As a customer interested in high-volume production metal additive manufacturing, you must consider total cost per part and how it breaks down. The three main cost categories are pre-printing, printing, and post-processing / post-printing. Only 10% of the cost comes from pre-printing and 40% from printing. What most customers find surprising is that 50% of the cost comes from post-processing.

There are four main cost drivers that determine the cost of a part: machine, materials, labor, and secondary operations. Each cost driver is different for different processes but it is important to understand what each one is for each category. 3DEO is driving the cost of each driver significantly low, making us competitive with conventional manufacturing such as CNC machining and metal injection molding.

The secret of metal additive manufacturing that no one talks about is yield. All metal additive manufacturing technologies today have very low yield compared to traditional manufacturing’s high yields. They typically have yields of 20-30%, which makes material cost five times more expensive than conventional manufacturing. 3DEO’s technology is different because it is repeatable, robust, able to drive high yields – which is where 3DEO shines.