Traditional Manufacturing has Failed During the Covid-19 Pandemic. 3D Printing Offers a Solution.

The Pandemic Stopped Distribution

2020 started fairly normally in manufacturing. If you were sourcing items from china you put in your orders before the Chinese New Year shut down the country for several weeks.

But then news of coronavirus started. The country went into lockdown during the New Year break. And then that lockdown was extended. And extended again. American manufacturers found themselves 3-4 weeks behind because China was only starting to come back into operation.

And then Covid-19 spread in the US. And we went into lockdown. Any goods that were ordered could not be delivered because they could not be received at the Docks. And this included very simple items just as face shields and facemasks.

Traditional manufacturers could not ramp up initially because the demand was expected to subside in a few weeks. And that same belief prevented large orders of product that would not arrive for several weeks. But they were needed, and the lack of basic gear likely contributed to the spread.

Add to this the fact that a huge amount of consumption occurred during lockdown. Americans stuck at home took to online shopping to pass the time and spend a stimulus check. But there was nothing for them to buy. Inventories ran out and then all companies could do was wait. Demand was flowing by, but the supply just wasn't there. And this still continues, walk down the hard goods aisle of a Wal-Mart.

The modern global economy is built on shipping. The ability to float or fly product from one part of the globe to the next. With the pandemic and the closing of borders that was no longer possible.

3D Printing Continued

During all of this Slant 3D never paused production or left our clients without supply. And we have since been able to support manufacturers in need of plastic parts until normal production can return to its previous levels. We also manufactured thousands of medical PPE until the rest of the world caught up.

3D Printing allows for the flexible and local production of plastic parts. Slant 3D has our primary factory in Boise, Idaho. We are working on building another in Louisville, Kentucky and many of our clients have our Mason 3D Printers in their facilities.

All this distributes production around the United States. And allows us to perfectly meet demand of products as needed.

3D Printing changes manufacturing so that it can be easily adjusted, easily scaled, and practically zero cost to start. There are no molds, there are no minimums and millions of parts can be produced. 3D Printing is pandemic-proof.

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