Michelle Meyer, Founder & CEO at MatterProviders – America Makes member discusses the value of AM as a supply chain solution.
Over the past year, there have been increased discussions across the sectors of additive manufacturing (AM), machines, materials, software, and support services about the economics of participating in the AM industry. Some are beginning to argue that AM is not an industry. It is manufacturing technology that can be applied across multiple industries that manufacture diverse products.
Using and applying additive technology is about the impact on our current industrial manufacturing supply chains. While additive is a “digital” technology, the digital aspect of additive, by itself, doesn’t provide the solution or value – a physical part in the real world. The digital aspects of additive are foundational to creating parts in a new way, developing new kinds of parts with new materials, and producing them in new places. All of this does add value. However, the foundational value we create is in manufacturing a part. The manufacturing of a part, plus a whole ecosystem of capabilities, drives the economics.
