A new white paper from Lincoln Electric examines how recent breakthroughs in wire arc additive manufacturing are providing aerospace, automotive, heavy industry, oil and gas, and other industrial equipment manufacturers with new ways to overcome common production challenges.
All industrial equipment manufacturers face challenges that can negatively impact production pipelines, leading to production delays, downtime and increased costs, the company maintained. These challenges include:
- Malfunctioning or failing parts that are challenging to replace or difficult to repair
- Long lead times for castings and forgings of new parts, tooling or prototypes
- High cost of materials and shipping for heavy equipment and parts
- Product testing and industry regulations that cause delays and/or require redesigns or re-manufacturing of parts
The white paper, Addressing Production Challenges and Go-to-Market Limitations with Established Additive Manufacturing Service Providers, examines how wire arc additive manufacturing can help large-format metal part manufacturers eliminate production bottlenecks, shorten delivery times and reduce prototype design and test cycles. The process is ideal for parts larger than a basketball and can be readily scaled to several meters, Lincoln Electric said. Advantages include:
- Reduction in lead times from months to weeks
- Greater design freedom and part consolidation
- Faster prototype testing
- Lighter weight parts and less waste
Manufacturers often must compromise on speed, size, and even quality. Wire-based metal additive technology can eliminate those trade-offs and deliver advantages over traditional manufacturing processes.
“Manufacturers are under constant pressure to deliver faster, whether prototype, production or replacement parts, and recent events highlight the fragility of supply chains,” said D Mark Douglass, business development manager for Lincoln Electric additive solutions. “Due to our advancements in additive technology, they now have an option for securing large metal parts from a trusted source in Lincoln Electric, reducing supply chain risk and lead times.”
Visit additive.lincolnelectric.com for more information.
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