industries such as automobile, healthcare, and other manufacturing sectors. Although the technology is fairly expensive right now, and faces a few obstacles the overall market growth will not be massively affected as developments are being made to produce cheaper 3D printed products. Manufacturers are coming to terms with this technology as it offers profitable results to them as manufacturing costs are going down, production rate is faster, and wastage of materials have declined, as well. New opportunities and pockets are emerging as 3D printing has also made its way into the dental and the aerospace industry. 

Automobile 3D printing dominates the market as of now but other industries are slowly catching up with the trend. It won’t come as a surprise to see 3D printing take over multiple industries in the near future as organizations have started to embrace the technology after generating positive results at the international level.

 

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