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Nowadays, investors, authorities, clients, and the communities in which you work focus on running a business based on moral and environmental principles. Today, businesses must prioritize sustainability in both their overall strategy and day-to-day operations. Manufacturers need to increase development and their global competitiveness while using sustainable business practices.
The manufacturing sector is undoubtedly evolving, attempting to be more environmentally friendly while also integrating cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. Year after year, it becomes clear that additive manufacturing is actually replacing more conventional production processes like injection molding.
What do you mean by sustainable manufacturing?
Sustainable manufacturing is also known as green manufacturing or eco-friendly manufacturing. Sustainable manufacturing as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is "the generation of manufactured products through economically efficient techniques that minimize negative environmental impacts while conserving energy and natural resources by improving worker, community, and product safety.
Sustainable manufacturing involves:
- Avoiding harm to the local environment
- Increasing worker’s and community safety
- Reducing emissions and pollution
- Reducing consumption of water, energy, and limited resources
- Reducing waste of raw materials
Now let us see the advantages of 3D Printing and how sustainable it is.
Sustainable advantages of 3D printing
- Design Freedom
With the flexibility offered by 3D printing, a product that was previously impossible to build can now be created. Instead of constructing a part that can be manufactured, the focus is now on designing a part that can be printed and is sustainable for the environment. The model can have lattice structures added to it or extra material removed because of the design process.
Freedom of Design can also enable the creation of integrated parts, enabling the majority of these
stages to be skipped for immediate printing of the required part, saving resources, time, and money as well.
- Manufacturing on demand, which reduces overproduction
Another technique to prevent inventory issues and overproduction is additive manufacturing. Companies often have large inventory warehouses where spare and overproduced parts are stored. Obviously, the physical inventory requires resources like energy and manpower. Also, depending on how long the parts are stored there, they can degrade or become useless, wasting both material and energy.
Digital inventory, or on-demand manufacture, is a solution provided by additive manufacturing. A part can easily be printed on demand and sent to the customer if one is required. This not only aids in today's battle against overproduction but is also incredibly efficient and less expensive.
- Repair and spare parts
Mass customization and the possibility of rapidly manufacturing spare parts are two of the major benefits of 3D printing. Mass customization is the best option when a maker has to locate parts that are no longer manufactured. In the manufacture of home appliances, the restoration of automobiles, or even for tools and any kind of equipment, spare parts can be produced using additive manufacturing. Moreover, less raw material is required to create a brand-new product and only a few products are discarded.
- Renewable and biodegradable materials
The ultimate goal of the 3D printing industry in terms of material would be to produce an even larger offer of renewable resources. The most trustworthy options for industrial projects are HP PA11 or Ultrasint® PA11. The bio-derived powder PA11 has a very high level of tensile strength. This material offers excellent ductility and impact strength in all applications. PA11 is a strong choice if you need strong components that can handle significant mechanical loads and stress.
PA11 is based entirely on biomass that is renewable. Oil is produced by removing the castor seed from the castor plant. The monomer (11-aminoundecanoic acid), which is later polymerized into Polyamide 11, is created from the oil.
Sustainability of 3D printing in the future
Future manufacturing will probably combine conventional techniques with 3D printing. 3D printing is more resource-efficient and enables more efficient and unique designs, which leads to decreased production requirements. Compared to conventional manufacturing methods, it is also cleaner, greener, and more sustainable, although there is still potential for development.
Are you looking to bring your products to market through Rapid Prototyping?
Innovae3D offers the best 3D printing service in Pune and India. Our, services include everything from design, development, and analysis to printing and post-processing. Please contact us to learn more about our Rapid prototyping services in India, Prototype Parts Manufacturing, 3D Metal Printing, and 3D Printing Services.
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