Slant 3D Production 3D Printing Service
  • Production 3D Printing Quote
  • Products and Services
    • Production 3D Printing >
      • How to Use Production 3D Printing
      • 3D Printed Part Properties
      • Technology
      • 3D Design and Engineering
      • Product Fulfillment
    • Angled.io
    • Slant Promotions
    • Slant 3D Printing API
    • 3D Printing Etsy Integration
  • About
    • Past Clients
    • Contact
  • Blog

Slant 3D Blog

Building a 3D Printer Farm vs Using a Production 3D Printing Service

7/24/2019

0 Comments

 
Many startups and small businesses are using 3D printer farms to test and scale products. The problem is that they don't have the experience to scale production to really large volumes.
Trainlab, Slate Robotics, Ohmnilabs, and others are all startups and small businesses that are using 3D printing to produce their final products. All of them have been faced with the choice of whether to bring production in-house or outsource it to services such as Slant 3D, Carbon, or Voodoo Manufacturing. But what are the benefits or dangers of both methods of mass producing 3D printed parts.

In-House 3D Printing

Picture
An in-house 3D printer farm capable of producing <500 parts per week.
Many startups attempt to build a 3D printing pipeline in house. While this allows them to have more vertical integration, it is a process that has very high risk and high-long term cost.

Answer this question. If you are making an injection molded part why don't you buy an injection molding Press. Because it is expensive? Because you don't have the experience to operate it? Exactly. So why does 3D printing seem easier.

Desktop 3D printing has created the myth that anyone can use the process to make parts. But creating a few good pieces to test is very different from producing thousands of production quality parts consistently. Supply-chain, servicing, and part optimization all become factors. This requires that the startup essentially dedicate personnel to managing printers, and recreating the infrastructure that already exists in companies dedicated to production 3D printing.

There is also the problem of the machines themselves. A startup becomes dependent upon the company that manufactures the machines that they use. If that company should go out of business (which 3D printing companies have been very prone to doing) or just abandon support of the machine that the startup uses, then they are left up the creek without a paddle. Or with dozens of 3D printers that will have to be replaced.

Building a 3D Printing farm in-house does have the advantage of slightly faster turn-around, a bit more control. It also can decrease startup financial costs. But operationally it is expensive and risky because printer farms require skill, maintenance, and personnel to operate. These farms are also very inefficient because the startup has to create operational processes from scratch and source at low volumes.

Production 3D Printing Service

Services solve the problems of in-house 3D printing. Companies like Slant 3D, are able to dedicate all of their time, resources, and personnel to creating high quality plastic parts at scale. A scale that often makes the 3D printed parts more affordable than in-house versions with high overhead.

Slant 3D, itself manufactures its own machines. Ensuring that the factory is always supported and ready to produce. So if you make a part with us this year. You will be able to make the same part 5 years from now. It also ensures that Slant 3D is able to scale rapidly to implement new demand from clients as they grow. 

Services are also able to take advantage of scale. Through strategic partnerships, and in-house filament production, the material costs of parts are less than if a startup were to source materials for their small projects.

The last advantage of services are the processes. 3D Printing is all these companies do. They are not creating a product and creating a smaller company inside the company to create that product. Since services are so focused they can implement the best in the industry hardware and automation, and ensure it is all operating at peak capacity.

This is what Slant 3D does. We produce 3D printed parts at scale so that companies don't have to. The same way injection molding services produce injection molded parts so that companies don't have to.
Picture
A Single Node of the Slant 3D Printing farm capable of producing 10,000's of parts per week.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Featured Posts
    • Cost of Production 3D Printing
    • Design for 3D Printing
    • Benefits of 3D Printing
    • Print Farm Beta Update
    Subscribe

    Categories

    All
    3D Printers
    Applications
    Benefits
    Client Spotlight
    Design For 3D Printing
    Digital Inventory
    Industrial
    Mason
    News
    Online Buisness
    Services
    Toys
    Video

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    RSS Feed

Services

Production 3D Printing
Fulfillment
CAD Design

Company

About
The Company
Technology
Past Clients
​

Support

Contact
Get a Quote
​


© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Production 3D Printing Quote
  • Products and Services
    • Production 3D Printing >
      • How to Use Production 3D Printing
      • 3D Printed Part Properties
      • Technology
      • 3D Design and Engineering
      • Product Fulfillment
    • Angled.io
    • Slant Promotions
    • Slant 3D Printing API
    • 3D Printing Etsy Integration
  • About
    • Past Clients
    • Contact
  • Blog