Is Design for Additive Manufacturing an enabler or a barrier?

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At Formnext 2023, the TCT content team asked the question: "Is Design for Additive Manufacturing an enabler or a barrier?"

Some believe that DfAM opens up possibilities that were not otherwise available with conventional technologies, whereas others in the industry believe it to be a barrier because of limitations in knowledge of how to design for additive. 

The question garnered some interesting answers, with people on both sides of the fence feeling strongly about their opinion, and some believing it is a matter of time until teaching DfAM becomes the norm. Here's what they had to say:

Andrew Sink – Senior Applications Engineer, Carbon

“Constraints breed creativity, and 3D printing is a really powerful tool, but its not necessarily limitless, like there are still best practices. I think if used properly, I do think its an enabler, I think understanding what you can and can’t do, it’s a powerful way to understand what’s going to be a benefit."

Cora Leibig – Founder and CEO, Chromatic 3D Materials

“Design for AM is definitely both an enabler and a barrier, mostly it’s a barrier.”

Alain Dupont – Chief Commercial Officer, GE Additive

“3D printing is an enabler in terms of design, and its going to open up multiple doors in the future.”

Monica Smith – Product Line Manager Metal Systems, EOS

“Complete enabler, design for 3D printing.”

Joel Telling – 3D Printing Nerd

“I think right now, design for 3D printing isn’t necessarily an enabler or a barrier at this moment, I think that it’s just not popularised within all of the design communities. I think with 3Dprinting being a very mature industry at this point, the ability to design for 3D printing is something that’s just going to be a generational thing. I think as we start to see more young people go into the design fields, and learn about design for additive or design for 3D printing, I think when those people enter the workforce we will see a generational switch into designing for 3D printing being the norm, not something that as taught as an additional.”

David Moodie – Founder and CEO, Foundry Lab

“Currently I think it’s a barrier, but it will become an enabler in time, with easier access to CAD, people understanding CAD.”

Kartik Rao – Strategic Marketing Director, Additive Industries

“Definitely an enabler I think.”

Frederic Larouche – General Manager, GE Additive

“It is usually an enabler, but its true, sometimes it can become an obstacle.”

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Norbert Gall – Head of Marketing and PR, Lithoz

“It’s definitely an enabler. It just makes more out of it that you usually wouldn’t achieve without adapting and optimising the designs.”

Francesco Pantaleone – Executive Vice President of Business Development, Roboze

“It’s certainly an enabler and I think we cannot stress it enough with our partners. Of course the most cases that we get is ‘can you print this? And this part has never been designed for additive, because we’re offsetting either a metal part that has been produced via casting or bending or milling, and hence telling them yes, we can produce this part, but we can make it better, we can make it more efficient, we can make it less costly and actually in a faster way, it always triggered the customers to look for that opportunity of redesigning that part whether it’s possible of course.”