On-demand manufacturing is growing thanks to the Amazon Effect, but what does it need to thrive?
(IMAGE: Quickparts)
Bring up the subject of manufacturing on demand (MOD) today and you’ll invariably run into comparisons with Amazon and its approach to retail. In the age of next-day shipping, supported by titanic fulfillment centers (not to mention a litany of questionable labor practices), consumers have grown accustomed to getting practically anything we want almost as soon as we want it.
This mindset inevitably bleeds over into our professional lives in the form of increasing pressure to cut lead times and iterate product designs faster and more frequently. However, there is no Amazon of manufacturing, in the sense of a monolithic entity that can deliver whatever production capacity you need whenever you need it.
(And if you’re thinking of China, I’d point out that it only satisfies two of those attributes. Delivering products from “The World’s Factory” takes time, sometimes – as we learned to our detriment during the COVID-19 pandemic – far too much.)
What we have instead is a diverse collection of job shops, service bureaus, and rapid manufacturers that aim to combine the prototyping and (typically low-volume) production of one or more industries under one roof. It’s not easy, but it’s also not new. After all, machine shops have existed since the 19th century.
What is new, however, is the multiplicity of manufacturing technologies and the ability to organize them into interconnected digital systems, both internally for production management and externally for customer communication. In short, the landscape for MOD has changed and navigating it requires perspicacity as well as technical know-how.
Success in on-demand manufacturing
During my recent visit to the Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show, I took the opportunity to ask some of the exhibitors about what they believe is the key to succeeding in on-demand manufacturing. Specifically, I was curious about how they see additive manufacturing (AM) fitting into the whole picture, as well as the extent to which it provides a competitive edge.
Here’s what they told me.
“It’s all about time, because the projects our customers bring to us have such short lead times. They need their parts delivered right away, so we need to have their parts done in just one or two weeks so that they can keep their process moving. We use a lot of different additive technologies for that.”
—Cecilia Acevedo, design and business developer, Honpe Prototyping Mexico
“You need a really good understanding of the tools that are available, because any given job can be a success or failure based on the methods that you use. Knowing how to implement them and how they complement each other is critical. For additive, you need design skills: just because a part was machined doesn’t mean you can print it and it’ll be a win. You have to know how to re-optimize that part for printing. If you can, there are new advantages to find or even entirely new capabilities you can unlock.”
—David Nolan, founder, Sixpenny Additive
“It’s definitely putting the customer first. That means making sure we’re doing everything we can to help develop their additive program, not just one specific project. We make sure they know how to use additive for different types of applications, not just jigs and fixtures, because there are so many other things we can do these days with the technology that’s available.”
—Jason Prior, Michigan regional account manager, Stratasys Direct
“The key to success in service bureau work depends on which application you’re targeting but part quality is always important. In the early days of 3D printing, you had a lot of support materials leaving blemishes when you removed them. Nowadays, people are expecting turnkey finished parts with high surface finish quality and no layer lines, but they also expect you to turn those parts around quickly. If they don’t have [additive] machines themselves, they might not understand that you can’t just hit ‘Print’ and it’s done.”
—Chris Niedojadlo, director of sales, 3D Printing Canada
Manufacturing on demand done right
If you’re looking for an example of a successful on-demand manufacturer, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one than Quickparts, a Seattle-based company offering prototyping and on-demand manufacturing services that’s been in business for 35 years. I had the chance to sit down with the leadership team, including CEO Avi Reichental, president Peter Jacobsen, and SVP for global marketing Lewis Simms, and ask them about the source of their success.
“Right now, if you want a cheap part, if you want to print one or two and don’t have a lot of constraints, you might find yourself buying a desktop printer on Amazon and trying to do it yourself,” says Simms. “You’ll probably get something that’s okay and usable for certain applications, but this business isn’t just about making parts; it’s about making parts with engineering expertise, and that includes secondary processes like assembly, finishing, painting, and texturing.
“I’d say the industry has become increasingly more complex but in a really exciting way. Customers are showing up more educated than ever, with more advanced requests than ever, and we’re able to meet those. Whether you’re machining a part or pushing print, we still see a lot of simple pieces, but more and more we see complex projects where that expertise and that relationship really matter.”
Jacobsen agrees:
“The key to success is understanding not only your customer but also the people you’re affecting with the value you’re creating, both internally and externally. We have team members here with 30 or 35 years of experience in this company, and we have customers who’ve been with us for nearly as long. Having relationships like that, that’s the key to success.”
