Interview Series: America Makes Future of the Supply Chain Expert Q&A
Discussion 5: The Sweet Spots for Additive Manufacturing Supply Chain in the Future
The fifth segment of the America Makes Future of the Supply Chain Q&A interview focuses on the valuable sweet spots that are emerging for supply chains in additive manufacturing. Follow John Wilczynski (Executive Director, America Makes), Michael Shannon (Senior Manager, Hewlett-Packard), Lou Rassey (CEO, Fast Radius), Cullen Hilkene (CEO, 3Diligent), and Terry Wohlers (President, Wohlers Associates) on an in-depth discussion, and stay tuned for future videos in our series.
Talking Points
- There is an emerging value in the front end of the supply chain for bridging solutions and iterating design changes rapidly and inexpensively.
- Additive currently solidifies itself in the prototyping and aftermarket phase, as well as for tooling and fixtures. But now it is being seen at the production level, thanks to the economics improvements happening every year that driving costs down for production scale.
- Companies are embracing high volume orders in the millions of units, so now it must be coupled with a quality system that will ensure that the parts the next day will be the same ten years from now.