From the course: Additive Manufacturing for Business

Introductions to applications in industry

From the course: Additive Manufacturing for Business

Introductions to applications in industry

- So we've come a long way and we're entering the home stretch for this course, and I think it's important at this stage to reflect on where we've been and then set the stage for where we're going to go over the next several segments. We began by introducing a definition for additive manufacturing and providing a little bit of history and industry background. We then answered the first key question, what is additive manufacturing, by exploring a variety of important technologies that we see in this space. We then moved on to introducing a framework for additive manufacturing that helps answer the question: How will this apply to my business? In the next several segments, we're going to explore the application of that additive manufacturing framework to three important industries that account for 43% of all additive manufacturing applications. Those three industries, medical technology, aerospace and defense, and automotive. We're going to begin by examining what makes additive manufacturing such a good fit for those industries. We'll walk through the framework, exploring applications for each quadrant, and then we'll examine some of the key issues that impact those industries and the success of additive manufacturing in the future. Let's get started. It's probably not happenstance that these three industries are big users of additive manufacturing technology. In fact, we can identify six factors that make them a good match with the technology set. Let's have a look. Number one, accelerated development cycles are important to the markets that these industries serve. Number two, low volume and high customization is desirable. Number three, many of the components that are manufactured in these industries are relatively high value density. Number four, we see broad geographic distribution of service providers and end customers across these industries. Five, there's the opportunity to innovate and improve function through better design, whether that be weighed out or integrated electronics or some other factor that's important to customers these industries serve. And last, high cost for some materials put a premium on scrap reduction. Now that we understand why these industries are such a good fit for additive manufacturing, we'd like to begin thinking about particular applications. We're going to use the additive manufacturing framework and examine each quadrant of that framework for specific examples of how additive manufacturing is applied in MedTech, aerospace and defense, and automotive. Our goal here is really to spark your thinking. We want to position you to borrow and/or build on these ideas to create value for your own business.

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