When is 3D printing good for mass production?
You should consider using 3D printing for mass production if:
1. You need to produce customised goods
Recent studies show that 50 percent of consumers are interested in buying customised products, and many companies are scrambling to adopt a customisation business model to meet demand. Unfortunately, mass customisation isn’t easy with a manufacturing method like injection moulding, which requires expensive tooling and a new mould for each product design.
With 3D printing, creating a personalised part is simply a matter of transferring the design data to the printer and printing it — no extra steps or new tooling required. As a result, mass-producing a customised product won’t necessarily take more time, energy, material, or money than printing a standard, non-custom product.