In 2018, BMW was already producing over 200,000 3D printed car parts a year, like this 3D printed air vent for Mini. Avoiding unplanned downtime is the goal of every manufacturer.

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The impact of even a single idle line can be significant – especially in industries such as automotive where the average cost of downtime for a single line is generally considered to be more than 17,500 GBP a minute! However, be it due to a breakage or malfunction of tooling or a part, it’s a fact of life that failures can, and do, happen.

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Fortunately, with additive manufacturing (AM)/3D printing, there are ways to minimise this downtime, especially, but not only, when the culprit is tooling. With AM, manufacturers can quickly and cost-effectively 3D print tools on demand in-house or nearby. An inventory of one is also possible, making the switch even faster. This ensures the line is […]

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