It’s not uncommon for additive manufacturing technology to produce many end-use parts without tools. Often, this technology does so at a cost that is lower than traditional manufacturing methods. But one of the less discussed benefits of additive technology is the impact it can have on your inventory. With a 3D scanner and CAD software, many little used tools housed in inventory can be converted to digital files and produced only when the need arises. This capability saves money because you store fewer parts, which improves the supply chain, all of which helps to increase production efficiencies.

The Azoth company helps manufacturing customers achieve these goals. The Azoth team helps customers identify parts in their inventories that can be converted to a digital file and then produced on demand. The team searches for complexities in your supply chain and inventory, looks at where parts fail, and works to remove such inefficiencies.

For example, the Azoth team will examine a customer’s inventories and find machine parts that are overstocked or with long lead times to produce, parts such as jigs and fixtures, gripper fingers, blow-off nozzles, gage handles, and more. Such inventory often adds to overhead, which can be trimmed.

When one of those parts is needed again, it can be 3D printed on an Ultimaker printer.  Azoth uses both metal and plastic additive manufacturing using the Ultimaker systems. These printers use fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology and are compact enough to fit on a desktop while delivering generous build sizes: The S3 offers a build size of up to 230 x 190 x 200 mm and the S5 can build up to 330 x 240 x 300 mm—both with dual material extrusion and layer thicknesses as small as 20 microns.

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