The additive manufacturing (AM) service bureau business model, on the face of it, is relatively straightforward; invest in a technology that there is enough of a demand for, build up a client base, expand your offering and repeat. With companies bringing more additive technologies in-house, and increasing competition bureaux have to be more agile than ever.
We speak to Gregory Campbell (GC), Production Director at CA Models to see how one of the UK's largest service providers stays ahead of the game.
DOC: Last time we talked you were installing an SLM Solutions SLM 500HL, the first commercially available SLM machine in the UK, how has that technology changed the business?
GC: In the last twelve months we've had the SLM 500 machine running 24/7. Although it is great that metal AM is booming, the profit margins aren't as high as a technology like SLA. SLA, in comparison, is quite easy; you buy a machine, buy a material, get your maintenance contract and then literally print parts with very little post-processing; whereas metal AM requires a lot more CAD work, a lot of post-processing but at the same time the amount of money per job is higher because of what is involved.
DOC: A big difference I suppose is the potential print failure with metals, one miscalibration could be seismic.
GC: It's not just applicable for metal additive manufacturing, if you fill an SLA platform full of parts using a ceramic resin, sometimes those parts are big volumes and you've got a 60-80 hour build on a 3D Systems iPro system using three to four grand of material, if that crashes at the end of the build, you're looking at a huge loss. But it is much more unlikely to happen as those jobs don't come along every day for SLA and the chances of failure are slimmer. With metal almost every job you're building is high-value, and when you're building different parts for different jobs a failure isn't just about the monetary loss it's the letting down of customers and making them think that maybe this technology isn't reliable enough. When we take a job on we want to deliver it as we say we will.
DOC: Which verticals have seen the most change since you took on metal AM work?
GC: Business is consistent with motorsport and aerospace, they are our two most significant sectors, product design can go crazy for two or three months and then you won't hear a thing. Eight years ago oil and gas was a huge part of our business, but now it's pretty minimal. The kind of developments we did in oil and gas require big budgets, but because of the current price of oil, the money for R&D isn't there.
Plus, you've got to think, 'who is one of the biggest company in the additive manufacturing business right now?' GE. GE in Aberdeen used to be one of our biggest customers for scale models, prototype parts, machine components but now you'd imagine they'll be doing those internally or at a GE Subsidiary.
DOC: Since the dawn of affordable 3D printers, do you think service bureaux had to take a hit on some smaller jobs?
GC: Some of the companies that we used to do a lot of product development for have bought cheap printers because the main jobs were for form, fit and function. What we're starting to see is that the cheap printers are being written off, so then they're less willing to go out and buy another one so you either invest a little more or start to come back to us.
DOC: How does a service bureau assess new technologies?
GC: It is hugely important to us to keep up-to-date with the launches of new technologies, obviously Clark (Clark Campbell, Managing Director) has built this business on innovating, he has tried to be first to buy into technologies that he sees as innovative so that CA Models can get up to speed with how we can offer the technology as a service at a quality level.
Now you've got a marketplace that is saturated with different technologies and so many people doing it, it's harder to get the business. So when you're looking at investment in technology the business case has to be there, the finance comes from the successes of your other technologies. Since we bought into SLA in 1995 it's funded every other venture in this company but now, you can't go and buy a machine for a few hundred thousand pound and hope that it might work, it has to work.
