Show me the money: Profitability in Metal AM through Operational Efficiency
May 2022, Rapid + TCT, Denver (MI) – Matt Tusz, CEO of Magnitude Innovations presents on ‘Profitability in Metal AM through Operational Efficiency’ at the Dyndrite booth of the Rapid + TCT conference.
Not many companies have the tools or processes in place for tracking production efficiency in metal AM. The ones that do, are arguably the only organizations that are profitable worldwide. This is because efficiency losses in metal AM cannibalize profitability from both the machine utilization as well as the organizational aspects of production. Traditional manufacturing, thanks to automation and production line optimization, exhibits efficiencies of 85%, while metal AM companies typically are near the break-even point of 40%.
With operational excellence methodologies, we can double metal AM production efficiencies for both one-off and serial productions. This has multiple benefits for the manufacturers: reductions in tribal knowledge, redundancy in operations, lower capital investment expenditures, sustainability, higher part quality, larger addressable market, etc.
In order to tackle these challenges, we have developed methodologies from operational excellence specifically for additive manufacturing operations. These methodologies are segmented into preventative and corrective actions that result in efficiency gains that increase profitability by 200%.
From the perspective of preventative methodologies, we will explain the important decisions that need to be prioritized on a daily basis to ensure the highest operational efficiency. This includes resource planning and mitigating losses before they occur on systems in production.
While most mistakes can be anticipated, ones that cannot are tracked for the purposes of corrective actions after the production. Here we will elaborate on a heuristic segmentation of process challenges that are practical for all manufacturers to apply and save on production costs.
Check out other videos on metal AM production performance on our youtube channel.
About Magnitude Innovations
Magnitude is a software development and technical consulting firm specialising in Additive Manufacturing (AM) process improvements and the use of Metal Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LBPF) technology in industrial applications. With its team’s combined knowledge of over twenty years in AM, the company has developed Uptimo, an intelligent software solution designed to improve the overall efficiency of any metal AM production.
