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Help Reduce Supply Chain Bottlenecks

Dwight Mitchell • Jun 09, 2023

3D Printing to the Rescue! How 3D Printing Can Help Reduce Supply Chain Bottlenecks

Supply chain management is a complex process, especially when you consider the number of moving parts involved. Keeping up with demand and reducing lead times while also keeping costs in check is no easy feat. But what if there was a way to optimize your supply chain and reduce those lead times even further? According to a study by Aberdeen Group, 58% of executives view supply chain as one of their top challenges in the coming year. The chief reason for this is because most companies still rely on manual processes that are slow and inefficient, which creates numerous bottlenecks that inhibit performance. With the help of 3D printing technology, businesses can streamline their supply chains and reduce those lead times significantly. In this blog post, we’ll explore how 3D printing can help you overcome common supply chain challenges and decrease lead times so you can focus more on growing your business than worrying about logistics.

Finding the Right Suppliers is Hard ― Especially with Short Lead Times

Before you can even begin to think about your supply chain, you need to first find the right suppliers. Not only do you need to find suppliers whose products meet all your quality requirements, but you also need to find them within your budget and with the shortest lead time possible. For example, let’s say you’re a fast-growing eCommerce retailer selling kitchen appliances. Your sales have been growing steadily over the last few months, and you’re about to experience a huge spike in demand for your products that occurs once every year. Your top-selling product ― a high-powered blender ― is about to launch a new marketing campaign and you need a shipment of 10,000 units in time for the big event. This is where it gets tricky. Finding the right supplier with short lead times is not always an easy feat. You can either settle for a supplier that has a longer lead time or buy your products from a supplier that charges a significant premium for faster delivery.

Inventory Management is Key to a Successful Supply Chain

One of the primary objectives of any supply chain is to ensure you have the right amount of inventory. This is critical to your success because if you have too much inventory, you’ll be wasting money. If you have too little inventory, you run the risk of losing customers due to long lead times. Inventory management is a complex process that involves taking factors like demand, seasonality, customer feedback, and supplier lead times into account. There are many different ways to approach inventory management, but the most common is the push system. With the push system, manufacturers push their inventory downstream to their suppliers. Suppliers then push their inventory to retailers who push their inventory to customers. When demand is placed on this type of system, the supplier requests more inventory from the manufacturer.

Inventory Reduction Is One of the Biggest Advantages of 3D Printing

When you consider all of the benefits that come with 3D printing, inventory reduction is at the top of the list. 3D printing enables manufacturers to produce just-in-time inventory, which means they only produce as much inventory as they need. This is a great way to reduce waste and costs because you won’t be sitting on unsold inventory or storing excess inventory in your warehouse. 3D printing also reduces lead times because you’ll be receiving your products in much less time than it would take to manufacture them traditionally. With 3D printing, you can get your hands on your products in a matter of days, if not hours. You won’t be waiting weeks or even months to receive your inventory, which means you won’t have to worry about missing out on sales. You can also avoid paying rush charges for expedited shipping, which can significantly reduce costs.

3D Printing Ensures Only the Right Parts are Produced

When it comes to managing supply chain variability, it’s essential that you have a way to guarantee the quality of your products. While visual inspections are a helpful way to ensure products are up to par, what happens when you receive a shipment and you have hundreds of products that don’t meet your quality standards? If you’re manufacturing those products on a consistent basis, you’ll end up wasting a lot of time and money. You’ll also end up wasting materials and losing money on scrapped parts. Fortunately, 3D printing allows you to produce only the number of parts that you need each time while also providing you with a full inspection report. If one or more parts don’t meet your standards, you can skip them. This ensures you’re only producing the parts that meet your requirements.

Get an Competitive Advantage

One of the biggest challenges facing supply chain managers is finding a way to get an edge on their competitors. When one supplier is producing your products, you have little control over the quality of those items. This can lead to quality issues or even an unfulfilled order. Then, you’ll need to find another manufacturer to produce your products, which can cause delays in your supply chain and put you at a disadvantage. With 3D printing, you can produce your products on demand. This means you can design a product once and use 3D printing to produce as many units as you need. You can also use 3D printing to produce custom products that meet your clients’ needs. This gives you an edge over your competitors because you’re able to produce products quickly and efficiently. You can also tailor your products to meet your clients’ needs.

Reduce Costs

Manufacturers are able to reduce costs and increase revenue through 3D printing. When manufacturers produce parts with 3D printing, they’re able to reduce the number of parts required in the assembly process. This can lead to substantial cost savings for manufacturers because they don’t have to spend as much on labour. With fewer parts in an assembly, manufacturers also save on materials costs. Because manufacturers can produce parts more quickly with 3D printing, they can increase production rates. As a result, manufacturers can produce more parts each day and generate more revenue.

Reduce Waste

If you’re manufacturing products using traditional methods like injection moulding or forming, you may be wasting materials and money. In fact, it’s estimated that manufacturers lose between £75 and £110 billion every year due to scrapped parts. Fortunately, manufacturers can reduce waste with 3D printing. With 3D printing, you’ll only be using the amount of material you need to create a part. This can save you money because you won’t be wasting any materials.

Reduce Lead Times

Most manufacturers quote a lead time of 10-12 weeks for products that require design modifications. With 3D printing, you can reduce those lead times to a matter of hours or days. This is great for manufacturers because they can begin production as soon as they receive an order. It’s also beneficial for customers because they can expect to receive their products in a more timely manner.

Reduce Errors

Mistakes happen, but when they occur in the manufacturing process, they can be costly. When a mistake occurs, it can often take hours for workers to correct their mistake. With 3D printing, all you have to do is hit the reprint button and you can get back to work quickly. Because 3D printing is an automated process, there are fewer opportunities for mistakes to occur.

Confidentiality

When using traditional manufacturing methods, it’s difficult to keep your designs and product information confidential. This is problematic because your competitors can reverse engineer your products and design similar products using your information. With 3D printing, your designs will remain confidential because they’re digital files that can be stored in a virtual vault.

Conclusion

Open a new tab and search for the word 'future'. What do you see? There are images of various people and landscapes. There are images of technology and the environment. There are also images of human interactions. All these pictures have one thing in common- they are all interlinked and have an influence on each other. The same thing goes for supply chain management. It involves various departments and functions. The manufacturing department plays a major role in achieving the targets of S.C.M. As we have discussed in this article, 3D printing can be a great help in reducing supply chain bottlenecks and improving the overall supply chain management process.