There’s no question that 3D printing has moved beyond making prototypes and one-offs. The adoption rate of 3D printing by Fortune 500 companies can no longer be accurately described as slow. Whereas AM was once slow, costly, and limited in its applications, it’s now outperforming conventional manufacturing in those same metrics. Manufacturers and producers are using 3D printers for fabricating parts at various points in the production line, including manufacturing tools, jigs, and fixtures, fit tests, and of course end-use parts. The transition to production applications is not just about improving the hardware of 3D printers to the point of replacing legacy manufacturing equipment; manufacturing requires a lot of coordination across large ecosystems so 3D printing companies are learning to navigate those channels to increase adoption. Let’s have a look at the evolution of 3D printing into a production technology.

Various initiatives like the IDAM (Industrialization and Digitization of Additive Manufacturing for Automotive Series Processes) project have addressed the lack of standardization in AM processes and material properties, making 3D printing even more automated than traditional manufacturing. The IDAM project is expected to result in 50,000 mass-produced automotive parts and 10,000 spare parts being printed per year.