Benefits of Custom Parts Manufacturing for Small Businesses
The global manufacturing market continues to grow from year to year and the growth almost always records fantastic value. For example in 2020 the United States manufacturing market value reached almost one hundred and eighty billion dollars! Part of that value comes from the custom parts manufacturing market. Spare parts are always needed and some of them are needed specifically, according to the needs and challenges encountered in the field. As a consequence, there are always opportunities for companies to offer modern CNC machining services. That includes welding, cutting, and things like that.
What’s Custom Parts Manufacturing?
In essence, custom parts manufacturing is the process of producing parts with specific specifications requested by the customer. These special specifications can be in the form of certain hardness characteristics, certain dimensions, certain manufacturing processes, and others. There are always different definitions but all refer to a specific production process according to the customer’s request. Thus the level of difficulty experienced will also be greater, requiring a more qualified approach or technology.
The Rise of Technologies that Facilitate Custom Parts Manufacturing
In recent years, maybe the last ten years or so, there has been a marked increase in the use of additive manufacturing technologies in many industries. This is quite different from the traditional manufacturing system introduced by Henry Ford a century ago marked by a mobile assembly line for mass production. In contrast, addicting manufacturing appears to be more geared towards small and medium production which is more flexible to individual requirements. There are no longer so many limitations for the smallest shapes as almost any characteristic can now be accommodated. New paradigms in the industrial world make more sense with addictive manufacturing technology. Thus more customer requests are met and marketing takes place shorter than before.
But manufacturing technology doesn’t stop there. Technological trends are constantly evolving and addictive manufacturing is certainly not the end point. But what exactly is addictive manufacturing practice? Many people don’t know that the implementation is three-dimensional printing or commonly called 3D printing. Most people think that this manufacturing technology has only appeared in recent years but actually, the 3D printer was invented in 1984 or 39 years ago. The inventor was Charles W. Hull and he named his creation printer Stereolithography Apparatus. Initially, 3D printing was not economical but recently it has gotten cheaper and comes in many variations.
Custom parts manufacturing has to thank this “3D technology” as it allows small complex shapes as one of the principles of custom parts manufacturing. With conventional manufacturing approaches, small and medium-scale customization is almost impossible but with 3D printers, it is very possible!
Benefits of Custom Parts Manufacturing for Small Businesses
It must be assumed that the need for custom parts manufacturing is strongly associated with small and medium-scale production which one can certainly associate with small businesses. But what are the advantages to be gained from implementing this manufacturing? We’ve summarized a few:
Uniqueness and Differentiation
As the name implies, custom parts manufacturing allows even very detailed physical specifications. With this type of manufacturing, small companies can easily make product adjustments because they usually deal with varied requests with small quantities per item.
Quality Control
Automated production is not immune from errors and when we work on a large production line some errors may have to be ignored for cost efficiency. With custom parts manufacturing, minor faults can be corrected without spending large amounts of money. Each error can be evaluated and corrected on the next production line. As a result, quality control is achieved and quality improves accordingly.
Cost-effectiveness
Small and medium-sized companies usually have a wide variety of clients and each has its own requirements. Production is usually specific and not in large quantities to achieve the best efficiency. Try to keep as little wasted material as possible. By manufacturing custom parts, production can be tailored to real needs in the field, thereby achieving cost-effectiveness.
Supply Chain Simplification
The essence of supply chain simplification is to analyze the supply chain and try to simplify it. The supply in question is the supply of products to end consumers. Production customization of parts is usually very specific so that inefficiencies can be minimized. Increasing production efficiency in turn can reduce production costs and reduce production costs indirectly by removing unnecessary parts in the supply chain.
Quick Adaptation to Market Changes
3D printing technology is compatible with fast changes. The role of static heavy equipment is reduced, on the contrary, production can be done quickly and in the quantity that is really needed. Thus companies always have the ability to follow market trends because they do not invest too much in just one or two production models. If the market trend has changed, the company can immediately follow suit because the investment in the earlier model was just what was needed at the time.
Conclusion
Custom parts manufacturing is the answer to the needs of modern industry. Market trends are volatile and production costs must be kept down for the sake of competition. With conventional manufacturing always in large quantities, the need to replace certain parts may waste too much production cost. But with custom parts manufacturing backed by 3D printing technology, production can be tailored to specific characteristics as well as in specific quantities. In the end, custom parts manufacturing has what small businesses need.
