The factory of the future with Direct Digital Manufacturing
Today’s tumbling economy requires that business and industry use money wisely. For a manufacturer, this means making sound product decisions and avoiding costly design revisions. With (DDM), a company can go directly from an electronic representation of a part to the final product, thus eliminating tooling. This can save significant cost and time, saving valuable resources for other activities. In a tight economy, quality becomes even more important. Often product enhancements are key to keeping a company competitive. With DDM, product enhancements can be introduced in every production run without any re-tooling. DDM also can help a company increase its sales revenue by helping to get a product on the market sooner, and thus earning money faster. Time-to-market is a key competitive strategy, and with DDM, companies can accelerate their entire design, testing and manufacturing process. DDM has the power to change fundamental business processes, reducing hundreds of thousands of dollars from upfront product launch costs, expediting manufacturing and adding efficiencies along the way. It truly has become the factory of the future. More and more manufacturers are using additive fabrication for low-volume production, says Stratasys CEO Scott Crump. Its called direct digital manufacturing and its taking off faster than we thought it would. Industry observers believe this market will far surpass our current primary market of rapid prototyping and 3D printing applications. We have many competitors, but we believe we’re the best-positioned, because our FDM process produces accurate, durable thermoplastic parts. For low-volume production, direct digital manufacturing can be a viable alternative to traditional manufacturing methods with several benefits: ROI can often be realized in a small number of projects Products get to market quicker No machining or tooling or associated costs No waiting for machining or tooling Inventory reduction: components can be made on demand Design can be […]