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L9 - BUSINESS MODELS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (Recent Advances (Faster…
L9 - BUSINESS MODELS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
The Advances
Additive manufacturing technology has progressed, and its supplier ecosystem and the materials available have expanded. That means 3-D printing machines can now produce a much wider range of products— affordably and often in greater volumen.
The opportunities
The technology is finally ready to go mainstream: It is competitive with conventional manufacturing; can produce complex, highperformance structures; and can easily switch from making one item to making another.
The implications
Companies should consider new business models and strategies to exploit the opportunities and defend themselves against rivals that use 3-D printing.
Recent Advances
Faster powder deposition.
New powder- jetting systems that use binding agents and adhesives can build up complex parts for metal and plastic goods 80 to 100 times as fast as laser-based printers can. These parts cost on average only $4 versus $40 and are made in minutes, not hours.
Continuous liquid interface production (CLIP).
Plastic objects are pulled continuously from a vat of resin instead of being built up layer by layer. While not quite as fast or as inexpensive as layer-based additive, CLIP is still economical for mass production, and it offers advantages in finishing, the making of complex parts, and the materials it can use.
Faster, more precise printer heads.
Used mainly for plastic products, they can deposit material at 12 to 25 times the speed that was possible three years ago, making them competitive with injection-molding processes for many if not most of those products.
Electronics-embedding technologies.
New machines can print electronic circuitry and components such as antennae and sensors directly onto the walls of objects. This lessens the need for assembly, frees up space within products, and improves the electronic integration of the entire product, reducing manufacturing waste and enhancing quality. The increasing precision of the machines means that they can be used, for instance, to produce OLED (organic light- emitting diode) display screens.
EMERGING BUSINESS MODELS
"In light of these developments, where should a mass manufacturer start? The most important decision is the business model. So far six have emerged."
The first three exploit additive’s superiority in product variation relative to traditional manufacturing
These models can be used by both B2B and B2C businesses. Some of them are further along in practice than others, but together they show the range of possibilities additive currently provides.
Mass customization
This model takes product variation to the extreme. It entails creating one-off products that are precisely adjusted to the needs or whims of individual buyers—adjustments that can be carried out by simply uploading each customer’s digital file into a 3-D printer.
Mass variety
This model targets customers who have strong and varying preferences but don’t need products adjusted to their personal specifications. Manufacturers can skip the process of collecting personal information and offer a wide variety of options at affordable prices. As with mass customization, units are one-offs.
Mass segmentation
This model greatly limits variety, offering only a few dozen versions of a product to customers whose needs are less variable and easier to predict than with the previous two models. It works well for highly segmented markets, such as components designed specifically for popular B2B products.
Mass modularization
This model involves selling a 3-D-printed body with interchangeable modules for insertion. It applies mainly to electronic devices, which can mean everything from cars to fighter jets and drones. So far this approach has been used only for military hardware and some niche automobiles, but it has significant potential—which Facebook, for one, has realized.
Mass complexity
This model exploits its ability to make products with intricate designs that conventional manufacturing can’t achieve and to produce unusual shapes and embed sensors and other elements.
That ability reduces production costs while improving the product’s reliability—as Vita-Mix found when it used the CLIP printer to make a nozzle for its commercial mixers. It’s now making tens of thousands of those nozzles.
Mass standardization
This last model attacks traditional manufacturing’s home turf. It proves—contrary to naysayers’ dismissal of additive as a niche technology that is useful only for smallscale production—that high-volume standard products can be churned out at a low cost in certain circumstances. The technology is still emerging in this area, but it could become a game changer.
The fourth and fifth maximize its benefits in making complex products; and the sixth takes advantage of efficiencies the technology offers.
Brandon Arturo Aceves Sorroza
Fuente: D'Aveni, R. A. (2018). THE 3 D PRINTING PLAYBOOK. Harvard Business Review, 96(4), 106-113.